The Sun in It's Jewel Case

Train is such a fabulous way to travel across the country side- there's none of that flying anxiety, and you can see so much out of the window! The train ride from Florence to Venice took about two and a half hours, and with The Dark Side of the Moon playing repeatedly on my head phones, the time cruised on by.

We stopped a coupla time- first in Bologna, and finally in Maestre, before crossing to the island that is Venice. We exited the station, and came out onto the steps to see people sitting about, eating gelato, watching boats and water taxi's cruising along the canals.

I have never seen or experienced anything like Venice.
I do believe it to be the most romantic place on the planet.

After checking into our hotel, called The Merchant of Venice (which tugged on my Shakespearean heart strings), we dressed up and began to wander the Venice streets, which were lit up with candles and stalls, selling masks and parasols.

It quickly became apparent that the only traffic along the cobble stone roads was people (occasionally you would see men carrying or pushing freight carts with goods brought to the Island by boat), the rest on boats and gondolas along the canals.

After we had stopped briefly to eat, we proceeded to walk around the island to the Ponte Rialto Bridge, and looked in clothing and jewellery stores as we went. From the bridge, we had stunning views of the island, and the boats floating down the well lit water front.

The following morning, we awoke to a warm morning, and the sun was belting down as we made our way to buy a 12 hour water taxi pass. The water taxi took us, via a loop of the Grand Canal, to the Piazza San Marco. It was such a great feeling to be out on the open waters, right along side all the other boats, both big and small, and smell the fresh sea air. It took us almost an hour to reach San Marco, but it was well worth it.

Our taxi docked at the superb Palazzo Ducale, and the Basilica di San Marco came into view. The architecture and the colours are so exotic- a delicacy for the eye and mind- all the people and the heat of the sun, couldn't detract from the exquisite sight before me! We spent about an hour or so wandering around the Palazzo, through the little alley ways, and in and out of shops, before we decided to go our seperate ways- Hayley hit the shops, and I made my way to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

It was quite an effort to find this famous gallery- I weaved through the streets, following signs to the Ponte Accademia, which I found and crossed, and then attempted to follow the small yellow signs with arrows to try and find the collection. When I, and three other french folks found ourselves at a dead end (yet again!), we decided to ask a local for directions...smartest move yet.

In line with all that is Venice, Peggy's Collection was nothing short of exquisite brilliance. The collection included many works by Max Ernst (her former husband), Gottlieb, Dali, Pollack, Man Ray, Klee and Miro. I was utterly engrossed by 3D diorama-like-constructions by Joseph Cornell (particularly Setting for a Fairy Tale and Swiss Shoot the Chutes ) and the painting The Sun in Its Jewel case by Yves Tanguy- which I sat down on the plush, white, leather couches in Peggy's lounge room for quite sometime, staring at.

As a matter of fact, most of the collection is displayed in Peggy's former dining, lounge and bedroom, all of which either have million dollar views out into her garden or onto the Grand Canal. In a small room, adjacent to Peggy's bedroom, was the work of her daughter Pegeen, and a small tribute to her 'mysterious and untimely' death; I quite liked Pegeen's work with pastels.

There are two outside areas of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection; one outside overlooking the Grand Canal, and another is the garden. The garden is a most tranquil space, with large trees overhead, stone paths and flower beds. Here in the garden you find exhibits such as the gift from Yoko Ono- a Wish Tree-, a wall sized neon sign that reads 'Changing Place Changing Time Changing Thoughts Changing Future', as well as the resting place of Peggy, who is laid right beside the 14 dogs that were faithful companions between 1949 and 1979.


It was out in the garden that my experience on the Peggy Guggenheim Collection came to an end, and I started my trek back towards San Marco, with my head full of images and information, in a state of euphoria really. I stopped into an Antonio Vivaldi exhibition that I came upon along the way, full of antique sheet music and instruments, before leisurely wandering through the Venetian streets, photographing street signs and art/music poster bills.

Because it was our last night in Venice, and in Italy for that matter, we caught the water taxi from just near our hotel, back to the Ponte Rialto, where I purchased a red, glass heart, and found a gorgeous little restaurant on the edge of the canal for our Last [Italian] Supper. As per usual, the food was outstanding- the pasta, pane, tiramisu, proscuitto, ice-cream, chocolate spread, baci, cheese, frizzante, wine and beer that I sampled whilst in Italy was utterly superb!


Ah, the food! Molto, molto bene!