some venice

on the very last day of june i hopped on a plane to venice. the first time i've ever been. friends who have been, told me that they found the huge crowds a bit of a turn-off and that next time round they'd prefer to go in spring or winter. so i went with mixed feelings - looking very much forward to it but wondering if the place would live up to my expectations. i shouldn't have worried. we went from wednesday through friday (avoiding the weekend) and had our hotel on dorsoduro, off san marco, where the biggest crowds tend to be. which meant that we had it nice and quiet, while being close to a vaporetto stop, so it was easy to get everywhere. the hotel, in fact, was a dream. a treat from a friend, a christmas and birthday present rolled in one, and what a beautiful one! a small boutique kind of place. just wonderful. i could rave on. 

when we arrived, it was incredibly hot and we had gotten up at an ungodly hour, so decided to sit on the terrace for a while and have a bit of a rest. when we finally set off for a walk around town, it was already very late afternoon and the light started having that soft evening glow. we crossed over to san marco via the accademia bridge. and there it was: the quintessential view. no wonder canaletto liked it here.

p.s.: had seven rolls of film processed. there are tons of pictures. if you care to see and read more about the venice-south-of-france-trip, stay tuned. and let me know when it starts getting boring . . .