Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-02-03

stone floor is still shown the traces of blood,
! and throu gh a hole in the thick stone wall
the body was pushed down into gondola,
| ready to receive it and to convey it out in
! the ocean, where it was lowered down.
| Dark and dismal passages lead from these
! prisons on the Que side to the courts OF
| justice above on the other to the "bridge
ofsghs," tn at connects the palace with the
ordinary prison, now used for city prison.
The bridge is high up between the two
| buildings, entirely covered, but Wi tn small
windows on the sides We are glad enough
to get away from these dismal places, only
TO ascend to other prisons, close up under
| the roof, formerly known as ''uader the
| leads, not quite as dismal as those below,
but still sufficiently disagreesble. The
| cells below are entirely Of stone, without
! furniture of any kind, where a fiat stone
served as bed, and another saDtng one as
! pillow; above they are of wood, some two
or three feet thick, but quite small.
The next place OF interest in the church
OF San Marco, on the square Of the same
name. under the altar of which are buried
the remains of ST. Mark, the Evangelist,
or what is supposed to be his rema ms
| The church is very rich in fine mosaic
work, that adornS the walls and panels.
! Or all the fine churches we have seen in
Europe, this undoubtedly takes the lead
Behind the altar are seen two pillars O.
porphyrus from the temple of Solomon
The building is gorgeous in al its details,
and must be Seen, as any description of it
would fail to convey an impression Of lis
splendor. Over the door OF en- trance are
five bronze horses, that have their origin
from the time of Nero The church is
built in the & yzantine style, that gives it
quite an Eastern appearance. The San
Marco place is a beautiful squar Immediate
! ly IN front Of the church, on the two sides
bounded by buildings of more modern ORR
| gin, the lower story occupied by stores and
cafes. Exactly on the stroke Of 2 0 clock
| every day immense swarms of doves as
semble to be fed, in accordance with an
old time honored custom. Ia former days
they were fed at the public expense but
now they are fed by the strangers who
assemble here every day to witness this as
sembIy. The doves fly around you every
where, light on your head, shoulders and
hands, and flock around Your feet so tia t
it is almost impossible to move without
stepping on thea AS soon as they have
| been fed they return to their homes till in
stincs the next day calls them together
again. One Of the entrances into the city
from the San Marco is formed oy cele-
DRAFTED clock tower Of very ancient origin,
where clock shows the hour, day, month
| and year, while on the top two immense
figures of bronze with heavy hammers
strike the hour on an immense bell On
the place also rises an immense watch
tower, from which on clear days beauti-
full view of the Adriatc may be had This
was formerly a light house and tower,
whence the approach of the fleets was
heralded. We embark again on our gon.
dola, sail up the Grand Canal to the Riato
Bridge, the only bridge across this canal;
in the middle is a broad passage, on which
front number of small stores, while on
the outside are narrow paths. The bridge
is one immense span and forms the center
OF the city. An American has said that
his first impression Of Venice was that it
was an immense bsrbor-shop, from the num-
Der of gaily colored posts that are placed
in the water in front of nearly all the
houses. The churches are the chief points
of attraction in Venice, and all Of them
are rich, not only in actual wealth, but in
pictures, statuary, &C. We visit as many
of them as it is possible for US to reach in
the limited time at our disposition, and
view the different treasures of which each
one boasts. The picture gallery Of Venice
IS richAn works OF art nearly all of Italian
masters and of religious subjects, bat it is
far from being the largest or richest in the
world, those at Munich and Dresden,
| which we saw, far exceling it,
Our stay in Venice is only a little over
| day, a ridicu ous short time to spend in
city that cannot be properly explored in
month. but our whole trip has merely
given US glance at points Of interests in
Europe, and we must rest satisfied even
with that. The next morning we speed
on to Verona to view the celebrated Roman
amphitheatre, built probably before the
Christian era, and at which it is known
that Nero witnessed the slaughter of Chris
tians by wild beasts. The amphitheatre,
the outer wall of which is nearly DESTROYED,
with the exception of a small piece, enough
to show its construction, can seat $4,000
people, and from the arena, that is to say
even below the amphitheatre, has lately
been found traces of earlier buildings,
showing that it must have been erected on
the ruins of some heather temple.
From Verona we travel through the
beautiful Tyrol, across the Breuner pass,
to Munich, the capital Of Bavaria, rich
and interesting city full of treasures Of