Posts

Buonasera Venezia

Image
 When we honeymooned in Venice, we'd go into the historic zone before dawn and watch the city come awake as the sun rose. We'd ride empty vaporettos around and (pre-cell phone + google maps) just wander getting kinda lost. This time we stayed on the mainland and had a very jetlagged teen - not to mention an incredible breakfast spread at the hotel that was so worth hanging around for - so we had to aim to explore the city at night in hopes of a reprieve from the heat and crowds. It was still sweltering. It was still a riot of people - water buses even more full than in the day! But it was magical, festive, and mysterious in a whole new way. Though the Rialto Bridge was rebuilt in the late 1500s, it is the oldest crossing of the Grand Canal, originally constructed in 1181. We didn't want to pack in like sardines to try for photos from the bridge, but being good little tourists, we did have to capture it from the Canal. Being so close to Murano, we were treated to frequent si...
3 comments
Read more

Murano & Burano

Image
My goodness it was HOT!   But Murano - the city of glass - and Burano - the city of lace, were much less crowded and were so delightful to behold. It is tempting to post every amazing piece of art but I would crash the server. Everywhere one looks, there is something mind blowing to see. Can someone tell me how these survived from the 1800s when I can barely hold onto chunky mason jars to drink iced tea from? It is just astounding that bead makers can melt together dozens of glass canes to make a tiny image - from the impressive millfiori to the unbelievable portraits and pictures. This broken piece illustrates how the image runs through the entire length to be sliced into perfect beads - often less than a quarter this diameter. Alternatively, slices can be melted onto a larger base bead in a tabletop furnace. We were taken by this modern Venetian artist, Marco Toso Borella, who etches gold foil on handmade glass panes and then adds enamels. I loved his blending of antique and cont...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cento di questi giorni!

Image
Congr atula zioni to our recent graduate! And buon viaggio ! When we lament all of the time Max spends traveling, we temper it with the promise of fabulous vacations using accrued miles and points + decided family time in Italy would be a perfectly phenomenal way to reward the hard work + accomplishments of 13 years of homeschooling!   Max was already in Europe on business so met us at FCO to head straight to the train station to head north to Venice. Mass transit, from trains to buses on land and on water, was so convenient and reliable. Especially when we realized our train tickets were for our own little room with snack and beverage service included. At this point we'd been up for ~30 hours and got a little loopy. And the crash came hard. And then we were in Venice! We didn't stay in the old city + so had the added adventure of packing into a very crowded, but punctual + short, bus to the edge of the Grand Canal each morning whereupon we'd find the appropriate (and so...
Post a Comment
Read more