To the Lido!

One of the 117 or so islands in Venice's lagoon is the Lido.

Denise, Bob, and I vaporettoed out there today, so Bob could swim. The Lido, you see, is a resort island and has swimming beaches. Many are private but we visited one that was free.

 

Note the forest of 'for rent' umbrellas and chaise longues.

 Bob went for two swims and felt very good. Denise and Jackie went for walks along--and in--the water.  

 

This is the Adriatic, a new body of water for me!

Our return ride took us along the Grand Canal:

 San Giorgio Maggiore

La Salute Church

One of several rowing teams enjoying the day.

Many gondolas out too.

 The Rialto Bridge, where we disembarked

to buy Jennifer's bag. 

She chose the blue one.

I've mentioned the vaporetto several times, and ridden at least once every day. This is what it looks like inside:

just like a city bus. 

I found an art book about the Accademia Museum that I visited yesterday, and I learned the name of the sweet saint I admired; remember this guy?

It's Saint Stephen, who was stoned to death, pictured with the rocks like floating eggs on his head and shoulders. Fun to recognize, isn't it?

 And to end the day, here's the evening view off our front balcony:

Ciao!

Out and About

Sightseeing this morning began early with a vaporetto ride down the Grand Canal to the Accademia, a museum of Venetian Renaissance art.  We'll begin with the vaporetto ride down most of the length of the Grand Canal.  The sky was still overcast then, though it cleared up quickly: 

 

 Some Byzantine influence here

 

 

Though this one is looking into the sun, the effect is lovely.

The museum openss with a single, large room of altarpieces. This is a genre I have always enjoyed, and I think my jaw dropped in awe several times. Here are a few from that gallery:

I particularly admired the fellow on the right, here's a close-up:

Then the Virgin with a lively baby:

and a breath-taking Mary Magdalene:

a sweet-faced Virgin

and a lively angel delivering the Annunciation

My favorite Annunciation had a large and lively angel descending to deliver the message to Mary cowering in a corner, a sensible reaction to the event, I think, but it didn't photograph well. 

One more saint here.

Away from the altarpieces, the paintings became huge in scale and in size, incredibly complex--

and glorious. Another, too large to capture cleanly on my camera, showed a similarly complex scene with the Last Supper tucked into the hustle and bustle of Venice, relating the event and all its meanings to their own time and place.

It was an art-full morning as I visited St Mark's Basilica. I hadn't remembered it so dark inside, though the mosaics were striking. No photos allowed there, but on the balcony overlooking the expansive piazza, the world stretches on:

 

Isn't it splendid!

Then to Florian's one more time! I arrived first and so, started first with a fine, large sundae topped with fresh fruit:

The orchestra is clearly visible this time. Bob and Denise arrived and we all enjoyed pots of tea! What a delightful setting!

I trust you had a pleasant day as well. 

Celestial Sturm und Drang Again!

We have had rain each day since we arrived, which, granted, wasn't all that long ago, but it is rather like Camelot where the fall leaves blow neatly away during the night, because rain has not once inconvenienced us! This evening the celestial sturm und drang began while we were at dinner, and we got to walk home in it, cleverly sheltered by the umbrellas we'd thought to take!

 

I am impressed by the quality of the light here even during a rainstorm--especially during a rainstorm with lightning! Fascinating! Our apartment is on a small canal and we also walk along larger canals every day. It's the water and the humidity, I think, that create the glow of light. I can't get enough of it and look at the sky from the front or rear balconies any time, even when I wake up during the night.

Before we arrived, I'd looked through the guidebook at all the listings for art museums and thought I'd focus on modern artists, but I've changed my mind--I want to see the Venetian painters to see the light in their work. Tomorrow I'll tell you about my experience.

I started the day by walking to the bread shop for some croissants, then had a coffee at a coffee bar where people stand at a little counter. I thought author Donna Leon's police detective Comissario Brunetti might appear, but alas...

I had my caffee latte without the shot of grappa! What a wimp!

Venice is ache-ingly beautiful, and I am trying to inhale and breathe it instead of seeing it only through my camera. Here are a few photos of common (no kidding!) sights I saw today. 

  

 

 

We wandered around a different part of the city today to visit the Frari Basilica.  Of all the artwork, these were my favorites. Since no photography was permitted, I bought postcards and snapped a picture of them.

 Two wildly different styles about 150 years apart: Paolo Venziano's Madonna con bambino (1339) on the left, and Giovani Bellini's Madonna...con bambino...(1488.) The Venziano is Byzantine and pretty flat, while the Bellini madonna has volume and weight, more natural. The babies are different too--Bellini's  child has the proportions of a toddler, while Venziano's baby is a small adult. Well, after all, he IS God, and surely diety wouldn't ressemble an ordinary baby! Fascinating!

A 24 hour vaporetto strike forced crowds of people into the narrow 'streets,' It was extremely crowded near the Rialto Bridge, claustrophobic in the narrowest alleys, but I persisted in my quest for Jennifer's satchel/briefcase/purse/bag. I am hoping to get her opinion on the color, so I can complete that transaction tomorrow. (Which do you prefer?)

I visited dozens of handbag shops, so walking home was slow; and since we'd been walking for hours, we welcomed an afternoon rest until dinnertime. After which we walked home in the rain. You've already heard how much I enjoyed that.

I woke up this mornin' in Venice!

So I wake up this morning following a very long day of traveling--you heard about that yesterday--and, anyway, I wake up to find myself in Venice!!!

 Of course it was only 2:30 a.m., but who am I to complain? A few hours later, having given up trying to return to Dreamland--besides, could Dreamland be better than Venice???---I went for a walk. The neighborhood is quiet, but just a small wooden bridge and steps away is a larger canal busy with the morning. Vaporettos full of working folk, garbage boats with cranes to lift and empty big wheelie bins, boats transporting goods--all kinds of boats doing what trucks usually do in the morning in other cities. I walked to the end of that canal to where the lagoon begins, and the lagoon was full of traffic too. 

Plus it was a beautiful morning!

And what makes a morning beautiful? The sky! So here is a Venetian sky! I'll see these soon in paintings by Venetian Masters; you almost expect God or angels to peek through, or to see Mary, the Queen of Heaven surrounded by seraphs or something!

Following breakfast we three, Bob, Denise, and I, went wandering.  Bob's sharp eyes noticed this shop tucked just off the main path:

 a man inside was fashioning gondola oars! You can see a few diagonally near the back wall, and in the foreground, kind of blurry, is a gondola oarlock! Cleverly designed, aren't they, allowing the gondolier to move that oar every which way!

 

Walking and gawking, we made our way to the Rialto Bridge, quite the bustling place! 

Directed by Bob, who had some kind of vision of how to reach our destination, we slipped into Piazza San Marco from the side, from the narrow sidewalks with buildings and shoppers crowding us, we arrived to that truly magnificent space! My goodness, what a grand sight! I stood dumbly taking it in until four young women asked to have their picture taken together, so I asked them--

 

Sadly, a photo can't capture the majesty of the place! And then--Florian's, the classic cafe on the piazza. Hilariously expensive, but we'd planned for it, 

 

and, as Rick Steves advised, we sat and listened to the orchestra for about an hour and a half, and no one was rushing us even then; it was lovely! A beautiful day, dear friends, and a longtime imagining become a memory.  Plenty of time to breathe and be in the moment. Can you see the orchestra in their black coats and white shirts behind other customers? 

 

What a delicious interlude!

Moving on: St. Mark's is covered in scaffolding from the front, but here's a still breath-taking view from the side:

Isn't it magnificent?!!!

En route to catch the vaporetto home, gondolas waiting:

I didn't take a single picture on the vaporetto ride all the way down the Grand Canal; I just wanted to breathe it in, and I did. You'll see more another day.

And finally, the view from my room this afternoon--

I am in awe of the beauty of this place. I hope my words and photographs give you some sense of it. Thank you for traveling with me.

We never doubted, but...

  We never doubted for an instant that we would eventually arrive in Venice (here the first photo i took)

 but it is such a magical place that I am stunned to be here on our own canal (below), walking along seeing the sights in magnificent Venice!

 This is our own canal! It is certainly not private to our abode, but it is charming and quiet. Looking the other direction, even though the sun isn't as good:

Pretty amazing, isn't it!

From the airport we took a bus to the edge of the city, then a vaporetto--basicaly a city bus-boat--walked a little, climbed a few flights of stairs then took possession of our very own apartment in Venice. I even have my own room.

Wandered a bit after changing clothes and found a tasty dinner: lasagne and gnocci, both excellent, along with an ordinary salad. A bit of grocery shopping for tomorrow and a gelato rounded out the evening. The sky has clouded over and thunder is rumbling, so there will likely be rain. I hope it's not so much that we have to close our balcony doors--the air is delicious!

My body doesn't know what day or time it is, so I'm crawling into bed now. And, as an arbitrary decision, I've taken my pills for Wednesday night, guess I missed Tuesday pretty much. Enjoy your week, We'll be wandering much more tomorrow, gasping as we turn each corner.

These are snowy mountains, Alps we think, seen as we flew from FRankfurt to Venice.

Here you see the snow-covered Sierras with Mono Lake tucked in down the way, my view for a minute en route to LAX this morning.  A lovely flight, walked a lot during my layover, found Bob and Denise in a cafe where they shared a bit of wine and some cheesecake with me. This bodes well, I think!

It is now night time in this airplane cabin and most are swathed in darkness trying to sleep. I was among them for a couple hours anyway. So here is that view:

effectively dark with purple and green lights, However it isn't quite dark outside.

The last two present a 21st century  view of this space between time and earth. We're not exactly in suspended animation, but it's weird up here at this hour!

And, not surprisingly, there is not much to do up here at this hour! I took a picture representing our jet jet swooping over ??Greenland?  Then I took another out the window:

Have I ever desired to visit Greenland? Are the people there like the Eskimos of my childhood stories who bounced children up and down in blankets as a lively community game?

It is oddly still evening--9:40 somewhere and 6:40 in Frankfurt--Have I wanted to visit Frankfurt? I shall  you know, in about four hours! A very silly post I'm hoping to zap off to you in this mythical Frankfurt in about 4 hours. Perhaps I shall try again to sleep, not easy on a bucking bronco, one with restricted space!

 

Just a bit longer until Frankfurt, then transfer and another hour + to Venice!!! I mean--Venezia!!!

A layover now in the Frankfurt airport--which is very gray, or perhaps, since I"m in Europe--very grEy.

I'm going to post now though we'll arrive in VEnice in a couple hours. There will be plenty more to write about there!

Thanks for sharing the long flight!

Lists and more lists!

Soon and very soon--Tuesday to be exact--I will be on my way again; today I am beginning to believe it will actually happen! Laundry is on the line so I can begin to pack tomorrow. My latest quilt is at a good stopping place so I can easily resume my work when I return; that's important!

 

Lists are everywhere, and all of them pretty much say the same thing. Funny, I was creating the latest list when I realized that the items I have fussed about the most take up so little space on the lists: my clothes! I'll try on each outfit to make certain the pieces coordinate and more importantly still fit! I am so looking forward to gelato, pasta and pizza that I will need to walk quite a lot so my clothes will still cover me when it's time to come home. 

But walk I will. I plan to enjoy Venice, Assisi, Rome and Paris by BEING THERE and BREATHING deeply. Coffee in Piazzas and Places, people watching and museums certainly. I feel like a sponge, ready to soak it all up, but that image sounds quite messy, gooshy, even. I want to walk and relax, take my time and BE. Have no fear, I'll still see a lot, and you'll get plenty of pictures.

By the way, there doesn't seem to be spellcheck on this program; that's good and bad since it won't be confused by place names and my use of foreign words now and then, but it also won't catch silly typos. Hopefully you won't mind and I just won't worry about what has already been wafted into the ether. I love having you travel with me--Thank you!