Moments In Venice

  We've been back now for a week. I'm all dialed in, as far as jetlag goes. Solidly returned to the normal routine...

  But...but....

  My little pea brain keeps drifting on back to Venice. 

  The light, the history, the art, the watery sounds of the canals, the evenings spent sipping Soave in whichever piazza we happened to find ourselves in...you know, those sorts of things.

  And of course it should, right? My little pea brain is often finding it's tiny self reflecting on Italy. Guess I'm just wired that way. And did I mention it's only been a week?

  All this leads up to me spending time looking at photos and picking out some of my favorite shots. It's hard to take a bad photo in Venice, I'll admit, and I had a very fine time with my camera while there.

  Some of the shots are obvious.....

  

This ain't Vegas, baby.

I mean...Really? Oh yeah.
I love these small, sweet canals

  What I enjoy most are the little moments I see while we are exploring the areas that are away from the fray. I am always looking up, down, all around...I don't want to miss anything. In Venice, it's so much about color and texture for me.

  With all the wonderful contemporary art being shown at the various biennale venues, it was such a delight to wander through the old "streets", simply soaking up the ageless beauty of Venice. I do love this combo of the past and the present.
  (I will be posting some favorite art moments some time soon....)

I just love the white flowers against the crumbling and beautiful facade.
I think both of these old buildings are gorgeous.

Inside one of the many churches, I found this perfect Mary irresistible.

To be honest, I wasn't certain if this was an art installation or not.
 I just thought it was pretty genius....

We came across several of these "Mary Under An Umbrella" statues.
The chimneys and softness of the greenery are nice.

I spied these petunias at a small B&B. There were a few window boxes of them.
So bright, and perfect against this old wall.

Seriously....I would kill to have this as my garden gate.

  As much as I love looking all around at inanimate objects of total beauty...I really get a kick out of the day to day people doing their thing, whatever that may be.

  There are crowds galore in Venice, of course. But there is always a place to get away from it all. Once you get off the main "drag", so to speak, you will find yourself in the magic of the neighborhoods of Venice. The places where people actually just hang out and live.

  One early evening, we came across this campo full of life...kids playing, babies crying, grandmas gossiping...all the good stuff. 

  There were these young girls on skateboards that got right under my skin.....This would be me, in another life...another time...

  

So ready to pose for a picture, these young ladies were too fun.
 They were whipping each other around with a rope, which looked like a blast.

   The darlings above were more than happy to have their picture taken, and would have had me take hundreds, no doubt. But it's the clandestine photos I like to go for...if at all possible.
  I don't know...? Is this ok? Jeez, I hope so.
  Well, I'll deal with the backlash if and when it ever happens, right?
  In the meantime:

  While waiting for a vaporetto (a Venetian water bus) one afternoon, I was tickled to see this scene in front of us, but didn't want to be obvious. Somehow I managed to get the shot without them knowing.....

Only in Venice.

On the Accademia bridge, I spied this fine looking fellow on his cell phone.
He'd been shopping, of course! Classic style.

We saw this woman and her three pups every day, pretty much. She must have lived nearby.
I finally broke down and got the shot.

When I saw these two gentlemen, I was stunned... the color! Right there, at the perfect spot.
I'm especially happy with this photo.

  Everyday we would get up and out early(ish), just to walk around town before the crowds settled in. We would find some new area to explore, or head back over to an area we wanted to spend more time in. Usually we had a basic destination (that place with those cute earrings near the Guggenheim....or...that bakery with the great looking bread...or... that gallery that was closed yesterday....), so we would make a plan for the day.

  Honestly, most days we would leave the apartment early and not return until very late. It takes major planning, since you walk everywhere and it's not easy to just buzz back home for a minute. I always took an extra layer to wear, and my Kindle, for when we would stop to rest along the way.

  What I enjoy about this is that we would see so much every day, just while walking from here to there.

You don't see a lot of "green" in Venice, but when you do, it's beautiful, and softens the edges.

Looking towards the Punta Della Dogana, which is an old customs building
that now houses a fantastic contemporary art collection.
A must visit for modern art lovers

I love cloud shots, and why not include
St. Mark's Campanile...?

Riding a vaporetto at the "Golden Hour" works for me.
This church is commonly known as "I Gesuati".
Our boat is heading for the "bus stop" there...

  Of the many things I adore about walking around Venice, I guess the small canals are near the top of the list. Right up there with an Aperol Spritz and cicchetti bars....Well, the art and history aren't so bad, either. I guess I adore it all.

  

  The small canals really move me, though. The sound of the water just lapping at the sides, and the reflections of the old colorful buildings...Every once in awhile a fish will jump up and startle you. I just enjoy this watery world, and how the locals are able to actually live in it.

  It's pretty special at sunset, too.

It looks like home to me....

Sunset reflecting.

It's how they get around.

  Looking at the photo above, reminds me of the night we were awakened by a sound...a familiar sound, too. It was about three in the morning, and we both woke up to the "thump thumping" of music. Loud club music...? It started off in the distance and got closer and louder, and closer and way louder...Haha! Teens in a small motor boat rocking out as they cruised the canals. Just like kids in cars at home, with music soooo loud you can feel it coming. What a trip...but of course, right?

  Our apartment was right on a corner where two canals meet. Not a main drag, but we always heard boats slipping by....classic, to hear the younguns on their way home.

Another sunset shot, this one taken outside of
a favorite cicchetti bar.

  Just a few more photos I'm happy with, these below are some I took from a vaporetto one cloudy, beautiful day:

Along the Zattere, a long, wide walkway that we enjoyed near our apartment.
A lovely place for an evening or early morning stroll.

The colors of Venice.

The blue and white works for me. Stripes put it over the edge.
Even the boat is color coordinated.....

  On our very last day, we went into the Ca' d'Oro, one of the older palaces along the Grand Canal. They were featuring a show of contemporary works from Italian and American artists, so we had to check it out. We had never been inside, and had only seen it from the outside...it's a very famous and much photographed facade.
  I was feeling a little low, knowing this was our last full day in Venice, so while Johnny enjoyed the art, I wandered out to the terrace above the Grand canal.
  What a great place to be on your last day of a Venetian journey...That's what I think. Try it sometime.

The terrace of Ca' d'Oro.

It's perfect. I actually sat and dozed in the sun here.

  Two last moments, both taken right at the end of our trip....I can't wait to return in 2015, for the next Biannale!

Bye Bye.

One final "cin-cin" from Venezia!