Goodbye Venice

Tuesday, July 15th.

Our last day in Venice. We were up early to take advantage of our last morning here. We would leave the hotel at 11:30am to start our long journey home to Canada.

I decided to take a bit of a different approach to shooting Venice this particular morning. And, if I had enough courage, I might do something like this in the future: shoot with only one prime lens. In this case, my 50mm f1.8. Every time I travel, I struggle with camera body choices and the lenses. Part of this is due to air travel becoming more restrictive with respect to carry on and part of this is due to my minimalist tendencies. I prefer to travel light.

The fifty is a very sharp piece of glass and it provides a fairly neutral perspective. However, it is a bit challenging when framing shots particularly for travel photography. There is an incredible feeling of freedom, mind you, when you can take a very light rig out on the street.

So that is what I decided to do that morning. The 24-120mm f4.0 was put away and the rest of the day was captured with the prime. Click on any image for a larger photo and slideshow.

The Centurion Palace was our home for the time we spent in Venice. It is a beautiful property located right alongside the Grand Canal.

Centurion Palace

The public tap water in Venice is safe, cold, and great-tasting. It’s piped in from deep wells on the Italian mainland, and it’s so good that it has its own brand name: Acqua Veritas.

Water

What a lovely morning for a wedding.

Just Married

What is this box? There were so many of them in Venice.

Snail Mail

Even the signs are works of art.

Hotel Galleria

The Academy Bridge (Ponte dell’Accademia) is so named because it crosses the Grand Canal at the Galleria dell’Accademia, one of the top museums in Venice. While the Ponte dell’Accademia is not a new bridge ”“ it was first erected in the mid-19th century then replaced in the 1930s ”“ it is interesting for its high arch construction and the fact that it is wooden. The current Academy Bridge dates from 1985, when the 1930s bridge was deemed too dangerous. This early in the morning, the bridge contained no tourists.

Academy Bridge

Rising flood waters, sinking palazzi, tourist congestion and corrosive pigeon droppings. And now a different problem.

Inspired by a bestselling romantic novel, couples attach locks to the bridges.

The craze, inspired by I Want You, the 2006 novel by Federico Moccia, involves couples writing their names on the padlock, swearing eternal love and throwing the keys into the canal.

Couples had first shown a preference for Venice’s wooden Ponte del Accademia, where up to 300 padlocks are now fixed, despite a clean up with boltcutters in February. It did take me a while to count all of those locks. Can love still be eternal when the locks are broken into pieces?

Love Locks

There is always room for Gelati so why is this place closed?

Gelati

Lots of climbers and flowers. Very few trees.

Flowers

The area around the Rialto bridge is very popular with tourists.

Dining in Venice

Strange looking machines are found hanging against a wall.

Phone Home

Gondola racing is not for the weak.

Gondola Expressway

Many buildings along the Grand Canal are flooded and unoccupied. Usually you could tell by the lack of flags and flowers. In this case, the building on the right side was occupied, the building on the left was not.

Grand Canal

It must be tough to be a water taxi operator in Venice.

Water Taxi

Gondolas leave the Rialto bridge area.

Gondola

Now that is quite an entry way.

Grand Canal

Another water taxi passes us by on the Grand Canal.

Water Taxi

Our driver gave us an extended ride back to the airport. Wonderful views of Venice from the water taxi.

Water Taxi

So many churches and bell towers in Venice. How many? Well, 149 churches. You can tell me if I did not count correctly. And somewhere around 80 bell towers.

Churches and Bell Towers

Mooring poles. Not to be confused with Barber shop poles.

Mooring Poles

We had a wonderful time in this beautiful city. It was hard to leave it behind.

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *