Venice - A hearse in the canal

Can you spot the hearse in this photo?  Hint: it's in the foreground.
Venice's hospital is visible on the right. 

A Venetian is never far from a boat.  And in fact, A Venetian's last journey is on a boat, as the cemetery is on an island too.  Steven and I spied this hearse next to the city hospital, as part of an unconventional walking tour of the city, put on by Free Walking Tours of Venice.  (Yes, the walk is absolutely free, but a cash donation at the end is highly encouraged.)  These tours skip the usual stuff and go right for the unusual.

Romana, our guide, in front of the world's most beautiful city hospital. 

Romana, our guide, came to Venice by way of Lithuania, stayed, and married a Venetian.  Now her full time job is as a professional guide.  We weaved in and out of alleys and over bridges and through oddly shaped squares (campi),  learning about platform shoes and backsplash guards and plague masks and how to order a spritzer, among other important facts. We ended our tour near this magnificent hospital, formerly a school named after St. Mark.  It was converted into a military hospital by the Austrians, who kept a clutter of cats in the inner courtyard to consume the rats.  (There was a law that stray cats could not be fed in Venice, to keep them mousing.  Watering cats was permitted however, and small depressions next to cistern spigots in the squares were intended for cat hydration. I should add that I saw only one cat during my stay in Venice, and he looked quite well fed.)

Romana explaining how houses in Venice are repurposed.

Since Venice became a UNESCO world heritage site more than a dozen years ago, you can't really build anything new in Venice, with a few exceptions.  So grand old homes on the Grand Canal become hotels and museums, and schools became hospitals, and this stately old house became a day care program for mentally disabled adults. (We didn't guess that one.)  You'll note that this repurposed house has a house number, as does practically every door in Venice.  But that's a new convention, imposed by Austrians and Germans and French who invaded Venice.  All were appalled at the lack of both house numbers and street names.  Venice hadn't bothered with all that for centuries.  But now every street corner, alley, underground passage and bridge has a freshly scrubbed sign.  I would argue that you can generally get where you want to go.

A gondelier points out where Marco Polo used to live.
Behind him is where Casanova used to live. 

  The great lover Casanova and the great explorer Marco Polo lived a couple blocks from each other in Venice, though several centuries apart.  Romana took us to a little patio next to the foundations of the house Marco Polo lived in after his 25-year journey to the Orient. The "house" of Marco Polo is now a theater, but that doesn't prevent gondoliers from pointing it out as they pass.  What they don't mention is the house behind them is where Giacoma Casanova lived for a time. 

Spriter and snack after the tour.