Veni, vidi Venice

Buon giorno from Venice! It took us a while to find a spot with Internet access...Italy is on the slow track to joining the digital economy. We have had a wonderful 3 days in Venice staying in the Dorsoduro district. We unanimously believe that the best thing we did here was eat gelato at least twice a day. Our strongest recommendation is for Gelateria Nico's lemon and peach gelato. We spent a lot of time reading in the courtyard of our hotel (except that Mommy kept falling asleep in the big comfy couches) and listening to the multiple church bells around us every hour.

We did get around a bit. For us, Venice was about modern art. We didn't do any churches or the traditional art museums. We did see Peggy Guggenheim's home and her wonderful contemporary art collection. Anna saw a whole room of Jackson Pollacks. We left notes with good wishes on the olive tree by Peggy's (and her 14 dogs') grave site in her back yard. This is also the year of the Biennale in Venice. We saw a really amazing show of men and women artists from Arabia which was quite close to our hotel.

There was a lot of walking about and hopping on bridges and statutes. We went hunting for the various lions in the city (winged lions are the symbol of Venice). The girls climbed on one of these lion statutes, but Anna - while sliding off its wing - took a tumble. That even beat falling up an escalator. But she's fine. :) We don't climb on lions anymore.

Yesterday, we took a gondola ride and saw the homes of Vivaldi, Casanova and Marco Polo. Sophie put her hands in the canal, even though we're not sure what lives down there. The gondolier says that the canals are between 6 and 20 feet deep. Wow! The gondolas have comfy seats and, interestingly, the left side is always slightly longer than the right side in order to help the gondolier steer.

We're off to catch our train. When we have our own internet access point, we'll upload some more pictures. Ciao!

** UPDATE

The eagle eye of my former colleague, Michael, found the embarrassing typo in my post (but did he find the other?). My initial instinct was to correct it, but on reflection, it is so indicative of the wiring in my brain that is is worth keeping in memoriam. It is also a cautionary tale about blogging in a rush to catch a train.

Here are Sophie & Anna's pics from Venice, including the vicious lion. Also see the big smiles from the girls when we spent a lazy afternoon playing in the Giardini Pubblici (above).