Inspiration

We arrived in Venice to sparkling blue skies and sunshine.
The moment when you first catch sight of the spires of Venice across the lagoon is always breathtaking. 

You suddenly find yourself in narrow canals with all life charging by. 

Another breathtaking moment, entering the Grand Canal.

We were staying at the Cima Rosa B&B – a perfect base for our explorations.  We’d booked one of their rooms overlooking the Grand Canal. In any other city, that would be like saying ‘please may we have one of your rooms directly overlooking Oxford Street’. Here, of course, it was magic.  We dumped our bags and couldn’t wait to get out to explore. The fish market was closing up – good only for seagulls.

Parcel delivery van:

Our minds were completely blown by the Hirst ‘Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable’ at the Palazzo Grassi.  Catch it while you can. 

Corners of Venice.

The Olivetti Showroom. Loved this wheelbarrow outside Florian.

Tea at Florian, of course.

I love things like diggers on barges in Venice. 

We were meeting our friend Skye for drinks at the Gritti that evening… 

And then a happy dinner, and we wandered home through deserted streets.   There was mist in the air.

The following morning we woke to thick fog. Heaven. We jumped out of bed.

Mystery at every corner.

The fish market was alive and bustling that morning.

Cool colours at the Rialto.

We kept on bumping into people we knew, which is strange when you think how impossible that is in London. 

We popped in to the Guggenheim.

Peggy’s white gondola posts are very beautiful. It would be amazing to see the rooms still like this:

Palladio’s great Il Redentore, across the lagoon.

Hirst, part 2, at the beautifully restored Punta della Dogana.
The Salute:

Palazzo Fortuny:

And we were meeting Skye and her Mum again, this time for lunch. Rendevous outside Florian and we walked to a tiny restaurant down hidden back streets.

The cool grey marble of San Marco. We didn’t go in this time. 

We walked back to the Accademia together. I’ve always had a soft spot for the sign of the Hotel Metropole (and I suspect Wes Anderson has too).

We were going to a concert at the Palazzo Contarini together. And then we made our way home through dark streets, and got completely and utterly lost, which was brilliant, and quite funny when we realised we had been walking in totally the wrong direction.

Weekends fly by so quickly but Charlie and I somehow both love to arrive somewhere really early and leave really early. We left Venice in another deep fog, vowing to return soon….

… but so happy.

The Lagoon was thick with fog as we sped back to the airport. It was perfect to arrive in the sunshine; perhaps almost even better to leave in flat cold light. Venice vanished into the misty greyness, as if in a dream.