2012/13 Europe Adventure: 04/23/13

Incredible Clouds over the Venetian Islands

Me on the vaporetto with St. Mark's Square in the background

It was a gorgeous, cool day in Venice with bright sunshine and a perfect breeze.

I left my hotel after breakfast and walked along the seaside promenade to the vaporetto stop where I caught the number 6 boat to St. Basilio stop so I could see the interior of the San Sebastiano Church (which was closed on Sunday when I was there.)

The clouds almost look like they were painted by one of
those amazing Venetian Master Artists

San Sabastiano "Between 1455-68 it was replaced by a bigger church also dedicated to Mary, but to Saint Sebastian too in thanksgiving to the saint for his deliverance of the local population from the plague of 1464. The building of the current church and its monastery saw the church's façade switched from facing the Campazzo San Sebastiano (as seen in De Barbari's map of of 1500) to the current arrangement facing the canal. This work was carried out by Antonio Scarpagnino between 1506 and 1548. The church and the convent next door were suppressed in 1810 by Napoleon and the convent was partially demolished before being rebuilt in 1856. The building now houses the University of Venice's department of literature and philosophy. As you go to the Madonna dell’Orto or the Scuola di San Rocco for Tintoretto and to San Giorgio degli Schiavoni for Carpaccio, so this church is where you come for Veronese. This was his parish church, and tradition has it that he found refuge in the monastery after killing a love rival. He began decorating it at the age of 30, working here from 1555 to 1581. The ceiling shows scenes from the life of Esther and the walls show the life of Saint Sebastian. The trompe l'oeil painting here is almost unnerving in the way it blends so smoothly with the architecture, which had been finished only a few years before. You get the impression that the church was built specifically to house the trompe l'oeil vistas and the combination of art, sculpture and architecture is seamless. Veronese had trained as a stonecutter too and designed the altar. He died in 1588 and was buried here - his tombstone is in the floor near the organ. Also some 'minor interventions' by Titian, Palma Giovane, and an 18th Century painter called Federico Bencovich."

San Sebastiano Church Angel painting

I then tried to walk to the train station which should have only been about a 10 minute walk but got a bit lost so I just jumped back on the vaporetto and we went past the cruise ship port and with in 15 minutes we were at the train station and at 12:50pm I was on the train for Nice, France after saying a goodbye to the gorgeous city that I've truly grown to love. I also had to leave my pretty pink suitcase behind as it lost it's a third wheel when I was dragging it from Bari to Venice over a week ago. So I bought an adorable purple carryall like ones I've seen just about ever Venetian, old, young and chic, well dressed women using all over the city. I had seen several suitcases in shops but the ones of any substance were crazy expensive and the other cheap ones just weren't worth the money and besides I've got a pink suitcase that I left in NYC so it seemed logical to get one of these quintessentially Venetian accessories that I can use when I'm running errands in the city. And what really clinched the deal was that it was actually made in Italy and I love that. It's so hard to find something made in Italy now a days.

Bye-bye pretty pink suitcase

Bye-bye pretty pink suitcase
Yes, it went through a great deal in 7 months of traveling being dragged
through over 11 countires and well over 70 cities and
over cobble-stoned streets, through rain, snow, ice, mud and pretty
much every kind of weather and muck you can imagine.

I changed trains in Milan after three hours where I had dinner across the street and then took another train to Ventimiglia, Italy and after four hours I was rushing with the others to catch the train to Nice, France on the track next to where our train came in about 10 minutes late. We all made it on and within an hour going along the seaside we arrived in Nice and thankfully my hotel was just a 2 minute walk from the station and almost exactly 12 hours from when I walked out of my hotel on Lido, Venice I was walking into my hotel in Nice.