Virgil crosses #143, 144 and 145 off the list

As my time here winds down, Nora has moved into hyper-tour-guide-Virgil mode. As a result, as we leave a museum or church or campo or beautiful view she has wanted me to see she says, with seeming relief, "Well, we can cross that one off the list." In the last 24 hours, we have crossed several things off the list, including visiting several churches and San Michele, the cemetery island.

San Michele, the cemetery, is a peaceful "city of the dead," as it is sometimes called. It is highly stratified into sections for nuns, friars, soldiers, regular citizens, various religions and even children. We took our time walking through, taking pictures.

Unfortunately, as the sun rose and we consciously walked in the few shady areas, we found ourselves being eaten up by gnats. By the time we found the graves of two of S. Michele's more famous residents, Igor Stravinsky and Ezra Pound, I was really itchy and crabby. Nevertheless, I persevered and managed a few pictures before giving up. I was particularly interested to find a letter to Ezra Pound on a bush by his unobtrusive gravesite.

Letter to the left

Not a great picture of the letter, but I was fighting the breeze and swarms of gnats. The letter is dated 2008, and I kind of liked the holes permeating it. Ezra Pound is not my favorite guy for all sorts of reasons, but as a former English major, I had no choice but to find his grave. Fortunately for him he is far away from the Jewish cemetery.

Another site on Nora's list was the church of San Nicolo dei Mendicoli, a beautiful, comparatively small church founded in the 7th century and situated in the sestiere Dorsoduro. Mass was in progress as we tried to quietly sit down. Nora asked me if I wanted to leave until mass was over, but I said no, let's stay. It was almost time for communion, so I knew there wasn't much longer to wait. We watched the tiny congregation, at least for a Friday evening, 16 worshippers, receive communion and then sing to end mass. It gave me goosebumps. I have long been a lapsed Catholic, but I was quite happy to experience a part of mass here, especially in that church.

The church of San Nicolo dei Mendicoli

One thing Nora is not eager to cross off her list is experiencing the feast of the Redentore, which is this weekend and seems to be similar to experiencing Times Square on New Year's Eve. The Redentore is a church built to commemorate the end of the 1576 Plague, and the festival is held on the third Sunday of July. The church sits on the island/sestiere of Giudecca, and each year, a bridge built of pontoons spans the very wide Giudecca canal. On Saturday night, there are fireworks displays and lots and lots of tourists. Nora and I are debating about whether to try to go to San Marco to experience the festivities, but we're not sure it's worth the effort and chaos. We may go early and then return to see what we can see from her roof.

As we returned from visiting S. Nicolo dei Mendicoli, we walked on the fondamenta across from the Giudecca, and I took some pictures of the festival preparations.

Yellow paper lanterns stretching the length of the fondamenta, with the Redentore in the back

Partially built pontoon bridge to the Redentore

Boat decorated for the Redentore feast, on the Canale di Cannaregio

Redentore "party" boat on the Canale di Cannaregio

Today we also crossed off the church of San Pietro. As has become our habit, we lit a candle, and, as usual when we have a choice, we chose to light a candle at the shrine that seemed to receive the least attention. We tend to ignore St. Anthony, an ever-popular saint, apparently. So we lit two candles at Saint Rita's shrine. Although Nora frowns upon holy water, I surreptitiously dip my finger in whenever it's available. I find it almost impossible to pass by without doing so. Old habits definitely die hard, I guess.Campo S. Pietro

I am happy to say that I was not "given the paper" at any church I have visited in the last 24 hours. Tomorrow, Nora would like to cross "visit local synagogues" off her list, so I will try to avoid getting the paper, or its Jewish equivalent, once again.