Day 16- Rainy day at the museum

Last night, Pat and I walked down to the temporary Festa della Madonna della Salute bridge. It is set up only for the long weekend to facilitate the pilgrimage to the Santa Maria della Salute church. The festival celebrates the end of a plague that hit Venice in 1630, that had killed nearly 1/3 of the city's population. It's interesting to read about plaque epidemics from the past, in contrast to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The word and concept of quarantine comes from Venice. Ships returning from ports infected with plague were required to sit anchor or were confined to quarantine islands for 40 days. The word quarantine comes from quaranta, the Italian word for forty.

Today was a VERY rainy day in Venice. There is also an Acqua Alta (extra high tides) in Venice right now, with potential for flooding. Luckily, it seems that the dam system worked correctly to prevent severe flooding in the city. According to this article, "Locals and a few brave tourists were seen roaming around the city's historic centre despite the strong winds and heavy rainfall."  

Grandma, Grandpa and Oscar were some of those brave/ crazy tourists this morning, going out to watch the garbage barges load garbage on and off.

Garbage trucks and boats are some of Oscar's favourite interests, so combining the two held his interest for some time.

The rest of us only braved the rain to walk the 300m from our apartment to the Venice Museum of Natural History. Even in that short time, we were pretty soaked by the end.

The museum was really well done, and even though it was all in Italian, Google Translate served us well to understand some of the explanations. 

The museum was multi-media and had some things you could touch, which was great for the kids.

Everyone went back to the apartment for snack and lunch, and Mom and I went out to another museum right down the street, the Palazzo Mocenigo. It was an interesting museum with lots of art, fine textiles and intricate chandeliers. Each room had a different perfume scent to go with the room, and there was an exhibit on how perfumes were made.

We did attempt another outing to the Rialto Bridge this afternoon, but it was really too stormy. We turned around after only a few blocks, opting instead for hot chocolate and Mr. Bean on TV.

Jasper also had elaborate game set up with his hot wheels on the couch.

Ellis and Grandpa did "school" for a few hours in the kitchen.

Penny had another sink bath and was pretty stoked about it. The weather is looking much more favorable for tomorrow and the rest of the week.