Day 4: Last Day in Venice and Departure

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There was much to do today and a limited amount of time to do it in. We wanted to go to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art – my (Allan’s) favorite museum with the possible exception of the Orsay in Paris, and still needed to return to Bevilacqua for the “pillow quest”. We boarded the shuttle from the boat fairly early and went directly to Bevilacqua to find my pillow… The store was open when we arrived and I did not find the pillow I remembered seeing before but did find another, equally beautiful one to buy (there will be pictures uploaded later of this and many other goodies found along the way – animal, mineral, and vegetable :-) ). Once we were finished there we dashed off to the Accademia Bridge and on to the Guggenheim.

I have to break for a moment here to say something: Venice is one of the most magical places I’ve ever seen. It is a romantic’s dream come true. Around every bend and turn is a tableau that will make your heart sing. If I had any yearnings to paint I would probably not have ever been able to leave this place, so powerful is its pull on the visitor. Steve and I will return one day to spend a dedicated week exploring those places in the city we’ve not yet seen.

We meandered from the bridge to the museum looking in all the fabulous shops and galleries, the restaurants, the hotels. The Guggenheim was quite busy this day but not so busy you couldn’t enjoy yourself there. It’s a very unique place: a palazzo that was Peggy’s home in the mid 1900’s, since added onto while holding the original charm of the building. I love this place and much of the art in it. Picasso, Klee, Magritte, and Miro and my personal favorite – a small painting by Yves Tanguy named “In an Indeterminate Place” that just grabbed hold of me the first time I saw it. It’s a bit reminiscent of some of Dali’s work, but it’s quite spare and has a certain forlorn quality about it as much of Tanguy’s work does. Tim and Rick seemed to enjoy the museum very much.

Once we were finished at the Guggenheim it was back out to wander a bit before returning to the ship for our grand departure.
We managed to find a space on one of the top decks to hang out for the sailing out from the terminal through the Giudecca – one of the main canals. It was all very grand and a bit overwhelming, but there really is nothing like seeing the Campanile and the Doge’s Palace glide by from eleven stories high. Seeing the city this way made me realize just how little of it we’d actually seen in our two visits (totaling six days). Ah well… there’s always next time .

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