Sun May 11 - Marian's Bday, Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Hilton Hotel

Today is Marian's 65th bday!  and Mothers Day!  

 Decided we'd go to the Peggy Guggenheim museum today.  It will be an adventure figuring out how to get there -- this is our first foray into the zig zaggy alleys of Venice!    The museum is on Dorsoduro island, same as our apartment.  

On the way we saw a gondola traffic jam which was amusing.  Another time we saw a gondolier talking on his phone while steering his gondola.  Mostly they all look very bored.  We did not take one of these rides.  Seemed excessively touristy to me, and expensive ($100?).  

From Marian:  "Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice - On Sunday (Mother’s Day and my birthday), we went to see the Peggy Guggenheim collection of modern art, housed in her Palazzo on the Grand Canal. It is an amazing collection of art, mostly from the post-war era. It includes Cubism, Futurism, European Abstractionism, Metaphysical Painting, Surrealism, and American Abstract Expressionism.

Among the artists represented are Klee, Picasso, Braque, Duchamp, Léger, Brancusi, Severini, Balla, Dalí, Magritte, Delaunay, Kupka, Miró, Picabia, Mondrian, Kandinsky, van Doesburg, Giacometti, Ernst (at one time her husband), Pollock (she was an early collector and patron), Rothko, Calder (who created her silver bed head), Moore, and Marini. One room in the Palazzo is devoted to the naïve-style paintings of Guggenheim’s daughter, Pegeen Vail."

The museum was very nice although I realize I am not very educated about modern art.  I did see some pieces that I liked.  Here's a little slideshow of some things that caught my eye - it opens in a new tab which might be confusing when you are finished but look for the other tab to get back to this page.    
View Slideshow (35 photos) >>


Afterwards, we headed to the south side of the island, figuring maybe less touristy.  In a way yes, in a way no.  There are cruise ships that dock on that side of the island.  We saw two huge ones. After lunch at an unremarkable place on the water, we stopped at a supermarket, and headed home.  

What should we do to celebrate Marian's big day?  We had heard (from our guru, Rick Steves) that the Hilton Hotel on the island of Giudecca has a bar at the top with a magnificent view.  So we decided to go there for a cocktail.  We took a special Hilton shuttle (boat) to get there.  Very posh hotel, lovely bar with a nice selection of drinks, and the view was indeed spectacular.   

Here's a video of the view - it opens in a new tab which might be confusing when you are finished but look for the other tab to get back to this page.

See video (about 1 minute) >>

Nothing special for dinner as it was raining and we ducked into a conveniently located restaurant to get out of the rain.   I had pasta with pesto which was delish.