Venice!!!!

Well what can I say?

I feel like I have no words to describe how utterly bewitching Venice is and how it's beauty completely caught me off guard.   I simply had no idea.  I mean I did... but no....I didn't really.  You see pictures of it and you see it in films, but nothing can prepare you for the breath taking panoramas that greet with every turn in every canal.   It is a sparkling city - a place for dreaming and letting your mind melt into the scene you behold.   I think Jan Morris' description says it all "It is very old, and very grand, and bent-backed.  Its towers survey the lagoon in crotchety splendour, some leaning one, some another.  Its skyline is elaborate with campaniles, domes, pinnacles and a big red grain elevator.  There are glimpses of flags and fretted rooftops, marble pillars, cavernous canals.  An incessant bustle of boats passes before the quays of the place; a great white liner slips towards its port; a multitude of tottering palaces, brooding and monstrous, presses towards its water front like so many invalid aristocrats jostling for fresh air.  It is a gnarled but gorgeous city: and as the boat approaches through the last church-crowned islands......so the whole scene seems to shimmer - with pinkness, with age, with self-satisfaction, with sadness, with delight.  The navigator stows away his charts and puts on a gay straw hat; for he has reached that paragon among landfalls, Venice." (exact from 'Venice' by Jan Morris 1963).

A city without cars ...just imagine! It is so relaxing and it is amazing how quickly you forget about modern day life.  Personally I rather think mobile phones should be banned too,  they seem so out of place here.   This City belongs in another time.... many other times..... from Shakespeare to Evelyn Waugh, it has been written about for hundreds of years and as a modern day tourist, you almost feel like an intruder.

Of course not only do you have these splendid views surrounding you... you have all the wonderful things about Italy that make a break there so lovely.... the food....the wine.....the weather and wonderful art and culture to learn about.  We went to Murano, the island of glass.  Here are a few of my favourite photos.

We went to the 'Ca' d'or' an amazing museum that housed the private collection of Baron Giorgio Franchetti.  The outdoor courtyard with its astonishing mosaic floor was awe inspiring (I'm thinking serious quilt patterns here!).

A house full of fascinating exhibits.

We went to the Doge's palace too of course - a stunning architectural feast for the eyes and full of treasures to see with open eyes.

Even the armoury had rather stylish things to share!

Everywhere beautiful things to see and not just colours, but shapes too.  I fell in love with the Quatre foil pattern which is everywhere here....

So much inspiration to bring home....

They had a few wonderful shops selling artisan paper products and I bought this charming little box for my sewing room...perfect for my very best silk appliqué threads.

We had a truly wonderful time and I felt refreshed and relaxed after just four days there.  It is the colours of Venice that make it so magical....  the dusty pinks, the terracotta reds, the ivory marble, the aquamarine sea, the inky blue canals and the malachite greens of the mosaics... and this is what I shall carry away with me.

Time for a quilt... I think!

Can you tell I am smiling.....!  Ruby x