my last day in Venice.  i walked and walked.  just as my first day here, my last was sparkling and clear.  sun sun sun.  i stuck to the dorsoduro neighborhood that i have come to love.

left my camera back at the apartment.  i wanted to have a day with just my eyes for taking pictures, so these photos are from days past.  i walked to the top of the Accademia bridge and looked out at that splendid grand canal.  mmmm what a view!

then i wound around little side passages.  watched families coming home from church.  ladies in fur coats and sturdy shoes.

found a lone bench in a campo in the sunshine.  sat there and watched people leaving the church.  some came into the campo but more walked around the other side where i couldn’t see.  my curiosity led my feet to a wide walkway along the open lagoon.

to a little cafe looking out onto that blazing aqua water of the wide giudecca canal that looks like the open sea.  sat at the one table left and was prepared to order a cafe latte, but i saw everyone else ordering prosecco and spritzes so i did what they did.  ordered 2 proseccos one after the other.  sipped slowly with my face tilting up to the sun.  ate potato chips in a little basket on my little table.

watched the churchgoers and thought they have the right idea to have a pub/cafe next door.  sunday spritzes and proseccos after church!   greeting one another, talking, smiling.  side by side with the tourists.  because let’s face it.  you go NOWHERE in Venice where there aren’t tourists.  sure there are fewer in neighborhoods like mine, but they are still there.  that’s okay.  we’re all in this together.

the lookers, the readers, the lost, the map holders, the writers, the poets, the picture takers, the artists, the workers, the old ladies in fur coats, the waiters, the sun worshippers, the gondoliers, the tourists.  ALL of us.  on the Zattere Fundamenta in Venice, Italy.  all looking out at that water, drinking our drinks, and thinking the exact same thing.  ain’t life grand?

~

See you back home!

I have more 1 or 2 more Venice videos coming down the pipeline.

And of course more journaling videos when I get home.

If you’ve enjoyed the class so far, I’d be mighty obliged if you’d leave a little review over HERE in the comments section.

I visited Frari church today at Campo dei Frari.  If you only go to 1 church your entire time in Venice GO HERE.  It is heartbreakingly beautiful.  You could easily spend a couple of hours in here studying everything.  Well worth the 3 euro admission.  Titian’s tomb is here along with 2 of his paintings!  Truly a magnificent place with enormous paintings AND a wooden choir stall that will leave you thunderstruck.  Really.  A completely over the top Italian gothic church built by the Franciscans a zillion years ago.  Or so.

I ended up at the paper store and the Frari church because I walked just a tiny bit too far looking for the Scuola di Rocco.  I wanted to see “Tintoretto’s Sistine Chapel” as it’s called.  Full of Tintorettos covering every inch of the walls and ceilings.  There are large wood framed mirrors you can carry around so you don’t have to strain your neck looking up so much.  Fun!

Sorry no photos allowed.  Okay who am I kidding?  I snuck a few:

the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari

more interior of the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari

venice.  it is a charming cocktail of light, shadow, water, reflections, mist, bridges and gondolas.  all coming together to form this lovely star.  and today i walked through it.

a ramble through new parts – today castello, one of the six sestieri and the largest.  i was on my way to a bookstore one of you told me about.  where there are cats!  but i decided to return when it isn’t raining so i don’t have to fumble with the umbrella and camera at the same time.  i’m very interested in some of their crumbling old books and i need my hands free.

san marco in the rain.  clusters of umbrellas huddled in small groups.  no lines.  i walked right into the basillica.  sat for a long time to absorb the storied walls and floors and air.

the floors did put me in a bit of a trance.  i snuck a photo.

there were plenty of people milling about, but it wasn’t crowded.

and after a spell i went to Lavena an old (1750) coffee house on the square.  climbed upstairs for a little table overlooking the first floor.

marveled at the immense Murano chandelier, the paneled wood walls, and old mirrors.

then i proceeded to order a snack built for 2.  and when it arrived i smiled graciously.  then devoured.  

wrote in my journal. lingered.

then hit the streets again.  took lots of video.  have i mentioned how much i enjoy editing these videos of venice?  such a creative pleasure.

walked through some particularly serpentine passages today.  admiring the doors.

and facades of buildings falling into beautiful ruin.

tomorrow or the next day i am heading to burano & torcello for a walkabout.   was thinking to catch a train to verona.  i’ve heard winter is a perfect time to see what is usually a place very much on the tourist circuits.  but it’s only a thought.  and i have many of those.  but no committments.  we’ll see where the wind blows me.

Yesterday after I left San Giorgio Maggiore church I did some wandering and found (on this nearly empty island) Le Stanze Del Vetro – The Rooms of Glass.  This is a huge exhibition/workshop space devoted solely to the study & appreciation of glass works.

I don’t know if it’s always free, but I think it is.

These pieces are all by Carlo Scarpa – mostly from the 30’s and 40’s.

They glow with an inner light.  Captivating.

Until early January this particular exhibit of Scarpa’s will be on display.  Then no doubt something equally fabulous will replace it.  A nice sidetrip if you find yourself at San Giorgio Maggiore.  Wander around you’ll find it.

I got so absorbed in the Christmas spirit  here in my apartment that time literally stopped yesterday.  Pardon my sidetracked mind!  I’m back though…

with lots of sweets for you today.  A journaling video, a Venice video, another post about a luminous glass exhibit I went to yesterday, and a postcard.

It’s the perfect day for spending tucked into my cozy apartment listening to bells because many places are closed for Natale.  Tomorrow the equally important San Stefano is widely celebrated.  So here in Italy there are 2 days of Christmas!  I of course will leave at some point for a walk because walking in Venice is such a rewarding pleasure.

Christmas Eve dinner!

some famous writer, whose name escapes me, wrote that in winter venice is like an abandoned theatre.  the play is finished but the echos remain.  or something like that.

tonight as i walked home from dinner under a partially moonlit sky i felt i was in an abandoned theatre.  one where the lavish set is standing, but all the actors have vanished.

a crooked string of lights.  another small rapture your heart understands.  they’re around every corner.

yesterday i explored the rialto area.  climbed the bridge.  stood at the top.  staring down the grand canal.  there is so much to see here.  sooner or later you realize that you aren’t going to see it all.  and that is alright.  being here is enough.

getting drenched in this rich scene.  day after day.  strolling around.  stopping for a cafe latte.  a nibble of something.  marveling over all the old women in their fur coats.

there are so many baubles and shiny things.  so far my purchases have been small.  but one of these paintbrushes would be nice.  wouldn’t it?

i have so much video to shape into another little venice movie.  yesterday i captured a bit of video inside a store.  and i have more working-in-the-journal videos coming.  joyous work this.  you can’t know just how much i’m enjoying putting all of this together.  and having such an engaged audience makes it a PLEASURE.

i so love making my coffee,  sitting at the little desk in front of the window, and reading your comments each morning.

tonight i met pat & mike.  an affable couple from oxford.  pat is a class member from TTV.  she emailed to let me know she would be here at the same time and we made arrangments to meet at a vaporetto stop then walk to dinner.   i enjoyed it very much.  they have been coming to venice for many years.

i am off to my warm bed under the eaves to read.

OH!

this is the exact spot where our heroine Katherine fell into the canal in “Summertime”.

I left the apartment in the bright sun of morning.  The narrow passage I stepped into was hidden in cold shadow.  I hadn’t gone far when my eye fixed on a glimmer of gold in a shop window.  Magnificent gilded mirrors!  And a lonely red christmas ball dangling from a tinsel garland.  hello sparkly ball

Once onto Campo San Barnaba sunlight poured down warming everyone and everything in its path.  Here at this campo is where Katherine Hepburn fell into the canal in Summertime.   I promise a decent photo of that exact spot soon!  Also here is the church where Indiana Jones searched for clues.  Clues to what… I’m afraid I can’t remember.   I began following my Venice Walks book, but abandoned that idea after the first 20 minutes. Deciding instead to just let my feet, who have a mind of their own, roam freely.  They wanted to keep me under the giant heat lamp beaming down from the sky.  I didn’t disagree with their choice.  I followed the canals and ended up on a wide fundamente.  Few people were out and I strolled beside the lagoon wondering where exactly I was, but not really caring.

I’m in Venice.  The sky is blue.  The rays of the sun are warm.  That’s all that matters.

It didn’t quite seem like the Grand Canal, more like the open sea, or in this case the Venetian Lagoon… when I finally made it back home I looked at the map and saw that I had walked completely around the entire outer perimeter of Dorsoduro.  A warming winter walk I can’t recommend enough.  I kept stopping to capture on video some of the clear green-blue water lapping against the stone canal walls.  The canals don’t have any sort of unpleasant odor that I could detect.  They are just tidal sea water.   In case you were wondering.

As I walked I thought of how good it was to be surrounded by the sea.  The color of the water is lovelier than I imagined.  Almost sea foam green.  There are boats with handpainted names scrolled over the bow and stern.

Tourists taking pictures of themselves in mirrored windows.

Then of course there are the Venetians themselves.  Regal women in furs and capes.

There are only a few Christmas decorations and lights.  Small boughs of pine, poinsettias, garlands, strings of lights here and there.  Simple.

Refreshing.

It’s only been 2 days and I already know I will return.  I have been bewitched.

at sundown the plane flew low over the italian alps which were blanketed in snow.  craggy peaks, deep valleys, rivers and roads like threads on a map.  the setting sun hit the tops of the peaks and they looked like molten lava or the insides of hot coals.  i looked and looked and looked.  straight down.  out that little airplane window to the white earth below.

than the plane banked right and descended into a thick cushion of fog.  the airport was barely visible in the dusk.  i followed everyone off the planeinto a sleepy still airport.  our plane looked like the only arrival and from what i could tell there were mostly italian passengers

picked up my luggage and followed the little signs outside for water taxi and water bus.  it was darker now.  i zipped on my raincoat and wrapped my scarf around my neck, but it really wasn’t cold.  mists swirled through the streets.  i pulled my little carry-on and bigger suitcase behind me.  clickety clack down the brick path.  on and on and on.  there was not a single solitary other soul walking down this dimly lit path and i considered whether or not i was going the wrong way.  i stopped to ask a parked taxi which way to the water taxi and he said, “no water taxi tonight.  too much fog.  only water bus.  keep going”  whaaaa?

i kept going.  walking further into the night.  still not passing anyone!  it was a good night for some detective work and i wondered if there were any murder mysteries i could lend a hand in solving.  little signs cropped up.  “water taxi 3 minutes”  “water taxi 2 minutes”  but for some reason it took me triple the time!  finally a few chattering italians passed me going in the opposite direction.  i kept walking.  at last i came to the water taxi docks.  they were all empty.  desolate.  water lapping up onto the wood.  my instructions had been to catch a water taxi then tell the driver to call the apartment greeter who would then leave to meet me.  uh oh.  i could see that wasn’t going to happen tonight.  i kept walking.  saw a little ticket booth and a boat that looked like it might be a vaporetto.  ALILAGUNA to the rescue!  an airport shuttle.  bought my ticket and while i was at it asked the nice woman to please call evelyn and tell her i’m on my way.  which she did without even hesitating.  then she said, “hurry madam or the boat will leave without you.”  i rushed off toward the shuttle boat.  a man hefted my 2 bags on board and down i stepped.  he indicated that i was to step down into the cabin which i did.  away we went motoring off into the pitch black night.  i was the ONLY passenger!

listen, if you want to arrive in venice under a shroud of fog, truly by yourself, and feel like you’ve stepped into the pages of a venetian murder mystery then i urge you to arrive on a tuesday.  in december.  at night.

this story could keep going on and on like that little brick path.  and i could tell you about evelyn.  and the apartment.  and my first italian meal of a takeout eggplant pizza.  and the hot cup of tea i’m sipping now while i write this.  or the big candles i lit on the table.  or how i can see out the window to a bit of canal.  but i’m tired.  sleep is calling to me.

tomorrow i have a brave new world to explore.

xo,

girl reporter on assignment in venice!

I don’t know exactly what my journal wants to be in the beginning.  So I don’t try and polish or finish it before I leave.  It’s imperfect.  It will evolve along the way.  For example right now I have no idea what kind of closure it will eventually have.  Or if it will have a pocket in the back.  Or even what title I might eventually write on the front cover.

I have no idea how many pages I will need to write each day, but I have a vague sense that a book of about an inch thick will be big enough.  There is a lot that is still up in the air.

One thing I like to do once my signatures have been sewn in, is to go back and tape or paper over the interior stitches.  I almost always do this because I just don’t like the look of them – especially if there are a lot of knots, or double stitches.

I will also collage a tiny bit in the journal, adding wallpaper or other scraps that I like.  I keep this to a bare minimum since I know I’ll be adding things while I’m in Venice.

One thing I’m trying for my Venice trip is tucking the labels and journaling spots in the page protector pockets inside the journal.  Like this:

I’m thinking this will make it much easier to find specific ones when I want them.  I’ll refill the pockets with ephemera, receipts, photos, as I empty them.

Here they are!  The tiny notebook is to keep in my bag and journal on when I’m out and about.  The watercolor scraps are for on-the-go sketches.  I can attach to my journal when I get back to the apartment.

click on the image to see it nice and big

I usually pack supplies in a thin plastic box.  I duct tape the outside of the box and pack it in my checked bag.  I usually add extra strips of duct tape to the outside of the box and peel them off and use them while traveling.  The only supplies I carry-on are my pens.

I ALWAYS pack my journal inside of my carry-on.  If my luggage gets lost I can live without my supplies, but not without my journal & favorite pens!

I love arriving at my apartment and unpacking my journal and supplies on the dining room table.  I always pay close attention to the table in the apartment and the amount of natural light in the room.  Lots of light and lots of room to work (among other things) make for a good rental experience.

our journaling table in Norway

I leave everything out on the journal table for the duration of my trip.

Norway

Having all of the supplies out at all times makes it handy to come home and work in my journal.  One important thing to note is that my trips usually revolve around travel journaling.  It is a key part of my journey.  Carol & I always say that keeping a travel journal while traveling is a “full-time job”.  Having a dedicated art space in the apartments I rent makes me feel like I’m having a fuller experience.

If you travel with family or friends that don’t share your enthusiasm for recording everything, you can still make time for writing, but leave the collage and “decorating” for when you return home.  Just  collect everything in a ziplock bag.

I prefer a more immediate, narrative style of writing on location versus a recollection style – recording what you remember when you return to your permanent home.  To that end, if I’m blogging on the road I sometimes use the writing I’ve already done for the blog, inside my travel journal.  Or vice versa…use the travel journal writing as my blog post.   AND…I also have my small notebook filled with “on location” writing that I can always use in the travel journal.  Either while in Venice or once I’m back in the U.S.