Venice, the end

Thursday 22nd May

My apologies for the delay in updates but it’s been busy and stressful since we visited Split. I have decided to do these days back to front as I can remember things out of sequence (it’s a skill).

Today we saw Venice from the Accademia side which was very pleasant and quieter than yesterday.

We have caught the vaporetto a few times and, luckily I have Glenys taking control of which one to catch or else, I fear, we may end up in Trieste.

The cost of the vaporetto is iniquitous! $40 for one stop and one way. We purchased a day ticket (yesterday) which was $50 each for unlimited vaporetto travel. Naturally I left them behind so we had to walk a really long way to get back to the hotel. Sorry, I’m going back and forth a bit but stay with me.

So today…

The Accademia side is very arty with lots of art students marching around with their portfolios. Pity they didn’t have their work on display. I would have loved to see it.

I waited for this little group to move on but they were set in their conversation so I took the photo. Glad I did as they were still there, in the same position, when we returned an hour later

Glenys thinks this piece of construction art represented Pergatory but I thought it was the storyboard for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. See following image.

This was a fascinating little shop. It had pigment powder in this display box at the window and I’m almost sure I read that this shop has been around for centuries and still has some original glass jars of lapis lazuli pigment powder used by many of the great artists of the renaissance. Could be wrong of course, it’s happened before but it is a nice story, nonetheless.

I was very tempted by these seals and pens but it would mean I’d have to return to letter writing and save Australia Post single handed.

Next door to this great shop was another amazing shop. The owner created wood block designs of all things Venice and she printed these designs on everything you could imagine from calendars to cards to mouse pads and posters, little boxes and note pads. I bought a t shirt because I don’t have enough. It is a great design featuring books and cats. I’m not a cat person but we saw so many (not many in Venice, I’ll grant you) that I thought it was a nice reminder.

I also thought a nice calendar for 2026 would be good and this guy was on every pop up calendar shop. The shop owners tried to convince me that he was a young priest helping his church by posing for a calendar.

My image of a priest is the above and, I have to say, a calendar featuring this chap is more believable.

I also saw the first priest on another calendar for Gondaliere so I think he was either selling himself to the Gondaliere Association to get more $$$ for his church or he was a male model. I think this is more likely the case.

I’m in Italy so I thought I’d keep an eye on fashion (you know important this is to me). Followed this chap as I was fascinated by his outfit. It looked to be made out of polyester (though probably silk) and it had zips on legs and sleeves so he could alter his look when he felt like it.

Found our way back to the hotel and just about to go for a quick meal before I repack my bag again.

Next post will be for yesterday. Keep up, I’ll be home soon and all will be back to normal.

C