europe day 13, venice > philadelphia > home

 

The last run was a little earlier but just as beautiful as the others.  We took a different turn and ended up at the Peggy Guggenheim gate again.  This was a welcome accident.

After my last run in Venice, we finished packing and met in the lobby for breakfast before checking out.  This was our last group pic at the hotel.  That's a happy bunch of people.

The halls of our hotel felt like a hospital at times.

The rooms were simple, but everything you needed on a trip like this.  A shower and a place to sleep.

After checking out, we took the vaporetto to the bus stop and took the bus back to the airport.  The airport was named Marco Polo Airport.  Did we play Marco Polo inside Marco Polo?  You know we did.

I took these photos across Fiona again.  That's Venice as we left.

The snow-covered Swiss Alps below us.

And the first sight of the US, Cape Cod.  This all day flight took us across Europe, past the southernmost tip of England, the tip of Newfoundland and eventually to Philadelphia.  I watched a movie or two and tried to read on the flight but it was too dark.  I could have used my light but I would have felt like a butthole.  It was hard for me to sit still so long.  

Philadelphia airport was one of the most ridiculous places in terms of security.  Rude, annoying and completely illogical.  I'm sure it's a lovely city though.  Once we were through security AGAIN, Sean and I plotted to get an authentic philly cheesesteak sandwich.  Emily blew past us and stood in the line for Chick-fil-a.  We got Geno's and I'd like to say it was great American food but it was wholly unsatisfying and utterly disappointing.  Sean got some garlic fries at Smashburger and those were good.  I also got a proper white chocolate mocha at Starbucks and it was delicious.  Then we sat on dirty airport carpet and waited for our flight to board.

I had the window for the flight home. That's Philadelphia as we left.

And that's Charlotte as the sun was setting.  We lost 6 hours in the flight back home and while it was 8:00 pm or so on our watches, it was 2:00 am on our bodies.  

At baggage claim, we were able to grab our bags and Katherine and I quickly divided up our souvenirs.  I handed my kids a bag to carry out and we said our goodbyes to the group.  This was a great group to travel with and I really enjoyed the trip.  

The kids asked a lot of questions and told me a lot about what I missed while I was away.  After a little while Blue put his ear things in and tuned out.  Sometime after that I fell asleep and woke up to a car on fire in the opposite lane.  I quickly fell asleep again and woke up just as we pulled into the driveway.  I ate, drank a lot of water and got a shower before going to bed.  The dogs were so happy to see me.  I was wearing a mask when I came in and they both growled at me until I pulled it down.  Then they licked me until I went upstairs.  It was a great trip but it was nice to be home.

europe day 12, venice > murano > burano > venice

 

This was our first totally free day in Venice and it was our last day in Venice.  Our group made plans and invited everyone to go on an all day adventure to the islands of Murano and Burano. I walked to the pharmacy to try to get some things for Emily but the pharmacy didn't open until 9:00 am and we were supposed to meet at 9:00 am at the vaporetto stop.  I grabbed a cappuccino and a strange little breakfast club sandwich and ate it on the way back to the hotel.

 

A large group of us boarded the vaporetto enroute to Murano about 45 minutes away.  

Our larger group got split up among the water taxis but we all ended up at the same place eventually.  Sean had made the trip before so he recognized the place to get off the boat.

At the foot of the lighthouse there was tiny stretch of triangular beach.  This is the sea glass beach of Murano.  We hopped down onto the sand and rocks and started collecting bits of glass washed up from around the island.  Murano is the glass blowing island and it is packed with furnaces and glass blowing factories.  I assume there's someone dumping broken works of art into the water all around the island for this much glass to wash up on shore.  

I had long given up on not taking souvenirs back home a this point but I had gathered a respectable amount of glass I thought I could pack so while everyone else combed the beach, I grabbed a water and a drink and walked into a few glass shops.

This glass chandelier almost came home with me.  It was clear glass with turquoise flowers and ends and for 750 Euros they would ship it to my house.  Very tempting.  I texted it to the family as they were waking up and I didn't get a "NO!".  I thought about it for a while and decided against it.  It was so beautiful though.

Soon Sean followed my lead and grabbed a drink that matched his Burano shirt.  He planned to wear his colorful shirt to match the buildings we'd see later.  His fan also matched.  And that hat!  A very nice hat.

We were headed to a glass museum when hunger took us to a sidewalk café.  I got to eat at a table alone and enjoy the view as I wrote in my sketchbook.  It was a nice little break from people, even though I could hear everyone just behind me.  

We stopped in a lot of glass shops to allow everyone to pick up the souvenirs they needed.  Everything was colorful and shiny.  It was a dream.

We hit a bit of a snag when we found the line to the next vaporetto was over a hundred yards long.  These boats hold a ton of people though, so we only had to wait about 30-40 minutes.  When we got on the boat to Burano, we ran into Katherine's high school art teacher, Ms Oliver.  She was on an Italian vacation with her husband and she recognized us even with masks, glasses and hats.

Once on Burano, I ditched everyone temporarily and started walking down the streets.  It was amazing for me.  I love color so much and these were MY colors.

I can show you the Sharpies that match most of these.  I felt so comfortable here.  The light and the color was pure joy.

This was a great spot for a panoramic photo.  You may have to click on it or whatever to actually see it.

Sean was quick to tell me he found my street.  Pope Street.  Perfect.

We took a lot of photos.  I took a lot of photos.  I think I amassed about 4,000 photos on this trip.

The rainbow peace flag with Mary and Jesus.  Nice.

We could have spent many more hours here but it was getting late and we still had some plans for our last night in Venice, so we boarded the next vaporetto and took the long ride back to our hotel.

Kelsey joined us for dinner on the water.  This was the best table I had all week, right on the water with a great view.

Katertot and I chose our seats for the selfie backgrounds.

Anne and Sean with the after dinner cappuccinos.  And a very nice hat.

There's beautiful Anne in my food photos again.  This was the last food item on my list and we totally forgot about it until tonight.  Tiramisu.  The absolute best tiramisu I've ever had.  Life changing.  So perfect for the last night.

After dinner and dessert it was time for the bucket-list gondola ride.  I was the only one here who had never been on one.  They were great friends to go with me so I could have the experience.  It was the perfect time of day to go.  The sun we setting and it wasn't hot.  It also wasn't dark yet so we could see everything from the Grand Canal during golden hour.

This photo made everyone nervous because I had to hold my phone out over the water to get the mer-horse sculpture.  I had a death grip on the phone, don't worry.

Every gondola had the same thing on the front.

This was at the end of the ride and everyone was supposed to be fanning me.  I don't know what happened.  The gondolier was nice.

After the gondola ride we found out Emily was feeling good enough to come down to the hotel courtyard to have a drink with us.  We sat there for a while talking and enjoying the night.  Then Sean and Katherine had a few more Euros they needed to spend so we took a walk towards the shops and did some last minute souvenir shopping.

The walk back to the hotel was a slow one.  We took in everything we could knowing it was our last night in Venice.

Looking back, it's hard to believe we did all this in one day.  Everyone was so cooperative and fun.  Everything worked out well.  It was a great day and a beautiful day at every turn.  We got back to the hotel around 11:00 pm and still needed to pack.  We had planned to use an empty bag Katherine brought to fill up with our souvenirs and we would just check that bag on the plane.  I still had a tough time getting my suitcase to close.

europe day 11, venice

 

Another gorgeous run.

There was a little confusion about the meeting time but even with some last minute moves to help people get into new rooms, we still made it to the Academia on time.

This was just around the corner from our hotel and we had tickets to see the Anish Kapoor exhibit.  His "Sky Mirror" greeted us.

Kapoor's work can almost be Op-Art at times.  What looks like a black, flat circle...

From the side is shown to be anything but flat.  It was very cool to see his work in person.

The Academia was also filled with priceless works of art from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance.

I was really excited to see a few paintings by Hieronymus Bosch.

After the Academia we had a little time to grab a coffee and a snack.  We stopped at a street café.

Sean and I decided to order food from what looked like a breakfast menu.  We ordered something chocolate based mostly on a photo and when it came out we discovered we had ordered a hot chocolate to go with our cappuccinos.  It wasn't food but it was very good.

Then it was a short walk to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

I love Peggy's taste and I loved everything here.  Calder, Picasso, Earnst, Warhol, and everything cool you can imagine.

A word about this guy.  This is "The Angel of the City" by Marino Marini.  It features a classical horse and rider theme with a slightly different approach.  The horse's head and tail stick out similarly to the way the rider's arms stick out.  This is mirrored by the 5th appendage also sticking out.  The sculpture is positioned facing the Grand Canal so that when you exit the mansion, you see it from behind.  You can tell it's a grandiose sculpture but it's only as you walk around it that it reveals all of itself to you.  This is a great place to sit and people watch.  You see people come out fascinated by the sculpture and then watch their expressions shift dramatically as they walk around.  I laughed here for a long time.  I also took some very funny photos but you'll have to ask to see those.

But yeah, Peggy's palace was great.

And at this point I had only been inside for about 30 seconds.  Now it was time to walk through the art.

I could have totally hung out with Peggy in her day.

I think she would have liked my work.  Here's a Kandinsky.

I know this because she loved Calder and our work and personalities are similar enough.  I could have tagged along.

A gorgeous Magritte painting.

Sean and I did most of this museum together.  We were responding to many of the same things.  And look at that hat.  Such a nice hat.

Everyone went different directions after Peggy.  I planned for days to go see the Joseph Beuys exhibit nearby.  Katherine and Jericho went with me and we stopped for a slice of pizza before heading inside.  I ate alone on a bench and watched an Italian lady eat her lunch out of a plastic container on a bench beside me.  At one point she dropped her container spilling some of her lunch and dropping her utensils.  She recovered gracefully but this warranted her a you are beautiful post-it.  I approached with a smile and handed it to her.  She erupted with a huge smile and thanked me over and over again as I left.  These moments are important.  

We had to pay a little to get into the Beuys exhibit and I didn't mind.  The exhibit was mostly small drawings in ink and a few small sculptural pieces.  I think I was hoping for some grand sculptures, but I knew that most of what I knew about his work involved happenings or performances so I should have known better.  Still it was good to see the exhibit and I know I would have been far more impressed by it if I had not seen, literally, all the artwork in existence this week.

 

Joseph also had a very nice hat.  Just not as nice as Sean's.

I was in need of a phone recharge and back at the hotel we lost Jericho and picked up Sean and David before heading out to our next destination.

This one took us to St. Mark's square again so we got to see it in the daylight as well.

After a couple of map snafus we found the Louise Nevelson solo exhibit.  It was sooo worth the walk.

I was lucky to catch a solo show of hers in Charleston several years ago but this one had even more of her sculptures and an even greater selection.  The white works were stunning.

I went for the kiss but she gave me a cheek.  I'll take it.  I love this photo of her. She was a genuine badass.  A dominant female sculptor in a time when women were not respected as artists or sculptors.  It's fun to watch videos of her bossing men around as she sets up her exhibits.  A hero for sure.

After Louise, we walked back into the square to meet Anne and Katertot and to try to find some food.  We thought it would be nice to grab dinner in the square so we sat and a waiter pushed two tables together and handed us menus.  The prices on the menus were at least double what we were paying on the water near the hotel, so we did the American thing and got up and left.  Not willing to be that much of a tourist today.

I had been looking for ridiculous sunglasses the whole trip and when my cheap ones broke today, I had the perfect excuse.  I actually bought a different red pair but Katherine and I decided to trade and I think we were both happier with our new ones.

I suppose we should talk about fans.  Sean and Katertot brought fans.  They sang the praises of fans on these trips.  I'm pretty sure Sean bought 14 new fans in 11 days.  I decided to join their fan cult on the second day in Venice.  Katherine and David followed soon after.  Anne held out the longest but she finally caved today and we were able to get our fan cult photo.  There's an even better video but I can't get it to load here.  I'll show you later.

All the towers were leaning.  All of them.  And noticeably so.  This super touristy photo was completely worthwhile because of how much it amused the couple sitting behind us while we took it.  I. Have. No. Regrets.

There was a plan to ride a gondola tonight.  I had decided that I would pony up the ridiculous amount of money to ride a gondola because, come on, you're in Venice.  You have to ride a gondola.  The group that gathered to go was large and when we got to the gondola guy he said the limit was 5 people.  I made 6 so I opted out and decided I could go the next night if I didn't talk myself out of it.  Instead I met Anne, Katertot and Sean out by the water for drinks during sunset.  Sean and I decided the slice of pizza a few hours ago wasn't really dinner so we ordered.  I tried gnocchi and enjoyed it.  There was also limoncello.  After a bit the gondola people joined us and we sat enjoying the night by the water until the restaurant closed.  

We grabbed gelato at the window and sat on the steps by the water as the waves tried to get us all wet.  I forget what was on top, but that's mango on the bottom.  It was delicious.  I like mango.  It was a beautiful night and the friendship was exactly what I needed to forget that I was missing Father's Day with my kids and also missing my own dad.  The day and night was filled with laughter and fun and I was grateful.