September 16
We left Padua looking forward to Rome but sorry to see our time in this quaint town end. We had a lovely breakfast at the hotel and then said goodbye to Stefano, the v
ery handsome Venetian born Front Desk Associate and Montse the intern working at the hotel for two months who lives in England but is originally from Barcelona. We had wonderful discussions with t
hem both and they were so gracious. The hotel was a fabulous choice and Padua really is a city to be seen.
The train ride to Venice was so easy and only took about 40 minutes. When we got to V
enice we bought our 3 day boat and bus pass and were on our way to Lido by water bus. It was so exciting to be on the Grande Canal again. The city had not lost a bit of its luster in the 7 years since I had been there and although I am bias, as I fell deeply in love with the city then, I think going back simply reinforced all my feelings for it. It was an overcast day but I was just so glad to be there it didn’t matter a bit.
We got to Lido and found our hotel which is about a 5 minute
ride from the dock. Lido is a long island with beautiful beaches and resorts. It’s safe and quiet an
d just a perfect place if you don’t mind the boat ride from the main island. The Hotel Villa Tiziana was nice but the staff were not very friendly.
We headed right back into town by boat and simply did some walking around the little streets and over tons of bridges and just enjoyed every moment of it. We saw lots of great shops and everything including the buildings are colorful. The scarf shop Melody stopped at had a rainbow of color choic
es and it was fun to just look in the windows of all the glass shops.
The only two things we did that were purposeful was a visit to the Santa Maria Della Salute church and to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection museum. The church
was covered in scaffolding for a renovation but it was still nice to go back and admire the exquisite details on the inside.
The Guggenheim museum holds a spectacular collection of all the art she had personally collected and it is something very special to see. The villa it is displayed in was her personal home and she is buried in the back with her beloved dogs. There are wonderful modern sculptures, paintings and photographs from various artists including Giorgio de Chirico who we heard a lecture on and who’s work on metaphysical representations is very int
eresting. I had not heard of him before so it wonderful to learn about his process and understand his philosophical approach to art. I fell in love with one in the guest room with its two large windows that looks out on to the Grande Canal. This room holds the Jackson Pollack works that Peggy had collected and although I had admired his work from what I had seen in Moma and the Met, I now have a real deep appreciation for his talent and ther
e is one particular piece I really connected with and that was Eyes in the Heat. I sat at one point looking out on to the Canal from one of the window ledges that I imaged would be perfect with a large cushion on it for curling up with a great book and enjoying the boats as they passed. I know when I need to go to a happy place when life gets stressful this will be it. Gazing at inspirational art from on
side and being mesmerized by the city on the other is perfect. I only need to erase in my minds eye all those people who were consistently traipsing through my happy place.
We continued to walk through the city and made it through
Piazza San 
Marco where there were fewer people than my last visit so it was a pleasure to stroll past the pigeons and the monuments and make our way to the water where an Italian Tall Ship
was docked. It is an impressive sight and Melody even recalls seeing it two other times in the States during the Tall Ship parades in I think C
onnecticut and New York.
We had dinner down the street from the ship at Hostaria All’Ombra and the pasta with clams was delicious but I think they haven not yet perfected their main courses.
We took a long walk back to the boat station and off we went back to Lido and to the hotel for some much needed rest.
We left Padua looking forward to Rome but sorry to see our time in this quaint town end. We had a lovely breakfast at the hotel and then said goodbye to Stefano, the v
ery handsome Venetian born Front Desk Associate and Montse the intern working at the hotel for two months who lives in England but is originally from Barcelona. We had wonderful discussions with t
hem both and they were so gracious. The hotel was a fabulous choice and Padua really is a city to be seen.The train ride to Venice was so easy and only took about 40 minutes. When we got to V
enice we bought our 3 day boat and bus pass and were on our way to Lido by water bus. It was so exciting to be on the Grande Canal again. The city had not lost a bit of its luster in the 7 years since I had been there and although I am bias, as I fell deeply in love with the city then, I think going back simply reinforced all my feelings for it. It was an overcast day but I was just so glad to be there it didn’t matter a bit.We got to Lido and found our hotel which is about a 5 minute
ride from the dock. Lido is a long island with beautiful beaches and resorts. It’s safe and quiet an
d just a perfect place if you don’t mind the boat ride from the main island. The Hotel Villa Tiziana was nice but the staff were not very friendly.We headed right back into town by boat and simply did some walking around the little streets and over tons of bridges and just enjoyed every moment of it. We saw lots of great shops and everything including the buildings are colorful. The scarf shop Melody stopped at had a rainbow of color choic
es and it was fun to just look in the windows of all the glass shops.The only two things we did that were purposeful was a visit to the Santa Maria Della Salute church and to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection museum. The church
was covered in scaffolding for a renovation but it was still nice to go back and admire the exquisite details on the inside.The Guggenheim museum holds a spectacular collection of all the art she had personally collected and it is something very special to see. The villa it is displayed in was her personal home and she is buried in the back with her beloved dogs. There are wonderful modern sculptures, paintings and photographs from various artists including Giorgio de Chirico who we heard a lecture on and who’s work on metaphysical representations is very int
eresting. I had not heard of him before so it wonderful to learn about his process and understand his philosophical approach to art. I fell in love with one in the guest room with its two large windows that looks out on to the Grande Canal. This room holds the Jackson Pollack works that Peggy had collected and although I had admired his work from what I had seen in Moma and the Met, I now have a real deep appreciation for his talent and ther
e is one particular piece I really connected with and that was Eyes in the Heat. I sat at one point looking out on to the Canal from one of the window ledges that I imaged would be perfect with a large cushion on it for curling up with a great book and enjoying the boats as they passed. I know when I need to go to a happy place when life gets stressful this will be it. Gazing at inspirational art from on
side and being mesmerized by the city on the other is perfect. I only need to erase in my minds eye all those people who were consistently traipsing through my happy place.We continued to walk through the city and made it through
Piazza San 
Marco where there were fewer people than my last visit so it was a pleasure to stroll past the pigeons and the monuments and make our way to the water where an Italian Tall Ship
was docked. It is an impressive sight and Melody even recalls seeing it two other times in the States during the Tall Ship parades in I think C
onnecticut and New York.We had dinner down the street from the ship at Hostaria All’Ombra and the pasta with clams was delicious but I think they haven not yet perfected their main courses.
We took a long walk back to the boat station and off we went back to Lido and to the hotel for some much needed rest.
October 17
We got up early and walked to the Lido beach which was so exciting for me as I truly love the ocean and rolled up my leggings and walked along the shore enjoying the somewhat warm Adriatic water and picking up shells. Melod
y found some lovely shells as well but she stayed a bit away from the approaching water.
We took the boat back to the main island and walked around for the whole day. The unique thing we did today was to go to the Jewish Ghetto which is very much worth seei
ng and we met an artist who was so charming and did exquisite work. We had already had a snack or we would have eaten in one of several kosher restaurants. The food and especially the traditional desserts looked so good. We stopped in at the Ghetto museum and looked around the gift shop as it was getting late and we didn’t have time for the whole museum (that is something I must do on my next visit). In the museum there was a cook book for Italian Jewish traditional food which if the book wasn’t so darn heavy I would have brought it home (no, not for me since I don’t even boil water, but someone I am sure would have appreciated it).
The rest of the day was spent simply enjoying every little street, corner, piazza, bridge and arch we could come across. I love this city so much and I feel so at home here.
There is several works of public art dedicated to protecting the environment and we came across too in the Giardini area. One is a large glass structure resembling a lily pad with the base being a rounded enormous cement base made for seating and with tall,
thin gr
een glass rods coming out of its middle. At the end of each rod was a white flat area that held light blubs. The concept for this one is the white flat areas stored the sun light and converted it to energy and at night that energy then lit up the light blubs. It was a great modern work and benefits the environment so what could be better in a public park.
The other piece was at the waters edge and was a large mirrored
cube with a tree on the inside in the middle. It is a representation I suppose of nature and the connections it has with man made architecture.
After a wonderful dinner of spicy pas
ta Arrabiata at another restaurant near the ship. Again we walked to the boat stop nearest the restaurant except this time it turns out that today there was an organized strike so there were only boats going out of Piazza San Marco until midnight. We started to walk that way which was not a problem for us as it is always a pleasure to walk Venice any time day or night. We came across and very elegant elderly woman who was not aware of the strike and who was too afraid to walk the distance alone to the next stop which would be right near her home because she had fallen one night several months ago on the bridge and was very badly hurt. Melody took the shopping cart she was dragging and the woman too my arm and we all strolled across the bridge and down the walking path by the water until she was safely near her home. She spoke Italian to us the whole time so I got bits 
and pieces of what she was saying but she was so lovely and very much appreciated the helping had.
The boat ride to Lido that night was very special as the moon was peeking through the clouds and the breeze was fantastic and I was in Venice so what could possibly be bad about all that.
Off to bed!
We got up early and walked to the Lido beach which was so exciting for me as I truly love the ocean and rolled up my leggings and walked along the shore enjoying the somewhat warm Adriatic water and picking up shells. Melod
y found some lovely shells as well but she stayed a bit away from the approaching water.
We took the boat back to the main island and walked around for the whole day. The unique thing we did today was to go to the Jewish Ghetto which is very much worth seei
ng and we met an artist who was so charming and did exquisite work. We had already had a snack or we would have eaten in one of several kosher restaurants. The food and especially the traditional desserts looked so good. We stopped in at the Ghetto museum and looked around the gift shop as it was getting late and we didn’t have time for the whole museum (that is something I must do on my next visit). In the museum there was a cook book for Italian Jewish traditional food which if the book wasn’t so darn heavy I would have brought it home (no, not for me since I don’t even boil water, but someone I am sure would have appreciated it).The rest of the day was spent simply enjoying every little street, corner, piazza, bridge and arch we could come across. I love this city so much and I feel so at home here.
There is several works of public art dedicated to protecting the environment and we came across too in the Giardini area. One is a large glass structure resembling a lily pad with the base being a rounded enormous cement base made for seating and with tall,
thin gr
een glass rods coming out of its middle. At the end of each rod was a white flat area that held light blubs. The concept for this one is the white flat areas stored the sun light and converted it to energy and at night that energy then lit up the light blubs. It was a great modern work and benefits the environment so what could be better in a public park.The other piece was at the waters edge and was a large mirrored
cube with a tree on the inside in the middle. It is a representation I suppose of nature and the connections it has with man made architecture.After a wonderful dinner of spicy pas
ta Arrabiata at another restaurant near the ship. Again we walked to the boat stop nearest the restaurant except this time it turns out that today there was an organized strike so there were only boats going out of Piazza San Marco until midnight. We started to walk that way which was not a problem for us as it is always a pleasure to walk Venice any time day or night. We came across and very elegant elderly woman who was not aware of the strike and who was too afraid to walk the distance alone to the next stop which would be right near her home because she had fallen one night several months ago on the bridge and was very badly hurt. Melody took the shopping cart she was dragging and the woman too my arm and we all strolled across the bridge and down the walking path by the water until she was safely near her home. She spoke Italian to us the whole time so I got bits 
and pieces of what she was saying but she was so lovely and very much appreciated the helping had.The boat ride to Lido that night was very special as the moon was peeking through the clouds and the breeze was fantastic and I was in Venice so what could possibly be bad about all that.
Off to bed!
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