Free time in Venice.

On a rare occasion, we have free time. On this day we had some time to explore, buy souvenirs, get lost, buy cigars and enjoy one of the most picturesque cities in the world.

Though I would always like more time, I can appreciate a day or two. It is much better than never being here, plus it is incentive to return.

Lunch

What are so hard to condense into a narrative about travel are the hundreds of works of art that we look at every day.

We just finished the Galleria dell'Accademia in Venice. Most agreed that an outstanding painting there is The Feast in the House of Levi by Veronese. It is so large, and so well painted, no image on computer or in a book can do it justice. It can't be translated into a small print. I guess you understand that better once you see it.

It was a little chilly, but we stopped for lunch at the Campo Santa Margherita a short walk from the Accademia.

Planet Pub in Venice

We had some meals included on the recent trip to Italy. The first night we had a fabulous meal at a place called Planet Pub. We could have either the meat or fish meal and it was one of those really great meals you hope to have on a trip to Venice. Here is a picture of the first course. It has some little squids and other things we couldn't recognize. It was delicious and the courses to follow were equally great.

One curious note, in the entry way of the restaurant, they had a framed Minnesota Twins jersey and a Minnesota Timberwolves jersey. I guess a tourist from Minnesota comes often and had given them to the owner as gifts.

Breakfast in Venice

So here is the breakfast room at our hotel the Hotel Principe. The buffet was as good as ever, the rolls, the ham and cheese, the yogurt, even the fake cappuccino from a machine.

It was like a movie set with the Grand Canal right outside the glass. If only it had been a little warmer. What a spectacular experience it could have been! Breakfast on the Grand Canal would be something you could tell the nursing home staff some day when you having a good memory in your old age.

Old friends in Venice

It is nice to come back to Venice. The souvenir vendors haven't changed the charm of such a historic city. The more I've studied the fall of Constantinople, the more I've enjoyed seeing Diocletian's Tetrarchy. They were probably saved from destruction by being carted back to Venice after the fall. It is not particularly good sculpture, but famous none the less.

I also really enjoy seeing Bellini's Madonna with Saints in the church of San Zaccaria. It was open, so we brought the group back to enjoy such a masterpiece.

The Walk in Venice.

Everyone was able to shake off the jet lag and have a brief tour of the St. Mark area. We walked into the church and then it closed just before we were going to go in a second time. We made it to the church of San Zaccaria to see the Bellini Sacred Conversation and hung around waiting for our supper at the Planet Pub.

We were trying to get Brandon, Miles and Matt to take one more step back.....

One of the travelers felt to be more Italian, she needed to smoke. So here she posed with the first of her cigarettes to be more European. Let's hope Ruth's parents don't see this!

The church has some scaffolding up, but the interior was in fine form.

March 5th The Walk on Day 1

Finally, we arrived when we were supposed to and the hotel wasn't ready for us. We had a few minutes to unpack and go for our initial walk. I was hoping I could remember the way to St. Mark's. The hotel was near the train station and there is no direct way from the hotel to the church. We made our way to the Rialto and posed for a group picture. It only really shows how big the Rialto is....not the group.

We got to St. Mark's and I thought we better go in just in case it closed, and sure enough after we walked through the nave and back outside, they closed. hmmm.

The Art Army is back in Italia!

On March 4th, the Bukowski Art Army was back on the road. ...or in the air. Here is a view of Venice as the plane was coming in for a landing.

Little did the group realize that it would be one of the toughest tests for the army, with severe weather- wind, rain, and cold. But everyone was excited as we boarded the boats near the airport to float into Venezia.

The last image is the docking point at our hotel. It was near the train station and right on the Grand Canal. Ironically, it is the first time we arrived at the scheduled time and the hotel rooms weren't ready yet. About a third of the group had to wait in the lobby for the maids to clean the rooms and no one seemed to be in a big hurry to help us. Finally everyone except Nate and Kristi had rooms, so they just used someone else's to store their stuff and we went out looking.

More from New York.

The art army trip to New York included the ride on the Staten Island ferry. It would seem that from this photo, they weren't even interested in the Statue of Liberty. Actually they had been excited to see it and were trying to recover their energy to continue on to the Blue Note Jazz Club. We had tickets to see Jon Faddis and his Jazz Orchestra. It got mixed reviews, but live jazz in a New York hot spot is always good.