Morning journal and courier., 1893-02-10
NOTES OF TRAVEL: NO. 6.

NOTES OF TRAVEL: NO. 6. Yenice-Its CanaIs-The PaIazze of |
 St. mark-The Cathedral-Doges |
 Palace and Churches. To the Editor Of the JOURNAL AND COURIER: |
 VENICE, Oct. 19, 1592.-Leaving Milano l on the noon train we arrived on the main land, opposite Venice, about the setting of | the sun. Venice lies about two and e half miles from the mainland on the Lagune, @ shallow bay of the Adriatic, and is about twenty-five miles long and seven wide. It is the outlet of the river Pc and its tribu- taries.
 The railroad enters on the Lagune and suddenly the landscape assumes peculiar color and aspect. There are no grass or trees-au is sea and sand as far as one can see. The banks emerge low and flat, and some of therc axe half washed by the waves. A light hreeze wrinkles the gilt tsring pools aud the setting sun throws over it purple tints, which the swell of the waves now and then make ehangeable &C., oording to the aspect of the sky. becoming dark blue, red or green, according to the sea which covers them. The sense of vision seems to encounter another world. Instead of the strong, clear tints of solid earth, it is softening, an incessant glow of dissolving tints-the combination which is harmony.
 The train crosses the Lsguns by bridge and we stop at Stazione Strada Ferrata on the grand canal, where we leave the CATS and take gondola for the hotel de Angle terre, which is situated on the grand canal opposite the Isola St. Georgio. One feels inclined to be happy; the gondola glides along, as it were, insensibly, and reclining and mentally. A gentle breeze fans tho cheeks. The broad surface of the canal undulates with the rosy and white forms of the palaces, asleep, as 1t were, in the silence of the moonlight night; 1t at least appeared so, as all the palaces and houses had their shutters closed to keep out tho gnats and mosquitoes.
 The course of the grand canal sweeps be- tween two ranges of palaces, which, each being built apart by itself, combine their diversities for It's embellishments. Most of them are of the middle ages, with win dows capped with trefoils and balconies trellised with foliage and rosaces, all this rich Gothic trsoery blooming forth in the midst of it's marble lscework, never bs- coming dull or ugly; those of the renais- ssncs displaying their three ranges of an tique columns. Porpbyry and serpentins incrust the upper sections of the doors with their polished and delicate material. Several of the facades are rossate or mot tied with delicate hues.
 The canal turns and we see rising as 1t were, from the water, like rich marine vegetation, or a magnificent piece of white coral, the Santa Maria del Salute, with its domes, it's clustered sculpture, and it's pediment loaded with statues, and beyond on another islsnd, St. Georgia Maggiore, | glistening like large pearl conch; while as you turn your eye to the left you see the
 booca of San Marco, with the pillars of St.
 Mark and St. Theodore, the ducal palace,
 the cathedral of St. Mark and Campapile.
 Probably no place in the world equals it.
 It is not to be fully described; it has to be 1 seen to fully appreciate all it's bsauty
 and grandeur, lighted as it is with cleo
 tricity. it's vast moving throng of people,
 and glittering shops.
 l AS the hotel we stop at is situated on
 the grand canal opposite the isola St. Geor-
 gis Maggiore, about two short blocks be- l yond the piazza San Marco, we hero dis
 embark from the gondola, after delight
 ful sail of nearly three miles on the canal
 by moonlight, the fare on the Rondola be-
 ing franc each, room at hotel francs,
 table de hote francs. Although called
 the Hotel de Angleterre, it is kept by a
 Frenchman. It is a nice hotel, with good
 the 15, 900 houses, palaces, and churches of
 the oity are chiefly built on piles and
 stand on IF small islands formed by 15O
 canals, connected by 879 bridges. The city
 has a population of 14O, ,O00. of whom ore
 third are mendicants. Its earliest history
 is not known, but it is supposed to have
 been settled from Padua, the people
 going to what they deemed an inaccessible
 place to escape the conquerors Attila and open sea by long sand hills. strengthened by masonry thirty feet high and from ' forty to fifty feet wide. T @ lagunes are C.. nected with th' op ga by foul on.t nces. h the mai, 'gun,, on whicf the oi,y is tilt, he ater rises 8 fall. two and a hal fe-, making constan change of the at . Tha la es mostly
 rise direct if n i1ere annals, thei
 entrance stai O. B ral cir artl urde
 water, thou 3 me of tn m gre pankee by narrow foot paths. T city b B nc waterworks, ut is sup i~ :r,ra larg 2 wells or cisterns that are i the 70 lrts O the palaces. The water i delivered b, carriers in rails carried on a yoke acres the neck to the houses Among thes extend lanes paved with stone or ssphal that is alive wlth busy picturesque throng of people.
 After nights rest we went to tn, . piazza to get view of the fl, est one witl ! fits surroundings that we ha- seen in Itsl. Marco, one can hardly do it justice in de soribing 1t, bordered as 1t is with portico and palaces, extends rectangularly with it forest of columns, it's Corinthian capitsli D it's statues and it's varied and classics forms. At its extremity, half Gothic, hal ] Byzantine, in the form of Greek cross rises the Basilics, under large domes ar U tsperinR belfries, It's aroades festoone . 2 with figures, its porohes, laced as 1t wer z 4 with light columns and wainsootted wit mosaice, it's agreements of oolored marble f and its oupolas glistening with gold U sort of Christian sanctuary aud mosqu j combined.
 The cathedral Is 249 feet long and 16 l. feet wide, of the form of 8 Greek orosl . covered with Byzantine domes in the cer 7 ter end at the end of each arm. The wet / and north ''transept vestibules are oovere '. with several smaller domes. Externall
 and internally the church Is adorned wit
 500 marble columns, mostly oriental, 1
 different styles of carving and oolorins l, and mosaics. Over the principal ports d are four horses in gilded bronze, five fec
 high. The bronze horses are supposed 5 once have adorned the arch of Trajan ( Rome and to have been carried to Conssar l. tinople by the Emperor Constantine 5 brought from thence to Venice in 1904
 the Doge Dondola and placed over the DO,
 tai of St. Mark; taken by Napoleon J. Paris in 1797 and placed on the triumph, II arch Place du Oarrousal, and restored u their position in 1915 by the Emperc y Francis of Austria.
 e The facade of the cathedral is sdorue # with mossics of the most beautiful colo f. imaginable, the color of glass, transparer F. alabaster, polished marble and lustrou h gold combined. Back of the horses on Ie blue field of studded gold stars Is the lio
 of St. Mark. There are seen below tt
 horses over the principal entrance 1
 mosaic the picture of the last judgmen l. the embarkation of tue body of St. Mar l. at Alexandria and its arrival at Venic
 and the veneration of St. Mark. On u
 right and left of the entrance are for l. mosaics, representing the descent from tl a cross, Christ in hell, resurrection an m ascension. Above are statues of the eva1
 gelists; above the central arch lsrl 10 statue of St. Mark, who is the utuli of saint of Venice, whose bones are said sr have been brought to Venice in S2S sn B: placed in crypt of this church IT Loggetta or vestibule of Sansovinia, seen
 like 8 flower, adorned as it is with statue le bas reliefs. bronzes aud marbles and wha b. ever is rich and elegant in art.
 r. Opposite the cathedral is the CRmpsni