VENICE 2017: The San Simeone Piccolo Crypt

Here's your chance to connect some dots!  HA!

Astrid and I knew we were traveling by train from Venice to Verona on Friday, March 31, a week after we arrived in Italy.  And because we don't like travel "surprises," we decided to make a dry-run to the train station the day before (since we'd be dragging our suitcases)...and buy our tickets.

Here's the trusty map again to give the lay of the land:

The red X marks our B&B; the red circle marks the crypt in the church across from the train station.

It was an easy 10-15 min. walk from our Cannaregio district to the Santa Croce district.

The train station on the Grand Canal is the point of entry for most visitors to Venice from the mainland.

If your back is to the train station, you look straight across to the San Simeone Piccolo church.

Completed in 1738, it's one of the last churches built in Venice,

and is the only church in Venice where the Mass is still celebrated daily in Latin.

But speaking of the train station, which is why we were there, we did figure things out.

Notice the dome of the church from the tracks, seen from behind the station.

 With our train business done, we were able to concentrate on the church directly opposite us.

We had no clue about it and just decided, on the spur of the moment, to check it out.

And OMG, are we ever glad we did because we believe it's one of Venice's best-kept secrets.

(Crossing the bridge to this side of the canal, you can look back and see the train station., top-left.)

A sign said no photos were allowed in the church but I managed to sneak in a couple of the nave.

The bottom images were below the nave on the way to the crypt...

whose passage was pointed out to us by a kind church keeper, for €2 per person.

Equipped with flashlights, included in the price, we entered the crypt, alone.

Later online we discovered the crypt is laid out in an octagonal shape, with 21 small chapels,

8 of which are still walled up and unexplored.
The altar stands in the center and meets you immediately upon entering.

But talk about feeling like we were in a maze of blind alleys!

The lights you see ahead in some of the images are from Astrid's flashlight.

We both ended up going our own way, believe it or not, without it feeling eerie.

It's hard to describe such a place, but surely the images speak for themselves.

It was a damp and cool space but, surprisingly, not musty.  We could see our breath.

I actually had the feeling some of the handiwork had just been painted yesterday.

The parts that looked macabre actually made us laugh.
How is that possible...but we both felt the same way, like someone was having fun.

There was even a vase of flowers (bottom-left) which I wish now I had inspected.

And at the very end, it was even ethereal.

Don't you wish these walls (and ceilings) could talk!

Interestingly, this crypt was not mentioned once in our two travel books.

Nor can you find much of anything about it online because...it's still a bit of a secret.

Don't you wonder why?

As we left the church and turned right, we saw our B&B landmark churches in the distance.

It was time to head home for lunch...across the street from our B&B.

Lasagna, seafood spaghetti, schnitzel, and grilled salmon, all shared...with beer.

It was our last meal out in Venice!

The method to my madness in choosing first the Verona cemetery and now this Venice crypt,

is because of Holy Week...the celebration of death and resurrection.

HAPPY EASTER

For Don and Ruth: Paris in July

So, to continue the visit from where we left off last post, it was time to go to Paris!  Sister Ruth and hubby Don were with us from Friday to Wednesday, 3 days here where we live in the Netherlands and then 3 days in Paris...before they then headed on their own for a week in Provence.

Monday, 25 July:

We took 3 different trains to get from Gorinchem to Paris:

first to Dordrecht, then Rotterdam, and then the fast train to Paris.

It would normally take us 5 hours to drive it.  By train it took us 4,

but only 2.5 hours from nearby Rotterdam to Paris.

Did I ever mention how much I LOVE the European trains!

Once getting our Metro tickets, we found our République stop.

Tributes were still up for the 85 people killed in Nice on 14 July.

Our AirBNB apartment was around the corner a couple blocks away.

Simply adorable!

But it wasn't quite ready yet at noon, so off we went to eat lunch.

It was a good jump-start for the rest of our day.

We headed off to the River Seine.

(See the MICHIGAN boat?  Good omen--top-left!)

What is it about the book stalls along the river!

It didn't take long to find The Louvre, the world's largest museum.

Or the Tuileries Garden nearby...including the obligatory ice cream.

An unexpected libation turned up when a sudden downpour hit.

Short and sweet.  Just long enough.

And then it was back to the apartment for our what-we-wanted supper.

Plenty other impressions from that first day.

I even saw "RH" as Ruth Hart along the way.  Another good omen.  :)

Tuesday, 26 July:

After a leisurely breakfast, we were off to the Luxembourg Garden.

The Medici Fountain there was a must, of course.

And then back to the River Seine for the Notre Dame Cathedral.

It's one of the largest and best-known cathedrals in the world for a reason!

Because we were there at the Ile de la Cité, we crossed the bridge to the Ile Saint Louis

for lunch at one of Ruth and Don's favorite restaurants.

And then walked back to the Notre Dame.

We had no intention of going in, but even if we did, the lines were too long.

It was enough to see it up close and personal.

Then on to Montmartre, where we had a chance to sit and take in the ambiance again....

before seeing Paris from the point of view of the Sacré-Coeur Basilica.

And yes, we all did the up-and-down steps, coming and going.

The 3 of them did it all by maps, signs and Ruth's iPhone GPS.

I just watched and took pics!

Lots of pics.

And at the end of that day, another luscious what-we-wanted supper.

Wednesday, 27 July:

After breakfast, Ruth and Don went off to the Metro station to catch their train to Provence for another week of vacation (which, I can tell you now, they loved).

Astrid and I had another couple hours to "kill" while waiting for our own fast train back home.  We spied a church on the map near our Gare du North station and visited it.

St. Vincent de Paul was built during 1824-44.

Lucky for us, we arrived 10 minutes before it closed at noon.

It was enough time to give us a feel for the place.

We then had time to eat a bit of lunch across from the train station,

before catching our train back to Rotterdam, then Dordrecht, and finally Gorinchem.

We arrived at our apartment 2.5 days after we had left it on Monday.

How's that for all the "usual suspects" in a short trip to Paris!

I still can't believe we did it...but we did!

THANKS, again, to Ruth and Don for being our companions all along the way.

We'll never forget it!

Planes, Trains, Automobiles...and...Blimps?

There's actually quite a long story to this which I'm not going to bore you with today. But it does have to do with hunting for gable stones and finding out that these aren't! But I just can't have them go to waste, can I!

First of all, these 5 stone carvings are on a side wall at the Rijksmueum here in Amsterdam, not too far from our apartment. While Donica was home in Atlanta this past holiday weekend, I was out walking, specifically looking for GABLE stones, which are plentiful on the museum walls.
This obviously was/is a transportation series, so we have to start with the horse and rider.

BTW, each stone is approximately 12" (30cm) square.

If you squint, you can see the airplanes. But I had to chuckle over how BIG the blimp is in comparison to the planes from way back then.

And, of course, everything else fell into place.

Actually, I think automobiles came before trains (?), but not in the movie!

And when did the sailboats come? HELP!

Then the big ships, of course, which brought many a European over to America back in those days.
Did I tell you that Donica and I will sail one of these mammoth ships at the end of October on a 12-night Mediterranean cruise? Yup. But that'll be another post.

Too bad these aren't gable stones, right? So as not to lose them forever to my Photographic Black Hole, here they are preserved for those of you who always wanted to see the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Oh yes, the inside is spectacular as well (which we saw 9 years ago)!

Donica arrived back in A'dam this morning, safe-n-sound. She took a 3-hour nap and then went to work. What a woman!