Dear Readers, the planned vaporetto strike for today didn’t materialise, and so we headed off on the 5;1 vaporetto to Giardini. We’d decided that, after the visit to the cemetery yesterday (as you know, I do love a cemetery) we’d go and follow up on one of my husband’s interests, naval history. The Naval Museum is in two parts. One is a typical museum, with lots of model ships, naval uniforms etc, but the other has actual boats and ships, so off we went. I did notice this very fine black-headed gull posing for his or her portrait, though. What an elegant bird! I’m sure this one would never steal the cream off of my gelato…

Well, the Ship Hall is very impressive. It used to be the place where the oars were made, before they were paired up with the ships being constructed in. the Arsenale.

Me being me, I was of course interested in the funeral barge. The tradition of transporting coffins to San Michele started after Napoleon took over, in 1807, but the Venetians soon made it their own. The gold orb with wings represents the soul of the departed.

If you were an Admiral, your funeral barge would be led by another barge with four black carved horses.

All very impressive, though I must say that the coffin I saw arriving yesterday was being transported on a standard motor taxi, so I guess, as with all things, it’s about what you can afford.

This was a very fine fishing boat, used to catch the famous soft-shelled crabs of the lagoon. Apparently there are ‘good’ crabs, who have just moulted and so can be eaten whole, and ‘bad’ crabs who, if caught, will fight with all the other crabs and cause damage to the whole catch. I was offered soft-shell crab in a restaurant this week, but didn’t realise that they were local. One lives and learns, clearly.

Traditional Crab Boat

There were also numerous winged lions, in various states of repair and disrepair. The story goes that the relics of St Mark were held in Alexandria, but were stolen on the order of the Doge by two Venetians merchants, and hidden in a barrel of pork fat, which would not be searched by the Muslim customs officers. They were brought to Venice and prosperity reigned, but then they were thought to be lost, and one disaster after another struck the Venetians. Then, suddenly, during an earthquake, a column in St Marks split open, revealing the relics. Hooray! Clearly Venice was favoured by St Mark, and all was well for another few hundred years.

One other very interesting ship, the Elletra, was one designed by Marconi for his experiments in radio signals – the vessel was described as a ‘sea-going laboratory’. Having been requisitioned by the Germans in World War ii, the ship was sunk by Allied bombers, but was eventually hauled from the bottom, with various fragments of the ship in different museums in Italy, including the ship museum in Venice, which got the engine room and some of the oil tanks.

So, that was a very interesting visit, but it was time to head off for lunch. On the way we passed a man playing an accordion, a sure sign that the weekend is approaching, and it’s nearly time for us to head home. But what a great week it’s been! However often I visit Venice, I always find something new…