Thursday, November 10, 2016

Venice! (from summer)



Hi there. *shy wave* It's been a ridiculously long time since I posted anything. I really fell into a writing pit and spent the better part of a year digging myself out of it. I want to write about writing Strange the Dreamer, but I feel like I have to work up to it. Not to mention that I never posted pics of our summer trip to Italy, so I'm going to do that first, while I gather my wits.

Starting with Venice, because: Venice.




We stayed in the Castello district, which I highly recommend. Venice is such a mob in the main tourist thoroughfares, but get just a little outside of it and that totally falls away, revealing a real city where people live and work. Above is our neighborhood, only a 5 minute walk to San Marco, but very few tourists to be seen--and in the afternoon when it got hot and we'd had enough trudging, we'd take the vaporetto a few stops and be on the beach island, Lido! Below is the apartment we rented on airbnb. It was the office of a pair of French boatbuilders at one time. 




From the outside: 




It's directly on the fondamente; below pic is just in front of the house. 
That spire above Clementine is St Mark's.




Here's the nighttime view:
















































Look at these colors. Doesn't it look like a postcard from the 70s or something?

Venice is...unreal. Even as you're seeing it, your brain is denying it, a little. Mine does, anyway. Cruising down the Grand Canal on a vaporetto, I look around and it's all SO RIDICULOUSLY MAGNIFICENT that my brain kind of slips into this weird mode like it's seeing something fake and refuses to be impressed. I have to keep going: no, it's real. Believe it. The only other place I've had that reaction is the Grand Canyon.




Jim and I got engaged in Venice seventeen years ago, on a gondola under the Bridge of Sighs. Here's a selfie Jim took of us *on* the Bridge of Sighs <3




And the Bridge of Sighs at night: 



Next time: Tuscany!




10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for these. I love your photography so much and I really needed something beautiful today.
~Beth

Anonymous said...

Oh my god! So beautiful pictures and my favourite is with you and your husband. This picture look like from movie, kiss of two angels, amazing! All the love xx

Anonymous said...

I was in Italy this summer, too! I love Italy. I did not get to go to Venice though.

I thought you might like to know that there is at least two people waiting for the third book of the Dreamdark series. My daughter just turned 14 and read Blackbringer, and Silksinger several years ago. Sarah, my daughter, was a reluctant reader but when she discovered fairies-- your kind of fairies she got into reading.

I am sorry to hear that you had a bit of a slump. I hope you are over it and that your writing muses return. Good luck
MG

Laurence King said...

Such gorgeousness!! Thank you, Laini :-)) XO

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

Hi Laini, lovely pics :) I love Italy!! Was fortunate enough to visit Florence a few years ago and long to go back. Please, please tell me, what news is there on a movie adaption of Smoke and Bone? I've not seen any updates on this for some time. Amazing and captivating story, I still cannot stop referring it to everyone possible!! Thank you so much for bringing this wonderful imaginative tale into the world. Russ

Unknown said...

Thank you for posting this! Your blog is such a happy place during this crazy time.

Joyce C said...

AHHHH! You've finally updated your blog, Laini! AND WITH PICTURES OF VENICE!! (Sorry about the exclamation marks, but I'm just so excited about the two abovementioned points.) I just got back from holiday in Venice too (Venice in the fall is equally dreamy) and your pictures are making me ache to return! Those are some stunning shots. Looking forward to more beautiful pictures (and updates)!

Joyce x

SS said...

Thanks for sharing Venice. I want to ask, why is there a see-through suitcase with a skeleton inside, in a closet of beautiful robes? I'm sure I'm not seeing that right.

Unknown said...

Lovely photos! I went to Venice for my honeymoon, and it was beautiful. We went to Burano and Torcello as well. (Echoes of the Stravaganza trilogy by Mary Hoffmann...)

Looks like you stayed quite near where we did.

One of my memories is of a French boy on the Bridge of Sighs saying "J'ai soupi sur le Pont des Soupirs" (and he did too).

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