My Dream Trip

Writing

I’m on the Save Venice mailing list because last year I requested some information from them for a talk on City of Falling Angels that I was giving. Being on the organization’s mailing list is pretty ironic for a frugal liver like me, however, because Save Venice is a charity for the very rich.

For example —

Today I received my invitation to go to Venice from July 16 to July 19 for La Festa del Redentore, the Festival of the Redeemer, a celebration of the end of the plague that involves building a bridge of boats across the canal to the La Redentore church and a firework show over the Grand Canal. I was in Venice for the festa in 2000 and had a chance to sit on the edge of the Grand Canal and watch the display.

The Save Venice gala for La Redentore costs $4,000 (airfare and hotel not included) and will feature the architecture of Palladio. This includes receptions at Palazzo Mocenigo, cocktails at the Palazzo Polignac Decazes, drinks and a late supper at Hotel Bauer; a luncheon in the garden of Villa Foscari La Malcontenta (hosted by the Foscari family), an organ concert at the church of San Giorgio Maggiore with the Venice Baroque Orchestra, cocktails and dinner at the cloisters; several lectures on Palladian architecture; tours; a special exhibition of Palladian textiles at Palazzo Corner Spinelli, and the big celebration and firework viewing from the exclusive Hotel Cipriani.

If I had $7,000 to spare — figure $4,000 for the gala, $1,000 for airfare, and $2,000 for hotel and incidentals — I’d go in a heartbeat. For a split second, in fact, the fate of my home savings weighed in the balance. I’d love to “do Venice” in a really upscale manner sometime before I die. I love the city. But, as smashing as the gala sounds, it’d be too depressing to go alone. I have a dream of going to Carnevale some winter with all my friends — we’d rent a villa, dress up in fancy clothes and masks, and strut around St. Mark’s Square, go to parties, eat a lot of food, and drink a lot of prosecco. Someday.

And in the meantime, I’ll just leave this invitation and descriptive brochure out on my desk and daydream a little about being the kind of woman who could drop everything and go to Venice for a $4,000 event.

drupagliassotti @ April 22, 2008