Last Day in Venice. Wed Oct 8

Today was our Museum day. We headed to the Academia first, but it had a small typed sign on the door saying they were closed until the afternoon because of "technical" problems. Sure enough, there was a little barge pulled up nearby with septic tank drainage pipes running into the museum. 

Our guide had told us that most of Venice now has septic tanks. But some areas where it was not possible to add them, sewage still goes into the canals but "is washed away by the daily tides". And they are periodically dredged. Hmm. 

Dave was fascinated by the work on the infrastructure! You can see that the water level is only a couple of feet below the surface!

Very high tide this morning:

We discovered a brand new Glass Museum: Vitraria+A, right around the corner from the Academia.  It has only been open for a week. The exhibit feautured not just strictly glass but art utilizing the properties of glass such as fragility, transparency, fluidity, etc. As Dave mentioned in his post, sometimes it was hard to figure out how they related to glass. For example, I asked the young docent how the small steel sculpture by Frank Stella related and she said the curator had tried to convince him to create a new work in glass but he said he    has run out of energy to create new work.  But the curator really wanted him represented so he chose the small steel piece. 

Palazzo Nani Mosenigo, where the glass museum is located is beautiful in itself. Often next to an artwork would be a piece of wall exposed. Dave called them "truth windows". 

The square to the left is a tiny piece of fresco exposed. 

Little back streets with their charming window gardens!

Next stop was the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. 

View from the terrace of the Peggy Guggenheim Palazzo. 

Dave enjoyed the view on the terrace while I perused more of the amazing collection. At one point, just before WWII, she made a point of buying a painting a day! Wow! That would be challenging to look at, select and collect at that pace!!

One of her windows onto the Grand Canal. 

I love this early Calder. 

We had lunch in an out of the way locals cafe. 

Everything in this city is done in miniature from the contruction materials delivery:

To the chamber maids' supplies:

No big rolling carts as in most hotels. 

I never knew you could eat a kiwi like a soft boiled egg:

After lunch the Academia was open, technical problems resolved!

Gold ceiling. 

Besides an impressive collection of 12th to 14th century altar pieces, their prize display is the Giorgione painting "The Tempest". I rember it well from

Art History classes. Its enigmatic subject matter fascinates art historians.  It is smallish, maybe 30" x 20" framed behind glass and a people barrier unlike most of the other works. I did not take a photo, too dark and too much glare.

I enjoyed shooting little details of their extensive collection of Veronese, Tintorretto, etc; the Venetian masters. 

I found the above piece of fresco very funny!

On the way back to the hotel, Dave dropped a euro in this guy's hat. 

There are hundreds of "Secret" gardens that you can only find if you get lost! 

Wrapping up the last evening in the hotel bar.