Maps of Venice

I love maps!!
I have a drawerful of maps of Venice.
But over the years I've narrowed it down to a few favorites.

Rough Guide map is my all time favorite map!!
It's the most detailed, portable map.
It's made of a material that is virtually impossible to destroy.... it's waterproof and fold-proof...I haven't tried burning it.....
I've folded this thing at least a trillion times. In fact, I fold it down to a tiny square and jam it in my pocket.
The only down side...they are getting more and more difficult to find.
sigh....

Calli, Campielli e Canali is the motherlode of all Venetian maps....
it's actually a book....225 pages.
NOT portable....but necessary to look up every calli in town.
I have so much fun exploring this book...but it's impossible to drag around.
In fact, I usually don't even bring it to Venice....it just weighs too much!

The Illustrated Venice Map is really fun and has great detail....but it's paper....
and paper tears after it's been refolded a dozen or so times. Plus this map
has one of those hard covers that is glued onto a corner...making it impossible to fold down to a tiny square.


Do you have a favorite map of Venice?....please share with me!!
After all I'm a girl that can't have too many maps!

Travel Diaries........

(click on images to enlarge)

For years I collected journals...always with the intention of using them.
I must have had two dozen of them....always waiting to be used.
I have to admit, they intimidated me.
I felt as if I had to strike a poetic pose...really write something profound.

Then I married Paul...a writer.... and he kept a wine/travel journal...
a behemoth, stuffed, over-sized book-of-a-thing.
OMG what amazing, detailed notes.
When we married he was on #9.

That pushed me over the edge. I started to keep a travel diary.
I decided that I would just document the things we did.
Paste in business cards, jot down notes.....including wine and food notes.
In the end they actually did take on a hint of the poetic.

When I first looked at Paul's I realized that all the 'stuff'...paper ephemera...clippings...really were fascinating and esthetic.
At the end of a busy day, I love to paste and clip....
and sometimes a drawing or two seem to hop on the page.
I also carry a tiny notebook...(I found these little treasures at the La Fenice gift shop)....they are very useful during the day...when I don't/won't drag my larger journal around the city.

It's wonderful being able to go back over my notes and remember the places we've been.
It's also extremely useful...every year before my return to Venice,
I scour my notes and jot down which restaurants I want to revisit...
which sestieri I'd love to spend more time photographing....
which galleries were intriguing.......

(ps....the last four images are Paul's travel/wine diary...)

Great Venetian Website.....

Venice Explorer is definitely one of my go-to sites.
Venice isn't the easiest city to navigate....but Venice Explorer makes it a snap.
Link to Venice Explorer

Once you go to the site there are many choices on the left, including a map search.
If you know the number and sestiere (district) that you are looking for you can find the exact location.
For instance....if you want to locate the Impronta Cafe....it's located in Dosoduro (sestiere) and the
number is 3815.



This certainly makes the search a lot easier.......