The Ghetto, Venice

Although the course had finished the previous evening, the keen fit ones left for the Riva well before six am. I stayed in my bed. I needed the rest.

Graham came with me for a Sunday stroll along the Fondamente Misericordia to discover the Ghetto, to which the Jews of Venice had been confined in 1505. They were restricted to just three trades: textiles, medicine and money-lending. The Venetian authorities regulated the creation of three banks to be operated by the Jews. Of the three banks, only Banco Rosso (Red Bank) remains. Is this the origin of being 'in the red?'

We had a very expensive coffee and then went in search of Tintoretto's house in the Campo dei Mori. We found it. It's a tall  house so the only way I could get most of it into a photo was to take a picture of the reflection in the canal.

To Strada Nuovo to meet up with Matt and enjoy a delicious lunch at the authentic Osteria Vecchio Bragozzo.

We all parted company. Graham to try some time lapse photography at St Mark's Square, Matt to somewhere, and me back to the Academmia bridge to try once again for the Canaletto shot. But it was cloudy. I continued along the bank of the Grand Canal following signs for the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Alas, I was too late to enter the Tancredi exhibition. The goods for sale in the shop looked stunning.

I walked on and came out at Santa Maria Salute on the opposite side of the Grand Canal to the Riva. Long exposure time. Then it began to rain.

I took the vaporetto back to Fondamente Nuove and headed back to the hotel to pack.