Tiddley-Bits tea

Tiddley-Bits tea

Thursday 24 March 2016

{quotable thursdays}

Well... disaster has struck. My imac has completely packed it in and there are no available appointments for me to take it into the apple store any time soon. Which means... no more blog posts on Venice for the time being. sniff!
Luckily I do have it backed up on an external hard drive but it means I'm working on my tiny teeny tiny non-functional work laptop that is just really annoying!
Enough complaining...
Happy Easter everyone!
I hope you have a splendid weekend wherever you decide to spend it. Unfortunately, my long list of work to-dos and house to-dos has not allowed me to spend it with my lovely family in Bristol. Instead, I'll be solo catching up on work, on house renos/painting etc...and preparing for my trip to Valencia next week (!)
Yes, I'm off to a conference and I'll also extend my stay to conduct some preliminary archive work there.
So, with life and work and everything else just feeling like it's all a little too much, I turn to this quote today:
{Que sera}
Because, in the end, whatever will be, will be, and all our crying and stressing won't change it.
I have a strange sort of feeling that 10 days in Valencia, followed by a weekend with my eldest SISTER (!!!) will remind me what's important in life.
xo
L

Sunday 20 March 2016

{postcards from Italy-Venezia (the conference)}

Hello blogland!
I have so many photos from Venice that I'm going to have to do a few posts--hope you don't mind!
I thought I'd start with the conference, which is the reason I was there in the first place.
It was a fabulous conference--a chance to reacquaint with old friends and colleagues and a chance to make new friends and new connections. There were some inspiring papers and the setting was even more so! In addition, we were treated royally with free-flowing wine and lunches and dinners-all fantastic food in some lovely typically Venetian spots (I loved that our lunch venue had gondoliers dining at the nearby table!)
The conference was hosted by the Centro Tedesco di Studi Veneziani (or German centre for Venetian studies) in a stunning old palace right on the Grand Canal called the Palazzo Barbarigo della Terrazza. Its name references the fabulous big terrace where we enjoyed conversation and coffee (not to mention the fabulous views of boats of all sorts from traghetti to vaporetti to local service boats).
I could go on, but I think the pictures will give you a fairly good idea:
{the beginning of the conference (photo courtesy of the institute)}

{friends, old & new (photo courtesy of the institute)}

{spot me in the audience? (photo courtesy of the institute)}

{this is the stunning room where it all took place, where I gave my paper...}


When we weren't listening to papers we were enjoying lovely views of the Grand Canal from the extraordinary terrace:




 more interior shots:


{details on the ceiling!}

{love!}
 The room where coffee was served had a grand piano in it (I was dying to play it!) and two profile portraits of Gaspara Stampa and Vittoria Colonna- two women I studied long ago during my MA thesis on female frontispiece portraits. It was like encountering old friends!

{Gaspara Stampa}

 On the last day we shifted locations, to the Palazzo Franchetti. If you've ever walked over the Ponte Accademia and admired the views, you'll be familiar with the palace. It's the lovely large yellow one on the left--you might even have a picture of yourself in front of it:
{stunning!}
One marvellous thing about getting inside these palazzi is you can see how visitors would have originally entered them: through the exterior gates opening up onto docks onto the canal:


I have soooo many more pics to share, so watch this space for more soon!
xo
L

Thursday 17 March 2016

{quotable thursdays}

Hi blogland,
I'm dying to post pictures from Venice and also all the home improvements, but work is insanely busy and I'm finding it hard to carve out any time.
However, today's quote is my motto, even if I'm busy!:
{indeed!}
A bientôt!
L

Tuesday 8 March 2016

{postcards from Italy}

Well I'm home from Venezia and I had a fab fab time!
I took loads of pictures with my good camera, but haven't had a second to upload them yet. So here are just a couple from my phone to give you an idea:
{this was the room I gave my talk in!}

{this was the view from my hotel room!}
I've got some more over on instagram...and watch this space for more to come!
xo
L