Venice - Last Stop on our Tour

We left Kassel, Germany on June 18. We drove to Frankfurt and hence to Venice. If you have not traveled to Venice recently, you will be reminded that there are no automobiles. Rather people get around by water taxi, gondola, or the vaparetto (public transportation). We took a bus from the Marco Polo Airport that dropped us at the vaparetto station. Jim and Judy managed the suitcases and we got on and rode to our destination. Our lovely boutique hotel --Novecento--was about 3 blocks from the station at San Giglio. Up and down several small stairs that passed over small canals. We found our hotel without incident. They were ready for us and we were ready for some wine and pizza. Quite a tiring and exciting day. The next day we were ready to immerse ourselves in the third stop on the GrandTour--the Venice Biennale. I should say a word about Munster Sculpture Project. It turns out that Munster is some 3 hours away from Kassel. We did not feel that we had enough time to get there and back and so we abandoned the plan to see all 4 events. As I understand it, most of the sculpture in Munster is spread around the town and we were supposed to rent bicycles. Well, that certainly wouldn't work for either Judy or me. Jim would have to be on his own.

The Venice Biennale is the oldest of all these events. I was eagerly awaiting seeing what there was there. We were not disappointed. I have selected several photos of pieces that really interested me. Of all the work, I was incredibly impressed with Sigmar Polke's incredible paintings. First of all, they are gigantic. They occupy a prominent place in the Italian Pavilion. Much has been written about him and his work. We were not disappointed. Carol Vogel, writing in the International Herald Tribune, calls him the inscrutable master of the unexpected. She continues: at a moment when no clear artistic movement or style is dominant, artists and curators say all his work seems new.

We arrived in Venice on June 18. Randy Kennedy left on June 9. Make sure you read her blog. We saw some of the same things that Randy did. The two bald guys or gals, not sure which. We were glad we were not there for the huge crowds. We were at the first days of Art Basel and Documenta. So two out of three is not bad.