Today, no odd walls or flags from the back of the boat. Nope, today’s photos from Venice are a straight-up, could-be-a-postcard view of Venice, showing off a view across the lagoon to St. Mark’s Square and its domed church, bell tower, and  Doge’s palace.

Well, except, the first few photos are a look at that skyline through a new sculpture that was put up for this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale. The work, called “The Sky Over Nine Columns”, consists of 9 columns that are 7-meters (~23 feet) tall that are covered in a gold mosaic.  Here’s some information about it I found on  http://www.theartnewspaper.com:

Gold, the artist says, represents “the most abstract possibility of the sublime”. The columns, which are decorated with more than 800,000 tesserae, will reflect the Venetian skyline and will be ­mirrored in the water surrounding the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. They represent “man standing upright—with dignity—in space”, says Mack, who co-founded the Zero movement with Otto Piene in 1957.

Right. Whatever. To me, they are blocking the view of St. Mark’s. Oddly enough, though, I think my photos of the columns actually make them look better than they did in person. In person, it really didn’t do much for me. Go figure.

Anyway, see what you think in the photos below. There are a few photos of the columns and the pieces of the view you can spy beyond them. Then rest of the photos just afford a view of the regular touristy look at Venice. But note starting with #4, you get a clear view of the famous Bridge of Sighs; it’s the first time in several years it hasn’t been covered in an advertising cloth (it was covered during cleaning and renovations).

Enjoy.