Ruga dei Oresi

In sestiere san Polo, one of the most buzy streets in Venice.

Rain

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
John Ruskin

Campo Santa Maria Formosa

You will cross this large campo, one of the largest in Venice, on your way from the Rialto to the Campo San Zanipolo. A nice place, with its little daily market and its colored houses. The church, Santa Maria Formosa, was built in 1492, to the design of architect Mauro Codussi.

Straight

What is straight? A line can be straight, or a street, but the human heart, oh, no, it's curved like a road through mountains.
Tennessee Williams

Dolci Ebraici

A Jewish bakery in Cannaregio. Flour, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and mainly grated almonds. Appetizing, isn't it?

Build for ever

"Therefore, when we build, let us think that we build for ever."
John Ruskin (1849)

Red and white

I was looking for this house because I had a photo of it in a book. It should have been easy, because the photo showed the number - 213. As you can see, they must have re-numbered the houses on Burano at some time.

Silent Church

I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

I don't like Mondays

I went to Possagno on a Monday, and it was shut. The next time I went, not on a Monday, I saw a note on the door of the Tempio Canoviano that gave the opening times. Half an hour after the doors should have opened I went to the Canova Museum (not a short walk) to ask why the Tempio was not open. The attendant told me that the times posted were the winter times, but they had not yet come into effect. You can find out all you need to know on-line, so I will say no more, other than don't believe the discovertreviso.com site that says the Tempio is open on Mondays.

Lonely Street

You might be a sweet-toned sure nuff high-class talker,
You might be a stone, stone expert at kissing.
But it don't do too much good to be talking,
Brother, when there ain't no, ain't nobody listening.
And if you are shy, just not much of a talker,
Don't impress the people that you meet.
You might as well be a lonely walker in a lonely town, on a lonely street.
Bill Withers

Superstizione

Open umbrella? Why not! But outside the house please...

Violinist

“A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy.”
Albert Einstein

Rialto

The beautiful Rialto Bridge, built during the Renaissance (1588-1592). Its author, the Italian engineer Antonio Da Ponte, won the contest ahead of Michelangelo himself... Until the 1850s, it was the only structure linking the two banks of the Grand Canal.

The lion was framed

This noble lion may be found in the courtyard of a noble who strives.
The inscription beneath the plaque reads: Sub umbra alarum tuarum (under the shadow of your wings) [Psalms 16:8]

Fishing

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.
Henry David Thoreau

Balcony

Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity.
John Ruskin

We need only look up if we wish to feel small

“Many religions have attempted to make statues of their gods very large, and the idea, I suppose, is to make us feel small. But if that's their purpose, they can keep their paltry icons. We need only look up if we wish to feel small.”
Carl Sagan

Caffé Quadri

The Caffé Quadri, on Piazza San Marco, has maintained its original character throughout the centuries.

Stairs

“Each day a day goes by” used to say the famous man who lived in this house...

Notte

Buona notte, buona notte! Separarsi è un sì dolce dolore, che dirò buona notte finché non sarà mattina.
William Shakespeare

Take another look

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and stars were the gifts you gave
To the night and the empty skies, my love,
To the night and the empty skies.

Written by Ewan MacColl for his wife, Peggy Seeger

This may look like one of the Madonnas that I have shown you before, but you will see that there is no Child. Chapter 12 of The Revelation of St John the Divine begins,"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." This woman is sometimes identified with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Some of the stars have fallen from the ring above her head. She is also trampling some sort of monster - a dragon or serpent - beneath her feet. Lots of symbolism here. The figure of Mary on top of the Salute also has a ring of twelve stars around her head and the moon beneath her feet.
It is probably a coincidence that there are seven stars on the ring and that Dante Gabriel Rossetti wrote a poem called The Blessed Damozel with the line: "And the stars in her hair were seven."
To find her, look east from where Katharine Hepburn fell into a canal.

Let's set sail

Let's set sail with Captain Morgan
or we'll never leave dry land...

Bric-a-brac

“The mind of a the thoroughly well-informed man is a dreadful thing. It is like a bric-a-brac shop, all monsters and dust, with everything priced above its proper value.”
Oscar Wilde

From the Rialto Bridge

Tourists love this place, one of the best to observe the Canal, the palaces on both sides, and the boats traffic under the bridge...

Canale della Giudecca

A restaurant in Dorsoduro, along the wide Canale della Giudecca.

Sotoportego

Going from campo to campo, from calle to calle, by one of the many covered passages in Venice.

Tabaccheria Souvenirs

A little shop, like so much of this kind, dedicated to the tourists, eager to come back home with something from this wonderful city...

Rowing

Another way to visit Venice...