Venice day 3

Today started off at Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, or Salute as it's known here. It's a huge church across the canal from San Marco. The outside is extremely ornate with statues and carvings all over. the inside is more sedate - some large paintings on the walls but otherwise quite restrained.



As far as Italian churches go, that is.

From there I headed for the Peggy Guggenheim gallery. It's on the same side of the canal and is supposed to have a good collection of works by Picasso, Dali, etc. Except it's closed on Tuesdays. As soon as I got there I remembered I'd read that earlier.
No matter...onwards and upwards as they say.
Next stop was the Accademia - lots of artworks by Tintoretto, Tiepolo and other Venetians. Some nice stuff. The difference about Venetian artists is that they often paint about Venice. Makes a refreshing change from the endless Madonnas, Magi and the rest. Not that they don't appear, but it's not all about them.

After the gallery it was time for lunch: spinach gnocchi in a tasty pesto sauce with the added spectacle of a couple of wandering buskers.



I suspect these guys go from restaurant to restaurant, play the same couple of songs each time and make a fortune. Good luck to them, they were fun.
Another guy, not far away, was playing My Way on his accordion. I heard him before I saw him and slung him a couple of euro too.
See, I don't mind giving away a few bucks to people who do something for it, like the buskers. Unlike the woman who was begging outside that first church I went to - as I walked past she grabbed me by the arm, shook her cup at me and yelled in my face. Sorry, but no chance lady. Especially not outside a church that's got more money than you could poke a stick at.

But anyway...
After lunch I wandered and wandered through the streets, over bridges and canals. Spent a small fortune on silk scarves. Took some nice pics of reflections in the canals.



At one stage I was headed down a street and a man coming the other way stopped me, 'cos I clearly looked like a tourist with no idea where I was, and he kindly told me I was headed for a dead end. He led me back to where I could find my way to the Grand Canal again and off he went. Nice.
So eventually I made it back to a bustop and caught the bus back to the Lido. Just in time to catch a cool sunset.



Later...