That's me in our hotel outside Verona. And Linda swears that reflection from the camera flash was pure accident.
Anyhow, this place is called the Byblos Art Hotel, and it is one of the most interesting buildings I have ever been in. I think it comes close to being more interesting than Verona itself.
The hotel used to be Villa Amista, a 15th-century Italian villa, and there are lots of things about it that show its ancient heritage. The villa was abandoned after World War II and it was only about six years ago that a group decided to rebuild it and turn it into a hotel. To be exact, an art hotel.
It's owned by this modern art collector. He is obviously a wealthy art collector because he has used only a small part of his collection to decorate the hotel. He is also a T&A man, because I have never seen so many naked bits of women hanging on the walls of a hotel.
You can walk from the front door to our room and see about sixteen pairs of boobs in a variety of paintings, statues and photos. There are so many, I thought the guy might be starting a new hotel chain called Breast Western.
But it isn't just the topless thing. There's plenty of bottom to go around, too. In fact I don't think the Texas White House has as many pictures of bush on the walls as this place. Last night we were seated in the dining room under a photograph of about 20 naked and nearly naked women sitting at a table eating oranges. I am no art critic, but I think we were supposed to draw some connection between taking the peels off or something. I am also pretty sure Linda didn't buy it for a moment when I said to her, "Isn't it interesting how their faces are the things you notice the most?"
The one good thing is that Linda picked the place, so I don't have to think up excuses as to why I chose to stay here. And in fact, I would have to say that the overall effect is quite magical. On the outside the place looks so traditional and classical - until you notice the decorations on the staircase. But once inside, the lobby is an amazing thing to behold. It really does delight, and every room carries on that theme. And there's much much more here than just the nudes.
The people in the hotel are all fond of telling visitors that each room was designed by Alessandro Mendini, and he is a master of a style called neo-baroque. I think that means, funky furniture, lots of primary colors, bright, gaudy chandeliers and lots of T&A. Lots. But as I say, it is great fun to be in this place, and we will remember it fondly.
I've put some pictures up on Shutterfly, and you can check them out here. You can also go to their site, http://www.byblosarthotel.com/ and go to the art section and check out the pieces. We have a very slow connection so I am going to wait to upload our Verona pictures when we're in Venice tomorrow. Verona is a really nice place, and I will write some more about that then, too. (Also, it's really hard checking the links to the pictures here, so if they aren't correct I will fix them tomorrow.)
But I have two tidbits (writing in this hotel, I nearly used the older spelling of titbits) that I don't want to let go, so consider these as a pair of postscripts.
PS: I was still struggling with a bum knee and worried about injuring it getting our luggage off the train when we arrived in Verona. There were these two men waiting to get on - turns out they were Texans - and when they saw my problem, they jumped right up and took over, taking our bags down before they climbed aboard. I can genuinely call them Two Gentlemen in Verona.
The hotel used to be Villa Amista, a 15th-century Italian villa, and there are lots of things about it that show its ancient heritage. The villa was abandoned after World War II and it was only about six years ago that a group decided to rebuild it and turn it into a hotel. To be exact, an art hotel.
It's owned by this modern art collector. He is obviously a wealthy art collector because he has used only a small part of his collection to decorate the hotel. He is also a T&A man, because I have never seen so many naked bits of women hanging on the walls of a hotel.
You can walk from the front door to our room and see about sixteen pairs of boobs in a variety of paintings, statues and photos. There are so many, I thought the guy might be starting a new hotel chain called Breast Western.
But it isn't just the topless thing. There's plenty of bottom to go around, too. In fact I don't think the Texas White House has as many pictures of bush on the walls as this place. Last night we were seated in the dining room under a photograph of about 20 naked and nearly naked women sitting at a table eating oranges. I am no art critic, but I think we were supposed to draw some connection between taking the peels off or something. I am also pretty sure Linda didn't buy it for a moment when I said to her, "Isn't it interesting how their faces are the things you notice the most?"
The one good thing is that Linda picked the place, so I don't have to think up excuses as to why I chose to stay here. And in fact, I would have to say that the overall effect is quite magical. On the outside the place looks so traditional and classical - until you notice the decorations on the staircase. But once inside, the lobby is an amazing thing to behold. It really does delight, and every room carries on that theme. And there's much much more here than just the nudes.
The people in the hotel are all fond of telling visitors that each room was designed by Alessandro Mendini, and he is a master of a style called neo-baroque. I think that means, funky furniture, lots of primary colors, bright, gaudy chandeliers and lots of T&A. Lots. But as I say, it is great fun to be in this place, and we will remember it fondly.
I've put some pictures up on Shutterfly, and you can check them out here. You can also go to their site, http://www.byblosarthotel.com/ and go to the art section and check out the pieces. We have a very slow connection so I am going to wait to upload our Verona pictures when we're in Venice tomorrow. Verona is a really nice place, and I will write some more about that then, too. (Also, it's really hard checking the links to the pictures here, so if they aren't correct I will fix them tomorrow.)
But I have two tidbits (writing in this hotel, I nearly used the older spelling of titbits) that I don't want to let go, so consider these as a pair of postscripts.
PS: I was still struggling with a bum knee and worried about injuring it getting our luggage off the train when we arrived in Verona. There were these two men waiting to get on - turns out they were Texans - and when they saw my problem, they jumped right up and took over, taking our bags down before they climbed aboard. I can genuinely call them Two Gentlemen in Verona.
PPS: I originally asked Linda to pose with that picture at the top of this post. She looked at it and said, "No way. I know something like that will end up on the Internet." Since this blog is really about retirement and not travel, I find it worth noting that I later decided to ask her to take my picture and then I made sure it got on the Internet myself. See how your concerns change when you don't work anymore?
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