Churches in Venice

Torcello’s famous five-star inn, the Locanda Cipriani, has a great “Our Memories” web page which chronicles all the many famous people who have visited. It's an impressive list of royalty, artists, writers, and movie stars, and it's hilarious to read because it’s decidedly NOT chronological, and all other visitors seem to be designated as either “Before Hemingway” or “After Hemingway.”

And yes, Hemingway is at the top of the list, maybe because he not only visited Torcello many times but when he did, he tended to stay for extended periods rather than just popping in for lunch as many of the other celebrities did. In the fall of 1948, Hemingway spent a month on Torcello where wrote his Venice novel, Across the River and Into the Trees.

Confession: I tried to read this novel and I just couldn’t do it. I ended up skimming most of it and only reading the descriptions of Venice. Torcello gets a few brief mentions, but there is one nice part when the “hero” visits the Rialto Market.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who got a little choked up this morning watching the coverage of the pandas' departure for China. I watched Tai Shan grow up on the National Zoo webcam and went to visit him in Fall of 2006 when he was one-and-a-half years old. What a charismatic little bear! I couldn't take my eyes off of him.

He was supposed to go to China when he was two, but the zoo was allowed to keep him for a couple of extra years. We were lucky for the extra time but still, it's sad to see him go. The annual panda pregnancy watch is on, so maybe there will be another baby panda born in DC this year. Godspeed Tai!

Photos and videos of the cute one departing on the FedEx Panda Express are on the National Zoo's Flickr pages.

This week's PhotoHunt theme is "Average."

An average, ordinary, very common wildflower. Nothing wrong with being average!

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Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend.

A few works of art depicting Torcello. This lovely drawing is by John Ruskin~

And another Ruskin drawing, this one comparing the capitals of Torcello's Santa Maria Assunta with those of San Marco~

This week's PhotoHunt theme is "Broken."

A sculpture of a woman. Her dress is a mosaic made out of broken pieces of china and pottery.

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Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend.

This week's PhotoHunt theme is "Cuddly."

This cute lemur looks cuddly but probably isn't.

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Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend.

Back to Venice itself now, but with a Torcello connection. This incredibly beautiful and ornate shrine is in Camp San Giacomo dall' Orio, next to one of the bridges that exits the campo.

There's a small plaque next to the shrine that says that the icon inside is a copy of a statue of the Madonna con Bambino found in the church of Santa Fosca on Torcello. It's unusual for a shrine to have a sign like this. I love the blue/green marble on the sides of this tabernacle.

This week's PhotoHunt theme is "Daily."

When you share your life with cats, there are things you have to do daily (provide food and water, scoop the litter boxes). All are easy to do and don't take much time, but you do have to do them every day. The best part about living with animals is that you get to experience unconditional love on a daily basis.

Here are the cats that I share my daily life with. I try to remember to count my blessings daily. I don't always remember to do it but when I do, these sweet creatures are among the things I'm grateful for. :)

LuLu, my oldest. She showed up on my back porch about eight years ago, hungry and cold. I took her in and we've been together ever since. She's a lap cat, super sweet and loving.

Maria, the middle child, almost two-years old. Found in the highway when she was a six-week old kitten and brought to me. She's my beautiful wild child, and has a fun and quirky personality.

And here's the newest member of the family - Joey, a six-month old rescue kitten who is happy-go-lucky and purrs all the time. He joined the family two weeks ago. :)

You can find more Photo Hunters and join the hunt here.

Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend.

Found an interesting post on another blog with a map and a complete list of the locations of Venice's 70 or so working fountains with drinking water. Might be helpful info especially if you are traveling to Venice when it's hot. It's also interesting to look at the map - only four of them in the sestiere of San Marco? Seems strange.

People often ask me a couple of questions about Venice - do the canals stink and can you drink the water? The answers are no and yes (the water tastes great, I think).

Here's a contrast between getting water in Venice in the past (the vera da pozzo) and today (the fountain)~