Walking in Europe

A blog of Angus and Alison's walking tour of the Tour de Mont Blanc, Via degli Dei the Dobratsch Circuit in Carinthia, Austria, the Dolomites, Venice, and Iceland

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Four Days in Venice

A beautiful city with so much to see and experience.

When we were planning our trip we had not thought to visit Venice. But as our time in the Dolomites wound down and the weather cooled (apparently snow at Tre Cime yesterday!) we decided to take the 3 hour bus ride south from Toblach to Venice on Tuesday. We found a very reasonable hostel room in a four room apartment with shared kitchen in Mestre (metro Venice), close to transit and a grocery store. We’ve had a lovely few days of taking the bus out along a long causeway into the old part of Venice (a series of islands) and exploring the piazzas, alley ways, and myriad canal walkways and bridges around the old city. One evening we went to see a string and harpsichord ensemble perform a flawless Vivaldi’s Quattro Stagioni, and toured the Museum of Music. We toured the Gallerie dell Accademia. We took a water taxi over to the nearby island of Murano and toured the Glass Museum. Today we toured the Museum of Natural History and spent several hours in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection; an extensive gallery (her former residence) of contemporary 20th Century paintings and sculpture (this was one our favourite galleries). Thank goodness for map applications as Venice is a very compact, ancient city of alleys, canals, foot bridges where it was so easy to lose track of where you are! But that’s part of the appeal.

At our hostel, we met a very nice couple (Mila and Sergei) living in London but from Ukraine; in Venice to meet up with two of their adult kids, one of whom is the sound engineer for a touring Ukrainian orchestra performing popular film scores and contemporary orchestral music. We went to the show last night and really enjoyed it. Their daughter left this morning to head back to Kyiv 😢.

Tomorrow we pack up and head to Zurich!

Rialto Bridge
High tide at a restaurant. Note the water level! Servers wear rubber boots.
One day was a downpour!
Amazing to see Picasso, Dali, Pollock and many others up close
A great visit to Venice!

Sound Bytes

Vivaldi soudbyte
Venice rainfall and church bell
Lords of Sound orchestra from Ukraine playing Pirates of Caribbean

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2 responses to “Four Days in Venice”

  1. Maureen Cowin Avatar
    Maureen Cowin

    Greetings from Vancouver, Angus and Alison!

    Thanks for the great glimpses of Europe through your eyes (and ears, as in the Vivaldi). I recently enjoyed the Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec City, and Montreal – where I preceded Jocelyn by a week. Keep having happy travels!

    Maureen

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    1. angus.r.graeme Avatar
      angus.r.graeme

      Thanks Maureen! Thanks for your note. We’ve been having an amazing adventure. And feel very grateful for all the experiences we’ve had. Starting to wind our way home in the next few days..

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