The Venice Sketchbook

by Rhys Bowen

I was more entranced with the Bridge of Sighs—so called because prisoners crossed it on their way to the prison beyond and it was the last glimpse they would have of the outside world. So sad and romantic! I must definitely return to sketch it! I thought.

“You never asked. The young are not interested in the lives of the old. And

The bridge terminated at a lovely white facade of a church, facing the waterfront. From my reading, I knew the style was referred to as Palladian—sort of neoclassical with columns. Behind it the rest of the church was that warm pinkish orange and had a large dome.

I couldn’t believe that God actively controlled weather, or then there would be perpetual sunshine over Vatican City and perpetual rain over Communist Russia. I had to smile at this thought.