Title : Venice in Three Days? Impossible! But Well Worth the Doomed Effort, Truly. . .
link : Venice in Three Days? Impossible! But Well Worth the Doomed Effort, Truly. . .
Venice in Three Days? Impossible! But Well Worth the Doomed Effort, Truly. . .
Our days in Paris were a good transition, a good way to ride out our jet lag in a city we know well enough to feel less pressure to see or do anything except what suits. This time, two manageably sized yet significant exhibitions, a few good meals, some walks in the park satisfied, and I had time left for coffee with my journal in the mornings -- we even caught up on a few episodes of Un Village Français in the evening with no guilt about a hotel-room Netflix binge.
In Venice now, though, three days (four nights) feels impossibly wanting, especially with the Biennale flashing its international wares of brilliant contemporary art just a 45-minute siren's call away. . . We're very happily housed, with a charmingly efficient kitchen, a delightful tiny garden to eat in, desks and tables to spread out writing and sketching materials, but really, to make even the slightest dent in What to See in Venice, we feel compelled to get out and about as soon as possible (that was 9:30 this morning, the possible didn't arrive very soon. . . .). The vexing if luxurious problem of where to eat those two meals a day is more insistent when you're not in one spot long enough to stock a pantry, nor have enough time to spare to enjoy marketing each day.
Our solution for this trip, given that we'll be taking the train on Wednesday to another city where we'll sleep in a hotel before heading to another city (where we'll meet Dottoressa! I'm very excited!) is to set up one important Art Gallery visit -- and that happened today with the Peggy Guggenheim Collection--see at least one iconic landmark (San Marco), but not fuss about lining up to get in, not try to mix it up with the crowds pouring off those cruise ships we try not to notice. And to walk and walk and walk, stopping for coffee (the perfect cappucinni today with the loveliest service, and in the most welcome swathe of shade) or water or an Aperol Spritz (yesterday at sunset, by a canal).
And to admire the shop windows and the laundry hanging to dry over a canal
It's possible that the designer-clad crew and their coins and credit cards are not terribly well beloved by all the locals, so we did our best not to appear too brash, nor vulgar. . . .
And while I'm not eschewing the possibility of a little shopping tomorrow, so far we've concentrated on soaking up the atmosphere, the food, the wine, a superfluity of architecture and Art ancient and contemporary, there to be stumbled upon. This exhibition at the Azerbaijan Pavilion of the 57th Biennale di Venezia was entitled Under One Sun: The Art of Living Together -- a very moving installation which featured twenty monitors, each showing someone of an ethnic minority (in Azerbaijan) speaking in his or her language, with the English translation appearing below in constantly moving words projected toward the walls and floors, but landing on anyone who interrupts their passage.
We only spent ten or fifteen minutes here, but we found the installation both moving and effective, a powerful illustration of the challenges difference poses to peace and integration, but also of the hope for, and effort to achieve, tolerance and/in diversity.
Time for bed and a book here, and I suspect that I won't post again from Venice this trip (although I will continue to post on Instagram a few times a day). But shall I leave you with one tantalising, foolish, image -- this time it's from Pater's journal, sketched alongside me as we both sat ourselves down and concentrated on the most exuberant, shocking, joyous, and witty equestrian statues you've ever seen. Some of you have seen the statue of which I speak (Marino Marini's Angel of the City); some have only heard of it; others will simply wonder why my husband and I spent time in Venice drawing crude images of a happy nude man on a horse. . .
The head of Pater's horse needs elongating, but on his third try he's captured the angle of the rider's head, something I didn't manage in five or six attempts.
When next we speak of Venice, remind me to tell you of the cutest response to that statue's surprise (the viewer must approach it from behind, descending stairs toward the canal with all its distractions -- the classic second-take is common here). For now, I'll just ask you how you manage the Three or Four-Day Visit to a city with Too Many Attractions. Do you try to get through a long list? Do you like to see as much as possible or do you prefer to see a select few sites or even simply one or two paintings? Would you trade off an important gallery for a lazy few hours in a great little restaurant? How do you sort out priorities? And besides time, of course, there's also budget to be sorted. And stamina and physical ability (My knee pain -- which is really a seizing up of a confusion of muscles and tendons and fascia all 'round the knee, my ITB, calf, glutes, quads, and on and on -- flared up two weeks before we left, so while I've been managing 10 to 15 kilometres daily, it's not cost-free. Don't worry, I brought my foam Travel Roller).
And, of course, I welcome any favourite Venice stories or tips or wishes you'd care to share. Thanks very much to those of you who recommended the Guggenheim Collection. Yes, it was all that!
Thus articles Venice in Three Days? Impossible! But Well Worth the Doomed Effort, Truly. . .
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