We went to the Canaletto Exhibition at the Palazzo Ducale. The sun was out so it was a chance to get different photos of familiar buildings and also a chance to walk up the golden staircase inside the Palazzo Ducale (the Doge's Place).
It's incredible to look at Canaletto's paintings, they are over 250 years old but the buildings look like Venice today and the detail is amazing.
There are other paintings and works of art there too - by those who were influenced by him and by some who even copied his work.
And this sculpture with a stone veil.
After Palazzo Ducale, we wandered past the Bridge of Sighs and past the hotel Danieli which has some NZ history.
On 29 April 1945 Lt-General Bernard Freyberg and the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force liberated Venice. Kiwi soldiers in two NZ tanks were the first Allies to enter the city after the Germans, who'd been there since 1943, fled just before they arrived. The Kiwis headed to the Danieli Hotel. Freyberg, whose soldiers had endured a long, tough fight at Monte Cassino followed by a march up the length of Italy, was determined to secure the very best accommodation for them. He'd visited the hotel in the 20s and 30s and had even honeymooned in Venice.
After that we walked and traghettoed to the Dorsoduro for shopping and more cicchetti and tramezzini, had a torta della nonna for dessert and walked back to home past sunny canals.
Soon we were off again to meet up with an English couple, Chris and Janice, who Matthew hosted on a Martinborough wine tour in February, and Janice's sister Karen.
And to end our great week in Venice, a gondola ride followed by dinner.
So great to see we've hardly changed in 21 years!
Ciao Venezia.
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