Title Your Life (Italy Day 3)

Today I was off and spent the day exploring Venice on and off the beaten paths. It's incredible.

(Waiting for the shuttle boat in front of my hotel, the only proof I was ever in Venice ;P)

I was blessed with an amazing sense of direction and ability to read a map. Each has served me very well. God knew the traveler in me would need it! The day I discovered this, I was nine and on my way to a family reunion. It was about three hours away from my hometown, but we had been driving for four hours and passed the same stripped wooden sign about the same amount of times before I stopped counting . Finally, my Mom got so frustrated she pulled onto a gravel road, threw the map at me and said, "Here, why don't you get us out of here." Thirty minutes later, we had arrived! :)

Using a very general and mostly unmarked map from the concierge (major tourist things are on there, but no street names or anything) I followed my little heart's desires and wound and wove my way through Venice proper to the Accademia Bridge. There, I had the most picturesque view (below) of the Grand Canal stretching out towards the Chiesa della Salute (one of the most photographed churches in Italy--dedicated to the Virgin Mary). Later, I saw post card upon post card with this exact picture.
I'm standing in postcards people!!!!

I'm obsessed with the beauty of Gondolas gliding along the canals and the bridges crossing over them. Every time I pass one I feel like I need to take a picture to digitally pinch myself!

There's something about open shutters with flower beds outside that makes me melt.

Or the quiet worshiping of faithful believers in corners tourists don't turn.

And the subtle reminders that life's lemons churn out the most delicious lemonade!
I've always had a thing for architecture and real estate, so the buildings pretty much put me in cardiac arrest.

My final destinations through all of this were The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Chiesa della Salute, and Zattere ai Gesuati where I ate lunch (Mmmm Lasagna!) in front of the Santa Maria del Rosario church, looking over the Canale Della Giudecca.

Back across the bridge, I went to the coolest museum I think I've ever been to called Palazzo Grassi. AMAZING!!!!!

It's officially my favorite place in Venice thus far.

The Palace used to belong to the Grassi family who sold it in 1840. It was sold to many other individuals and eventually bought by the Fiat Group in 1983. They turned it into an exhibition hall for visual artists and that's what it still is today. The art is brilliant and thought provoking (not once did I think "Oh come on, I could do that!") in a very modern yet avant garde way and the palace itself is just as illuminating. I wish I could've taken pictures inside, but the memory will last a life time. I did get lucky & find my favorite "piece" online. I was so bummed the gift shop didn't sell anything of it in its entirety.

101 ART IDEAS YOU CAN DO YOURSELF
(these were also individually hidden throughout the entire museum)

1. Tell the truth. 2. Tell a lie. 3. Change your name. 15. Make a baby. 33. Make sound composition when you pee by alternating the flow between the porcelain and the water.
39. Sneak your own merchandise into stores. 57. Fill a drawer with gravel and make a secret zen garden. 58. Make a drawing by holding a marker in a place other than your hand.
70. Draw faces on wig heads, light bulbs, and eggs 84. Make an aluminum foil death mask. 89. Stalk someone 95. Don't clean your house and call it scatter art.

Right next to the Palazzo Grassi I came upon a small art exhibition (part of the Bienalle) in a church next door. It's called Into the Light. I stepped inside and found the namesake, which is easily one of the coolest installations I've ever seen. Around the doorway is written "...avete ogni sepranza voi ch'entrate..." (Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter). You go inside, walk across the white stones (while the crosses and a few select ones change in glowing color around you) and peer through the key hole into a white ecstasy of glass and feathers hanging in mid air or covering the walls. It provoked so many different emotions! The artist is MariaLuisa Tadei. For photos of the full exhibit, click HERE.

Passagio all Luce (Into the Light), 2009

Equilibri (hanging), 1996

The cross-like plexi glass on the floor is Untitled, 2000

At the end of the day I walked back to the boat along the edge of the Grand Canal ogling the ornate masks and trying to find the perfect one for the Masquerade I'll be attending this Halloween.

They were all so beautiful and unique, whether glittery or subdued.
Once again my favorite "piece" of the day came to mind.

#101. Title your Life.

Happiness is the Soundtrack of my life.
A life lived in every moment.
Full and Well.
And that is something I will never mask.