Venice

Last weekend, I spent four days in Venice with my friend, Holly, who traveled to Italy in order to sketch and paint for a month and was nice enough to take several trains across the boot in order to meet me.  

With J's work schedule keeping him away from home two weeks or more of every month, he readily agreed (and encouraged) me to take a long weekend to recharge and unwind (he's really great that way).  

I'd not traveled to Venice before as most of my trips to Italy prior to this one focused solely on the Western coastal towns, Florence and Rome.  Venice was the perfect, tranquil getaway destination in that there were no autos, motorbikes or bicycles; travel is limited to the pedestrian and boat varieties.  Because of the canals, I was surprised that the air smelled only briny and nothing worse and that there were no mosquitoes!  In contrast to other tourist destinations, Venice closed her doors relatively early and all became reposeful which suited my purposes perfectly.  

Holly and I spent a profuse amount of time in San Marco's admiring what must have been the painstaking effort of craftsmen as they set intricate mosaic patterns on the walls and domes; most of the mosaic pieces were roughly the size of a pea.  We toured the Doge's palace and people watched in the piazza.  

We went to Harry's Bar where we had Bellinis that exacerbated our sensation of being on a boat; apparently, champagne is not my friend when combined with canals.  

We visited the Frari Basilica which houses Titian's tomb (and his exquisite altarpiece) and a jewel-tone triptych by Bellini depicting one of the most winsome Madonnas I've seen.  

I dined in Campo San Margherita and sought out the house of Cristoforo il Moro, the man upon whom Shakespeare based his Othello character.  

The Accademia quartered the work and pieces painted by Venetians many of which betrayed Byzantine influences; however, I didn't spend as much time in the museum as I would've liked as it was not air-conditioned which made the inner rooms oppressively hot.  

We attended an opera, La Traviata, in which the performers had fine voices, but somehow three acts were stretched into four and I found myself restive for Violetta's consumptive death. Because our seats were orchestra ones, Holly found herself preoccupied with the unorthodox placement of the viola and could speak of nothing else during intermission! Incidentally, Holly is also the friend with whom I traveled across Basque France and Paris seeking out and attending concerts, ballets and recitals several years ago.  Holly introduced me to the late Franco Corelli's rich voice and Herbert Du Plessis' gift for interpreting Liszt (his concert in Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre is one of my most treasured Parisian memories). Unfortunately for us, our trip didn't coincide with Andrea Bocelli's concert which we missed by two days.  

We went to Murano, and because of Holly's extensive knowledge of glass, we were given a private tour of the separate showroom and its closed work room.  The proprietor offered us champagne (which I declined), and he and Holly discussed William Morris and Chihuly while I marveled at the intricate filigree patterns and designs of the master blowers.  I was talked into buying a piece that I'm sure won't survive the sticky hands of my little ones beyond a year.    

Who's coming with me next time?

San Marco's Basilica

The view from our gondola; our gondolier didn't sing but he was informative as he pointed out the one-time homes of Marco Polo and Casanova.

We shopped at the Rialto market where I bought figs and cherries by the kilo and coveted the zucchini blossoms which I knew would not survive a plane ride home.  Holly and I ate well:  risotto, spider crab, homemade gnocchi that melted in your mouth, pasta made black with cuttlefish ink and *lots* of gelato!

I took a two hour cruise of the islands that comprise Venice and watched the sun set over the Grand Canal.

Salute as seen from the canal.