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Today's adventure would take us to a basilica, then a basilica. The difference being one was a courthouse, or what a basilica meant in ancient Roman architecture hundred years ago. So a courthouse came first. To be honest, it was the courthouse, senate chamber, Council of Ten, compass room, apartments, and prisons all wrapped into one, but is most commonly referred to as Doge's palace. It housed many leaders over the centuries, resulting in a ridiculously expensive, and beautiful interior. The most accurate comparison would be to the German Palace of Augustusburg. Decent square apartment rooms and huge rectangular halls, filled with gold and gems. Paintings covering every ceiling and wall-like drapes, wasteful amounts of treasures, and I'm pretty sure the Republic of Venice built the palace for itself. It also held some pretty important stuff in its history, like the meeting for the Tripartite Pact. I kind of geeked out when I heard that, especially since WWII was the best thing we learned in history all year of my 9^th grade. The place of the negotiation was also the chamber of the Great Council, with a stage for the senate and its larger hall for viewers and non-senate folk. Behind the stage was the largest oil canvas painting of Il Paradiso by Tintoretto on display, a massive crowd of people reaching out to Jesus. What's new.

The building wasn't just a giant government-run presidential palace. It also was linked to the prison, securing some of the most dangerous political criminals in the country. It is said that once a man was convicted, he walked across the bridge linking the two buildings, resulting in Lord Byron naming it "The Bridge of Sighs". It's a small covered bridge with diamond-cut Windows, barely tall enough for me to stand straight up. And yet it attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every day and always causes a pile-up at the entrance of the waterway for pictures. Getting sent to prison seemed essentially like a death sentence, as conditions were terrible. People slept and sat on rock floors and ate bread all day. I'm not sure if the bread was the freshest either. I guess that's what the bridge of sighs implies: your life's kind of over.

Eventually, we made our way through the Doge’s Palace, ending at the entrance of the Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark, conveniently. This was more of a traditional basilica specifically for the Doge back in the 9^th century, with many altars and artifacts, such as a gold board filled with gems that stunningly weren't stolen ages ago. With the traditional dome-shaped Italo-Byzantine and Gothic designs, the basilica had a high ceiling (what a surprise), many paintings (what a surprise), a beautiful cross (what a surprise), and a gift shop (what a surprise). It also had a lot of Latin scribbled everywhere, which entertained me while climbing stairs or roaming the museum. This basilica area also offered a bell tower elevator ride to the top, which gets you the best view of the city. While it did cost a bit, the moment was breathtaking. All the buildings in Venice were short and gable-roofed, resulting in a horizon filled with terra-cotta red tops and a visible coastline all around. I got some good pictures too.

This was day two of Mediterranean Romance in a nutshell. We also went on a Grand Canal tour in the afternoon, but I think we'll come back to touring in a gondola another day. Tomorrow is going to be a highlight because we are going to Verona. Oh, the ninth-grade English!

【红霞译文】

在马不停蹄奔波一整天之后，我们总算消停下来，待坐上水路公交船没过两分钟便昏睡了过去。

今天我们先游览廊柱宫殿再参观大教堂，根本区别在于 “王者之厅” ，至少几百年前古罗马建筑格局大致如此，公堂占居首要位置，说白了，廊柱宫殿是集法院、议会厅、十人决策评委厅、判决室、下榻和监狱等于一体，最为常见的要算威尼斯总督府。过去几个世纪很多帝王将相先后到这里驻足留宿，促使总督宫内部装潢日趋富丽堂皇，与德国奥古斯特堡相比有过之而无不及，不论宽敞别致的规正寓所还是豪华气派的长方形厅堂，黄金宝石铺天盖地，天花板及墙壁四周挂满了绘画，彰显穷奢极侈贵族风气，我相信威尼斯共和国政府实则为自己打造王宫。总督府来头不小，像轰动全球的德意日三国同盟条约就是在这里达成共识的，我禁不住窃喜，毕竟高一历史课上最费口舌的内容非二战莫属，况且谈判地点又设在大议会议事厅，议员坐在台上，而观察员和非议员则呆在大厅中，主席台后面是丁托列托创作的世界上最大的布面油画《天堂》，众人涌向耶稣，好不新颖！

该建筑并非只是达官贵族落脚的豪华宫殿，另外还附设一座监狱，里面关押过所谓祸国殃民的政治犯，据说一旦有人被定罪，他得步行穿过连接两栋大楼被拜伦勋爵命名的“叹息桥”，这个带有钻石花纹窗户的盖桥桥身不高，我甚至没法直腰走路，然而每天却吸引了成千上万的游客挤在水道口边摄影留念。监狱条件极差，因此锒铛入狱基本等于宣判死刑，犯人睡在石板地上整天靠面包充饥，恐怕也不会是刚出炉的玩艺，我猜这正是叹息桥寓意所在：人生来日无多。

最终我们走出总督府，恰好停在圣马可大教堂门前，这是九世纪专门为总督营造的正宗圣殿，里面建有大小祭坛并充斥着历代文物，譬如宝石镶嵌的金壁，邪门的是居然从未遭遇过打劫，采用传统的拱顶意大利—拜占庭及哥特式设计，天花板特高（好不抢眼）、绘画极多（好不羡慕）、十字架很美（好不意外）包括礼品店（好不惊喜）！教堂里拉丁文字随处可见，让我在爬楼梯或漫游博物馆时情趣大增；其钟楼提供电梯服务，可以载客直达顶楼观赏全城绝佳景色，虽说收点费用，但登高望远那一瞬间却令人无比震撼。威尼斯民居楼层低矮顶篷呈人字形，赤陶红瓦房跳跃在清澈见底的海岸线上，我同时抓拍了不少美照。

简而言之，现在正值地中海浪漫之旅第二天，下午一家老少又赶去大运河观光，但我清楚过两天还打算乘坐威尼斯凤尾船兜风，而重头戏压到明天，因为我们要去维罗纳，这可是高一英语涉及的内容哟！

Today in History(历史上的今天):

2018: Venice—La Serenissima, Italy(意大利威尼斯—宁静之城)

2018: Venice—Piazza San Marco, Italy(意大利威尼斯—圣马可广场)

2018: Venice the City of Bridges, Italy(意大利威尼斯—桥城)

2018: Venice the City of Canals, Italy(意大利威尼斯—运河之都)

2018: Venice the Floating City, Italy(意大利威尼斯—浮城)

2017: Mozart & Strauss Concert, Austria(奥地利莫扎特与斯特劳斯音乐会)

2017: Belvedere the Austrian Gallery, AUT(奥地利美景宫—国家美术馆)

2017: Vienna the City of Music, Austria(奥地利维也纳—音乐之城)

2017: Vienna the Capital of Dreams, Austria(奥地利维也纳—梦之都)

2016: Cobh the Teardrop of Ireland(爱尔兰的眼泪—科夫)