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Published: September 1st 2009
Casa Artom, and the Grand Canal
This is our home for the semester--right next to the Guggenheim. So this is Venice. We hailed a cab and hit the water--'cause there are only water taxis here. We arrived via the Grand Canal, and were ferried directly up to "our" boat dock. A spectacular way to arrive.
The first few nights we had Casa Artom to ourselves. The house was first a palazzo, then the former US consulate. The setting couldn't be more spectacular, our location any better. Venice is, to state the obvious, an incredibly beautiful city. The majesty of the Grand Canal, flanked on either side by ornate palazzos, the many-hued homes that flank the smaller canals, the winding streets, are just like the pictures--only better. We hung out on the boat dock and watched the gondoliers pass by.
Again, to state the obvious, such a setting is romantic. We've all heard of the romance of Italy and Venice. Well I actually heard the romance, under my living room window. And saw it. A gondolier and his lady love were gettin' it on, in the gondola on the small canal next to our house. That's right. The young man was making waves (yes, I mean it literally) right under my living room window. I was the
Love canal.
Love canal, in the daylight. only eyewitness; I put my glasses on just to be sure of what I was seeing. But several of the students reported hearing the whole thing. It was, as one of them put it, the Venetian equivalent to the backseat of a car parked on a dark road. I mean, what better place, for some poor young gondolier living at home with mom, to romance his girl?
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Bethie
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That is so great. Whole Foods parking lot is going to look so tame upon your return: nothing going on in the grocery carts! Keep on blogging.