Since my idea of sliding a piece of paper under the adjoining door didn't work, I asked Girard to call me when he woke up, but not before 7am. I get a knock on the door at 7am ready to leave. O.O I shake off the weird dream that I couldn't remember and jump in the shower, ready to head out in about 30 minutes.
We did our usual buffet breakfast and I make a list of today's sites:
St. Mark's Basillica and museum
Ascend the Campanile
Dali Exhibit at Museo Apollonia
Picasso Exhibit
Academia
Guggenheim
Punta Della Dogana Museum
We finish breakfast and pushed off around 8:30 and got to the Campanile around 8:50. It didn't open until 9am and we were the first in line, yay! We strategize on the quickest way to finish Campanile so that we can get to St. Mark's before the tourist rush. We get in, pay and zip 300 feet up to the top of the bell tower and were treated to an amazing 360 degree view of Venice.
St. Mark's Square sans tourists
View of Punta Della Dogana from top of the Campanile
We had thought to take the stairs down but since it was closed, we got back on the elevator to see if we can get to St. Mark's. No such luck. St. Mark's Basilica was absolutely swarming with tourists so we decided to forego it for the following day and get on to the rest of the items on the itinerary.
Next stop, the Dali exhibit. We start walking and asked several people if they knew where Museo Apollonia was to no avail. We decided to start heading towards the Academia hoping it will be on the way and I finally stopped in at a hotel to ask directions. Turned out the museum was on the opposite side of St. Mark's square where we came from so the decision was made to venture forth and catch the Dali exhibit on the way back to the hotel.
The Picasso exhibit was exceptional. I've caught several of his exhibits in varying periods of his life and each exhibit was so radically different. I'd seen his earlier works at LACMA in California where his style was much more realistic. This exhibit were of his etchings while he worked with his art patron Vollard. It showed his pre cubism evolving style.
The Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti
Today was brutally humid and hot. We grab our tickets in the hotel and head out for food. Girard wanted to find "non touristy" so we end up going the opposite way of the Academia to try and find the Trattoria where we ate the day before. We walk around remembering certain buildings we passed thinking at each turn "it must be right here!". But we never found the restaurant. We end up circling back to several streets we had just been on. Around noon, we still hadn't found it. I was tired, hot and hungry so we decide to stop at a more convenient restaurant for pizza.
My prosciutto, arugula and garlic pizza with a cafe latte of course
After lunch we head down to the marina to look at a sail boat that had caught Girard's eye then headed to the water taxi to Punta Della Dogana rather than make the trek on foot.
Punta Della Dogana from the boat
The museum was amazing. It had a very modern exhibit that I mostly didn't understand but enjoyed anyway. We head to the Guggenheim next slowly making our way back to the Academia.
Unfortunately, I didn't realize I could take my camera inside and had to check my purse so did not get to take any pics. However, Peggy Guggenheim had a very impressive collection of Pollock, Picasso, Mondrian and many others. Interestingly enough, there was a sculpture called "Bird In Space" which I had first seen at the Getty in Malibu California back in the 1990's, then again at the Guggenheim in NYC about 4 years ago and now in Venice Italy. What are the chances?!!! It turned out there were about 4 of these made and I've now seen 3 of them. I'll have to hunt down the 4th to complete my viewing collection.
We head over to the Academia that houses Venetian Art from the old masters. I was a little disappointed as most of the paintings (albeit amazing) were religious in nature which isn't really my cup of tea but I did see a couple I really liked and the architecture was beautiful.
By now my feet were aching from all the extensive walking from yesterday and today so I'm ready to head back to the hotel for a little rest. I look for the bathroom and it turned out to be down about 4-5 flights of stairs. Grrrr....the elevator was out.
We stop off at the Hardrock Cafe to get Girard a hat to add to his collection. It is now closing on 5:30pm so decide to meet up for dinner around 6:45pm since our reservation is at 7pm. The view of Venice right before the sun started to set was just stunning. The mist hadn't come in yet so the water sparkled around the flurry of water taxi activity. The buildings were showing off their full glory. The food was fabulous of course as Girard and I chit chatted about our most memorable moments from each day. It was a wonderfully perfect way to relax after a couple of strenuous site seeing days.
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