¡Bella Venezia!

I love waking up in a magical place. It doesn’t get much more magical than Venice. The ancient city and her history, her neighborhoods, her families and her perseverance to thrive.

We allowed ourselves a lazy morning enjoying the movement of people and boats out our window. We had breakfast at home, caught up on news from home – Chloe Layne Gibson arrived sometime in the night/morning? (the time zones continue to baffle me) and Tombo, Janette and baby are all well. Girls are in Nashville and Orlando respectively and all going well.

Our first commitment was a photography class/tour at 3:30 p.m. This will be the second time I have signed up with a local photographer for shooting tips, tricks and off the beaten path locations. We agreed to meet Sara in the Castello sestiere, which was about a half an hour’s walk from us. Without WiFi and navigation capabilities we allowed ourselves 2 1/2 hours to find her!

I had put the location in Google maps and then “screen shot” the turn by turn directions which got us as far as the San Marco sestiere, then it all broke down! Plan B was to follow the signs and the crowds (it was Saturday in Venice) to St. Mark’s Square. From there we knew we could follow the waterfront to the Giardini location.

It was madness and fun at the same time. Once out of St Mark’s the crowds began to thin and the walk became more pleasant.

Thank God Tom wore his hat so I could spot him!

We actually arrived about 45 minutes ahead of schedule and took the opportunity to have refreshments and a rest.

We met Sara at our appointed time and place and headed into the neighborhoods. She’s a professional wedding and portrait photographer from Estonia that comes to Venice every year for ‘the season’ to work. Because she has an eight year-old daughter, that ‘season’ is now the school year.

We walked the canals and streets of the Castello as she instructed me on light, composition, framing, etc. we used Tom as a model. I learned so much!

We ended our session near sunset and said our goodbyes. After all of our walking we decided to take the Vaporetto home. It was a good choice for a couple of reasons – – – not walking and the views from the water!