Italy: Venice, 2013

En route, Venice to London. I have spent a wonderful few days in the city of bridges and canals. On Thursday, I discovered an exhibition of Da Vinci’s inventions, made to scale, from mechanical devices and weapons of war to flying machines and optical instruments. On Thursday evening, I joined [name] and her fellow course attendees in Mestre, just outside of the Old City, for a pizza dinner. The guesthouse where we stayed for 3 nights was in the Old Town.

On Friday, I explored Venice more on foot and went to an amazing exhibition at the Accademia with original drawings by Da Vinci, including his famed Vitruvian Man. I was pleased to have a chance to do some ink sketches of my own, including of the view from a café near Rialto bridge – my first art of 2013!

On Friday evening, we found a pasta restaurant along the canal – I had spaghetti pomodoro and [name] had a lobster tagliatelle dish. On Saturday, we took a vaporetto to Murano, where the renowned colourful Venetian glass is made, and Burano, which is a beautiful little island where the houses are all brightly painted. In the evening, we went to a show called ‘The Story of Venice’, a fairly low-key production with 3 main actors and one set. Even so, it was informative and entertaining.