First, a 9.5 hour flight to Germany!
🍷 We all felt very pampered on Lufthansa Airlines. They had complimentary wine, delicious food (really!) and kept handing out hot towels.
That part went mostly to plan... except:
📱 When we reached our gate, Halle's phone IMMEDIATELY broke.
(Editor's note: She had been stubbornly holding onto her iPhone 8 for years and probably could have prevented this. Alas...)
✅ Luckily we pulled up her boarding pass on another phone and we all made it onto the plane.
⭐ Kathryn completely saved the day by reading the hotel website!
Some of us (who will remain anonymous) forgot that Venice is an island 🤦♀️ and that we would need to arrange water transportation to the hotel. Thankfully, Kathryn had done her homework by reading the hotel website and knew which boat to take.
We checked into the hotel and located the gelato.
We stayed at the Hotel Ala at Campo Santa Maria del Giglio.
The next morning, we checked out the Peggy Guggenheim museum.
Yep, those Guggenheims! Peggy was an American art collector. The museum is in her former home, which is right on the canal.
Promontory Palace
🔮 Not sure why, but this surrealist painting by Yves Tanguy stood out to us. The level of detail is impressive for an imaginary subject.
This bedframe
We've all seen Alexander Calder's geometric mobiles, but since Peggy knew him personally, she comissioned him for decor. It's a silver headboard (roughly ~5 feet tall) and depicts a pond complete with bugs, flowers, and ferns. 🛏️
Her pet memorial
🐕 Peggy is buried in the courtyard next to her 14 pets. She had a dog named Pegeen, which was also her daughter's name (!?)
A tactile Kandinsky!
This Kandinsky (and some others!) had a little plaque underneath where visitors could feel the shape of the painting. Very cool and accessible!!
The tour begins!
After a day of exploring on our own, the tour began with a group meeting and an evening of activities.
🕓 4 p.m. hotel meet-up
We gathered in the hotel bar for a welcome toast/meet and greet. This was fun and relatively painless even though we did an icebreaker.
🚶Orientation walk
We learned how to find our hotel using landmarks.
🚤 Sunset gondola ride
This was so fun, especially after a glass of champagne! Bethany's shoe almost fell into the canal.
🍝 Traditional Venetian dinner
We only took one picture of this (the tiramisu) because we were having too much fun.
Our first full day
👣 We started our day with a historical backstreets walking tour with local guide, ending in St. Mark’s Square. We saw the farmer's market (pictured: squid on the floor) and stopped for coffee.
🥪 From there, it was a 9-minute walk to get a sandwich and wine at L' Bacaro de' Bischeri. This place ROCKED. We all just picked random things off the menu and everything was great.
🏰 After that, we had a 1 p.m. "Secret Itineraries" Tour at the Doge's Palace, where we crossed the bridge of sighs. We learned all about Giacomo Casanova's notorious prison escape 👀
A morning in the Accademia!
🎨 We learned about Venetian Renaissance art early, before the museum got crowded.
Serifs!
The ceiling of the First Hall was covered in angels by Marco Cozzi in about 1470. Serifs are angels with no bodies—just heads with wings!
Our dog
Several paintings featured a cobbler named Aniano (pronounced "Onion-ano" 🧅), who was miraculously healed by Saint Mark.
Woah...
There was a special exibit about the human body, which featured Leonardo's Vetruvian Man. It was behind glass, but you could look at it very closely!
Kathryn got married*
This painting depicted the Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, which Kathryn loved. (Can you spot any serifs?)
*she's already married
Afternoon Island Cruise
🛥️ Next, we piled into a private boat that took us all over the lagoon. We visited Burano and Torcello, two islands with VERY different vibes:
Burano
🛍️ bustling with street vendors and shopping
🕸️ known for intricate handmade lace
🍤 places to grab delicious seafood
Torcello
🏛️ settled in 452 AD
🏠 fewer than 20 residents
🖼️ home to a historic mosaic of the final judgement
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