Still Traveling - Venerable Venice: The Heart & the Hidden

Still Traveling

Would you like to still travel? Now you can without leaving your home – just stay still!

Let us whisk you away for an "armchair adventure" on an interesting, educational, fun & live, guided group tour in a destination beyond your front door ...even beyond the grocery store!

Forget the long, masked airplane ride, we take you across the time zones by Zoom where a local professional guide from a distant destination will take us to explore sites or topics. Live Q&A, photos, graphics & video clips (when available) will transport us to the destination!

Your ticket purchase helps support our special guests – professional guides – who are mostly or completely out of work.

Since her first series on Venice last year, countless guests have asked for more from our terrific, local guide Laura.

This spring, she is back with two new mini-series – one in March, one in April!

Venerable Venice: The Heart & the Hidden

Three Mondays, March 7, 14 & 21, 2022

11am-12:15pm (PT), 12-1:15pm (MT), 1-2:15pm (CT), 2-3:15pm (ET)

on Zoom

In this special mini-series, join James Sokol to zoom to Venice for three virtual “trips” with our beloved, professional guide Laura. A native Venetian, Laura provides interesting insights into the heart of the city – the Piazza San Marco – but also into lesser-known, hidden gems: Castello, the Arsenale and Rialto.

To “meet” our trip leader James and hear about our travel program, click here.

Our Virtual “Trips” Include:

Piazza San Marco (Mar 7)

Let’s “meet” at the starting point for all visitors to Venice, the most sumptuous section of the city, welcoming millions of visitors each year. Yet, many don’t really know the history of this incredible space, continuously transformed so as to become the political and social heart of the Serenissima Republic. Together, let’s re-live the most relevant and intriguing aspects of the Square, its role, the ceremonies, the protagonists that made it - as Napoleon said - “the most wonderful drawing room in Europe!”

Castello and the Arsenale: The Heart of Venetian Sea Power (Mar 14)

Today, we leave the bustling heart of Venice to go off-the-beaten-path to visit one of the lesser-known of the city’s six districts. Castello started as little more than a swamp until the area was reclaimed and widened when the Arsenal – the Venetian State Shipyard – was established at its edge in the early 13th century. Almost 3000 shipbuilders lived in the vicinity and, as a result, Castello is different! See its small, humble homes (instead of palaces!), narrow backstreets, old wells, washing hanging on lines; feel its genuine, laid-back and quaint atmosphere. Then, visit the Naval Museum. Situated right outside the grand entrance of the Arsenal, the museum is very worth a visit to understand how the city functioned. See old maps of the city, models of galleys, traditional boats, the Bucintoro (the Doge’s barge), Peggy Guggenheim's gondola…and more! .

Rialto (Mar 21)

Visit Rialto beyond the bridge! In fact, Rialto is much more than the famous bridge spanning the Grand Canal. In fact, Rialto was the name of the area where the commercial center of Venice was established in the late 11th century. The local government shaped it according to the various offices and activities that took place there and had it rebuilt several times after disastrous fires. Imagine a large, oriental-looking bazar: Rialto was the place where you could find everything from a pin to an elephant! Mentioned even by Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice, Rialto is a fascinating section of the city even today; see its bustling with colors, fish & vegetables, learn about hidden gems, visit the place where you can savor the best cicchetti (re: “snacks”) in town!!!!

Tickets & Notes:

Full Series Ticket ($37.50): Series of 3-visits (equals $12.50/visit).

All Tickets: ...1) are for the series; individual "trips" are not available , 2) are per device, not per person on Zoom, and 3) are non-refundable & non-exchangeable.

The Fine Print:

Fortunately, we've had very few issues, but just to be clear...

Your Zoom “Event Link”: The Zoom event link will be emailed to all registered guests 2-days prior to the first tour. To help it land in your "inbox," please add the following emails to your contacts:

• James Sokol -- jsokol@marinjcc.org
• JCC Alliance -- alliance@marinjcc.org

Registrants are requested to make sure the email w/link has arrived by the evening of Sat, Mar 5th. If the email does not arrive, please see "Troubleshooting" below.

The email w/link will be re-sent to all registrants about 2-hours prior to the first tour. NB: However, if it landed somewhere other than in your inbox the first time, it will probably do the same later.

Have a Comcast email? Please refer to this guide: https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/spam-filters-and-email-blocking-new-experience.

Troubleshooting: We will do our best to remedy any issues. Registrants who have NOT received the email w/link are asked to check their email "junk" and "spam" folders. If found, please move the email to your inbox. If the email/link is still not there, please contact James (see below) immediately.

Late Troubleshooting: We will try our best - but cannot guarantee - help with Zoom links to guests contacting James less than 2-hours prior to the event.

Live Only: In agreement with our guides, artists, instructors, special guests, etc., events are not recorded. Make-up sessions are unavailable. Credit/refund is not given for missed events.

Liability: While we will do our best to remedy any issues, The Osher Marin JCC & its Program Partners cannot be held responsible for 1) issues related to Eventbrite or Zoom, 2) ticket buyers not following the instructions above, nor 3) packing, shipping, or delivery services of food/beverages not received in time for tasting events.

Don’t ya just hate “the fine print?!!”

Questions? Email James at jsokol@marinjcc.org.

Still Traveling is created by the Osher Marin JCC (San Rafael, CA) and offered by the National JCC Adult & Senior Alliance. See below for a full list of Alliance Partners.

ALL ARE WELCOME to join in our activities! JCC members, non-members, those who live near or far, people of all backgrounds, faiths, ethnicities, hair styles, fashion choices, chocolate preferences, etc. "The more the merrier!"