Marco Polo Square

Our last day on Murano and in Venice and with the possibility of rain forecast we decided to head for the Guggenheim Contemporary Art Gallery at the entrance to the Grand Canal. Catching the Vaporetto at Colonna gave us the opportunity to walk down the main shopping street/canal on Murano and take a few more photos on the way. An overcast day with low light levels and the water in the lagoon was lapping onto the walkway as we approached Colonna. (We realised late in our trip what all those little tables on legs were actually there for.)

We were able to retrace our steps from Fondamente Nove through the narrow streets (Calle de Fumo) in order to re-find the square (Corte Secunda del Million) where Marco Polo is supposed to have lived (apparently there were a few `wives’ and so there appear to be a few claims for residency around this part of the city). Very old buildings here provided us with some great photo opportunities. I was looking at the contrast between the modern graffiti on the inside of these arches and the older carved decoration that forms the border of the arch when these two people emerged from the Calle del Teatro.

Very good coffee in the Campo Santa Marina and then onwards through the much larger Campo Santa Maria Formosa, along canals and through narrow alleys until we saw the Ponte dei Sospiri and knew we had found St Marks. (Place names/ destinations are included to help me work out where we walked. We found the route navigation from the map we had very difficult - Open Street Map is so much better).

The shops heralded our arrival at St Marks Square, which had clearly been flooded earlier in the morning. Negotiating around people seemed even more difficult than the day before. Having puchased a 24 hour vaporreti ticket it was easy to hop on board to cross the entrance to the Grand Canal and disembark at Salute.

Seeing the Guggenheim collection was amazing. I’ve never seen all of these artist’s work displayed in such close proximity to one another and I’m still processing ideas and thoughts about these. My initial one was how could one person end up with this amazing collection of artwork adorning the walls of their home. (I realise that having a great deal of money is essential - but you also need to know what you are buying. It’s made me want to know a little more about Peggy Guggenheim!)

Speaking of art and artists we also stopped to look at the `Sworn, Campbell, Tomkins’ exhibition (part of the Venice Biennale). The Sworn film has left us talking and asking questions, e.g. `What turns a social documentary film into art’. But we never got to see the paintings because `they were just about to have a meeting in that room’ - this at a time when there were quite a few visitors including students in the building!

Lots of photos taken and a difficult choice. Even the pizzas, taken in our favourite local restaurant, that we ate for a very late lunch were Blippable. Luggage collected back on Murano, a vaporetto trip (No 3) took us straight back to the bus station and a disorderly and pushing mass of people all trying to get on the bus for Treviso airport. A late Ryan air flight back home, which was packed and a very bouncy and stomach clenching approach to East Midlands Airport in the very strong winds crossing the UK last night. A clear, cold sky in Nottinghamshire but more very strong winds and pouring rain for us as we drove north. Thank goodness we had Barry, out taxi driver to get us the rest of the way home. Very, very late home for us- well after midnight UK time and after 1.30am Venice time. We’ll be shattered tonight - but a brilliant trip and one we hope to repeat (well maybe not the flights) before too long.