Venice: A Stream of Blue

Sheila O'Rourke, PhD Anthropology and Art writes: At first one’s view is led by the forest of wooden pilings on the left that jut out of the hazy green waters of the Grand Canal. Then it follows the warm salmon and coral palaces along to the right as they shrink into the distance. There is that fabulous cerulean sky laced with those dynamically streaming white clouds; and the sumptuous centerpiece -- the dark silhouette of the two-man traghetto, and voyagers crossing this invisible bridge of the Grand Canal.  But then you realize there’s a surprise, a dessert after this feast for the eyes – a string of anchored blue gondolas gracing the waterfronts of those spectacular Venetian palazzos – like an azurite necklace on a lovely aging dowager princess.