Tag / Venice

An early start was further hastened by a 9am electricity shutoff for hotel repairs. Breakfast and checkout by a quarter til and we headed for the nearby Italian border. Now that Croatia is in the EU, the former border crossing station has been shuttered and the road just zips through with barely a notice. Still, Italy feels immediately like Italy. Building colors shift in favor of that Italian yellow and orange stucco.


Our route took us through tiny Cividale del Fruili. Looped a couple of times through the historic center to check out the church and narrow stone bridge. Jeff hopped out to catch a couple of pictures, but we kept on moving!


The bustling university town of Udine was next, with it inviting historic center. Tree-lined streets and little parks everywhere. This struck us as a very livable city. We found metered parking (just a couple of Euros for our few hours) and climbed the steep, cobbled path up to the Udine Castle, which now holds a museum. The museum was closed for the day, but still provided panoramic views of the old city below. Descending onto the other side of the hill, through a lion-topped arch, and we found ourselves thrust into Venice. The buildings and statues and even the clock tower…all built to reflect the grandeur of Venice. Nearby, it the surrounding old town, we were reminded of Florence, with it’s distinctive architectural style. We certainly aren’t in Slovenia any more!! Ducked into the Duomo…cool and dark…echoes of muted footsteps…a dozen side chapels with typical paintings. Nearby, we grabbed a sandwich and a Coke Light and enjoyed the midday passers-by. We returned to our car via an old archway next to a slow, winding canal.


From Udine, narrow city streets led to the A4 autostrada…on to Venice! The low Italian countryside of the Veneto region flew by.


It’s odd to arrive into Venice by car. But we have arrived by plane and train, and there is always a first for everything. We parked in Venice at the Tronchetto parking garage, which is a modern island near the bridge that brings cars and trains across the lagoon. But a quick hop on the new “people mover” shuttle and we were car-free and immersed in the land of canals and bridges.


We had some extra time, so we opted to walk to our apartment versus riding the vapporetto. A scenic route that thrust us right back into Venice, but quite tiring as well. Lifting luggage over stepped bridges is a pain.


We met Ettore who runs several apartments with his family. Our comfy apartment was on the first floor on a quiet side street in the Dorsoduro neighborhood.


Unpacking later. It’s time to walk and get dinner. We re-traced familiar routes like we had been in Venice yesterday. (It has been since 2008!). Made our way to an old favorite…Impronta. Luscious mojitos. Mouthwatering linguini carbonara and duck gnocchi. Tirimisu just like we remembered!


After dinner, we wandered dark, silent, familiar passages. We got turned around a couple of times. We purposefully took random turns several times…in sheer wonder.


We are so happy to be back 🙂

If you just HAPPEN to be in San Francisco on December 2nd (6pm-9pm) or 3rd (10am-5pm), then you should swing by the Fort Mason Holiday Photo Show that I am participating in for the 5th year in a row. I’ll have several new images from my Venice at Night series (two samples below). This show is always festive and exciting, with about 10 of my friends/classmates participating. Every artist has a unique style or personal perspective.

And did I mention that there is free wine on Friday night? 🙂

I’m reading a spectacular new book by John Berendt called The City of Falling Angels. The book is non-fiction and chronicles people and places in Venice during the investigation and reconstruction of the Fenice opera house after it was consumed by fire.

I’m not far along into the book, so I can’t judge it a “page turner” or an “instant classic”, but I did learn a fascinating fact last night. On page 71, I discovered that Venice has over 120,000 pigeons. And, that they are nasty and overcrowded. (No surprise there.) Which (of course) took me straight back to our last visit to Venice, where I watched people use the hands they eat gelato with to feed the birds. OK, there is that wonderful Mary Poppins song–but that lullaby aside, this is really sick.

Take a look at a picture I took in Venice…and then grab a cup of gelato…yum 🙂