After 14 hours of traveling, Steve and I arrived in Venice this afternoon. We were exhausted and decided to pay the extra euros to hire a water taxi to our hotel.
I think the bags under my eyes are bigger than my actual luggage!
Steve and I were so excited as we saw Venice in the hazy distance.
A few images of our trip into Venice...
Our ride to our hotel took us through several of the Venice canals.
We passed the spectacular Doges Palace on our way.
Once we arrived at our hotel, Steve and I had our second lunch (or was it our third breakfast? We were both so jet lagged that it was hard to remember!) at the hotel restaurant. What a view!
We took a quick shower, and then we were off to find Angela Rosa Grecco, the lighting store where we purchased our bedroom lamps 3 years ago.
It was great to see Rosa again!
Rosa and her sister Rita make all of their shades by hand.
They were nice enough to give us a tour of their small work room.
They are happy to make custom shades. You can choose a simple cream silk or one of these beautiful Fortuny fabrics.
Rita showed us one of the custom shades that she is making. I told her that I loved the ruffle on the top. She thought I was crazy and explained that the ruffle was not part of the design! I'm such a crazy American!
Steve and I planned to buy a bunch of lamps for the store, but unfortunately the currency exchange rate isn't very good right now. Even so, we couldn't resist buying a couple!
Since I don't speak any Italian and the sisters don't speak any English, we were fortunate to have local Venetians Mario and Lynn to help translate for us.
We were running late, so Steve and I said a quick good bye, and ran off to meet some of the other designers at a dinner planned by Kathryn Ireland. A friend of hers was gracious enough to open up her home to us.
The Palazzo is on the Grand Canal, and the view is spectacular!
It's 1:00 am here in Italy, so I'm off to try to get some sleep before the Design Leadership Summit starts tomorrow.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Ciao!
xo
Brooke
