All Along The Clock Tower*

Usually when we have a VRBO on a trip, we stop at a small grocery store and get some items, such as snack to power our daily sight-seeing, as well as breakfast.  I’m not sure why, but we didn’t bother with getting breakfast foods for the apartment this time.  Instead we popped round the corner to a small café, where we sat outside and enjoyed a light breakfast.

After that, we did the short walk to St. Mark’s Square, where we walked east along the St, Mark’s Basin, popping over the various canals that feed into Venice from the basin.  

We found the hotel we stayed in back in 2007, the Metropole, which was fun to see again.  We felt nostalgic, but not enough to pop into the lobby and answer staff questions about why we were there.

“Well, see, back in April of 2007, our family of five stayed here, and we got the coolest picture of the girls in the back of a water taxi as we cruised the Grand Canal on our way to the airport.”  Yup, sounds just as lame in my head as it does when I type it out.

(Editor: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but that actually would have been a sweet thing to say.  Writer: Upon further review, you are right, but what can you do.)

And, on the Monday morning of April 8, 2024 I took this cool picture:

Gondolas by St. Marks, with

the church of San Giorgio

across the water.

The time for our Clock Tower tour rolled around, so we went to the Correr Museum at the west end of St. Mark’s Square (which is actually nearly 200 yards long).  We joined up with the relatively small tour group and went to check out the an mechanical marvel dating from 1496.  

We stopped at room on all five floors, including the very top, where we were right next to the two bronze men, called the Moors strike the bell at the top of each hour.  

On the way, we saw the internal workings of the clock, including mechanism and what could be the world’s first digital clock.

Above the fireplace in the office

of the clock tower manager.

Science stuff that makes

the clock work like, um

clock work.

Ditto.

The digital wheel

of the hours.

Here the "5" minute

"hand" is facing

St. Mark's Square.

A bigger look at the wheel.

If you need the exact time, 

look at your iPhone. 

Two of the wise men who used

to rotate outside twice a day.

That would have been cool to see.

Apparently, in the 17th century, one of the Moors knocked an worker off the top and to his death.  As Rick Steves notes in his book on Italy, it was “probably the first ever killing by a robot.”  And, mark my words, it won’t be the last!

(Editor: For a travel blog, that sure got dark quickly!  Writer: I’m not wrong, am I?)

Carol Clock Tower Selfie

Couple Clock Tower Selfie.  Neither

of us plunged to our death.

Robot killers at work, with

the Campanile as a witness.

Another church in the distance

from the top of the clock tower.

The tower of San Giorgio as seen

through the legs of one of the

Moors.

Winged lion on the Basilica

of St. Mark's from the top

of the clock tower.

St. Mark's from our vantage point.

Angels on the top of St. Mark's.

A selfie from near the water, with

the clock tower between us.

*    Yes, I KNOW the Bob Dylan song is "All Along The Watch Tower," not "Clock         Tower," but it's the song that came to mind.