Venice Part 1: Lungo il Canale

Arriving in Venice for the first time is akin to being thrown inside a giant kaleidoscope full of magical buildings, palaces, statues, bridges, turquoise canals, stripes, flags, posts, boats...all tumbled together in the most perfect random arrangements. Street after street, alley on alley, lane after lane and always water on your left, no right, no I mean straight ahead! You wonder, could there be a more perfect arrangement of  architecture and waterway than the one you are currently marveling at and then you cross an impossible tiny stone bridge or turn the tightest corner and there is another...and another...

 

The colours of Venice are divine...the combinations. Venice is rose and teal. Darkest green and turquoise. Terracotta and soft grey. Blush and faded Shrimper sail red.

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I love to get acquainted with new cities. "Before you get your eye in" as Mr.Lane would say. 

All is new and wondrous, it is a heightened experience, like being a child again.

I am most alive when I am noticing. The smells, the sounds, the people. 

The market is invariably the starting point. 

Head to the market and all will be revealed.*

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I have long associated Venice with two incredible films. 

Visconti's Death in Venice starring Dirk Bogarde, adapted from Thomas Mann's masterpiece, with that ravishing Mahler score. And Nicholas Roeg's chilling adaptation of a Daphne Du Maurier story, Don't Look Now starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland. I wondered if I had too many preconceptions to really see the city for myself. Imagine the thrill of seeing Venice for the first time with no prior knowledge! I needn't have worried... there is so much more to discover beyond the tourist trail.
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Venice beguiles you, being at once familiar and yet tricksy to navigate. We stayed in the quieter area of Santa Croce and wandered the narrow streets unflustered, knowing eventually we would spot a landmark and navigate from it. If all else failed we stopped for coffee or gelato...
At times it seemed the Gods were gently turning the kaleidoscope a quarter turn and all the streets were shuffled, just as you think you have the hang of it.

Meanwhile, back at the Lane, it seems a corner has been turned...there is blossom and birdsong...
--x--

Post Script: I changed the title of this post several times, feeling I sounded rather Cecil Vyse. Then, on reflection I realised I probably am a little Cecil ( sans the pince nez! )
* Back soon at the market!