The Glassblower of Murano

Some time ago I got an sms from a friend - "I am enjoying my days on Jersey with The Glassblower of Murano. This is a book I know you will love."
As soon as she came home from vacation she brought me the book, and last week I started to read it. And was immediately transformed back to Venezia and Murano and the art of glassblowing.

You never know when a friendship is due to develop, and I had no idea the day Terje, Marta and I zigzagged through the calles of Venezia suddenly ending up outside a tiny little glassblower workshop, that the opening of the door to the studio was the start of a wonderful friendship. Follow the links and you will be able to visit Mauro, my Glassblower of Murano, who takes the vaporetto from Murano every morning to work in his studio in Venezia
Some of you might already know Mauro, as he started a blog some time ago and has been my Blog of the Week since then.
A couple of days ago I got an email from Mauro - "If you want, read my new post. Awaits you in Venezia" Of course I wanted, and learned that I have got a rival. Mauro is now not only waiting for the Norwegian blog lady to open his door, another grand lady has stolen a piece of his heart. You can read the story on Mauro's blog, and if you don't read Italian there is a translation possibility on the right hand bar.

Some of you have seen a couple of these photos before. They are taken in front of the mirror in "my Venezian flat", trying to capture the red glass heart Mauro has made. Compare my photos, which was taken a year ago, to the front cover of The Glassblower of Murano, which I got in my hands two weeks ago. Cool, isn't it :-)

VENICE a traveller's companion

In October I discovered a small bookshop near the Ghetto in Venezia, where they sell old, English books. I dug deep, deep in my wallet and bought several books there. One of them was Venice, a traveller's companion, selected and introduced by John Julius Norwich.

I have been fascinated by and collected travel litterature for a long time, and with Venezia as one of my favorites places, this book is pure joy. Here we meet Byron, Goethe, Ruskin, Wagner, Casanove, James and alot of others in chapters divided to follow the different parts of venezia; The Doge's Palace, St. Mark's Square, The Rialto......oh, I so much wish to go back.......

The Stones of Venice

Ok, Ok, I know I have talked about Venezia and books from the city of my dreams for a long time. I promise I will soon write about other kind of books, but please jmust give me a couple more days......for this time.

The Stones of Venice by John Ruskin is a must for every lover of Venetian architecture, for every lover of Venezia, for every lover of architecture.

"Obsessed with the city to the point that he considered himself its adopted son, Ruskin abandoned thoughts of his native England and could be seen all over town - here measuring architectural details atop teetering ladders, there arguing with Venetian citizens about the restorative tactics of their city planners. His views on building and restoration have echoed through the centuries and remain critical to an understanding of architacture today."

Venetian Dreaming

I got out of the train, passed through bland, 1958's Santa Lucia station with its shops selling newspapers, knickknacks, and chewing gum. I walked down the broad, shallow steps to the pavement and was surprised by what I saw; surprised by one of the most often reproduced views in the world; a sight I myself had seen ten years earlier. Nothing - not photographs or movies, memories or paintings, nor all the words of Henry James - is a match for Venice in person.

Today's quote is from Paula Weideger's book Venetian Dreaming which came in 2004. Weideger lived in the city for some time, and has written a very interesting book about her experiences. I bought the book at the international bookstore not far from Santa Lucia railway station, and has walked many a mile in Venice following Paula Weideger's steps.

Death in Venice

Thus it was that he saw it once more, that most astonishing of all landing-places, that dazzling composition of fantastic architecture which the Republic presented to the admiring gaze of approaching seafarers: the unburdened splendour of the Ducal Palace, the Bridge of Sighs, the lion and the saint on their two columns at the water's edge, the magnificently projecting side wing of the fabulous basilica, the vista beyond it of the gate tower and the Giants' Clock, and as he contemplated it all he reflected that to arrive in Venice by land, at the station, was like entering a palace by a back door: that only as he was now doing, only by ship, over the high sea, should one come to this most extraordinary of cities.

Thomas Mann; Death in Venice

Out of this Century

Art in Venezia is often connected with old, heavy places, to the many churches or to the Accademia and the several Scuolas. Or totally modern stuff like the Biennale. I love all this, but there is (at least) one more place I always visit when I am in Venezia;
The Peggy Guggenheim museum.

Last year, in April, we took our 11 year old daughter to Venezia for a week. She did not have art museums high up on her list of places she wanted to visit, so we agreed that one museum would be enough, and the choice would be hers. Before the trip whe had listened to an audio about a crime mystery in Venice solved by two children. A Picasso painting from Peggy Guggenheim was stolen. So Marta's desicion was easy to make; Peggy Guggenheim was to be her museum. A choice I had no problem to accept :-)

After several visits to the museum I wanted to know more about this fascinating art collector, and last autumn I bought her autobiography in the museums souvenir store; Out of this Century. Confessions of an Art Addict.

Peggy Guggenheim's life was totally different from the life I am leading, though reading her life story was enirely captivating. What a remarkably lady!

Miss Garnet's Angel

I have visited Venezia many times during the past years, and almost every time I go there I read Miss Garnet's Angel by Salley Vickers.

The book is about the old spinster Miss Julia Garnet. After the death of her friend she travels to Venezia for solace. There the life of this old, grey lady is totally challenged. She rents a flat near the church Angelo Rafaele and at once is intriguied by a series of painting in the church showing the apocryph story of Tody and the archangel.

The two stories, the one of Miss Garnet and the one of Toby and his dog, follows each other, and in both nothing is what they seem.

I know I will read this book again on my next visit.

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A series of Venezia tales are unfolding in my main blog this week.

Portraits of Places.

I am working on an article about Venice, which hopefully will be used as background information for a guided tour there. The topic will be about going to Venice with all senses open, with a backpack filled with litterature, music, art, food..........

I have quite a collection of books from and about the city, and use several of them in the article.

I plan to translate bits and pieces of the article into English and make a series of "a week in Venice" over in The House in the Woods. Will start tomorrow.

The first Venice-book out is Henry James' Portraits of Places.

The place seems to personify itself, to become human and sentient, and conscious of your affection. You desire to embrace it, to caress it, to possess it; and finally, a soft sense of possession grows up, and your visit becomes a perpetual love-affair.