The trick is finding fun in fine art



I admit that it was difficult to get the kids off the bus. Of course, the buses in Venice are particularly appealing because they're on the water, trundling slowly along the canals and over to the outlying islands. If the seven-year-old twins had been appointed our tour leaders, we'd have spent the whole weekend cruising up and down the Canal Grande and across the lagoon, while admiring the city from afar.

I've written about my family's love of transport before. We're never happier than when sitting on a rattling tram or scrunched up in a tuk-tuk - but at some point you have to disembark. And when you're leaving "the bus" in Venice, the place to go is usually inside a museum. The problem is convincing my three kids that going to see Canaletto's paintings of the canals at Ca' Rezzonico is a more attractive option than returning to our hotel via canal and watching Ratatouille.

It's easy if the museum has dinosaur skeletons, ancient Egyptian mummies or rows of computer games with flashing lights - none of which are options in Venice's stately galleries. But high art and small children is not an impossible combination and I like to think that I've cracked it - well, almost. On a museum visit, rather than diving straight into an intimidating gallery, the first place we visit is the shop. Each kid is allowed to buy one postcard of the picture they like best. The deal is they then have to hunt for that picture in the gallery. I just have to keep my fingers crossed that it isn't in the first room we enter. Once their favourite image is found, they need to either write a few words about it or draw a picture of it on the back of the postcard. That forces them to stop and stare. Their reward being that once they're done we head to the cafe for cake. My reward is feeling somewhat smug for introducing my young children to at least one piece of fine art.

Of course if there's no shop and no cafe, my crafty plans don't work. Thankfully, there were both at the Guggenheim in Venice, an imposing waterfront palazzo and Peggy Guggenheim's former home. Her private collection includes paintings by her husband, Max Ernst, Picasso, Braque and Chagall. I've always found that starting with the 20th century and working backwards to earlier eras works best. Somehow, modern art isn't quite as intimidating as the broad brushstrokes of the 17th century. My kids like to think they could draw a one-eyed Picasso person all by themselves.

So we managed to do a reasonable survey of Venice's finer artistic establishments, from the Titians at the Accademia to the Tintorettos at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. And the kids barely complained. Not only did they get to take their postcards to the hotel to remind them of their brush with high art but they also took a water bus back. The Birkett family stayed at the new Hilton Molino Stucky, www.molinostuckyhilton.com.

Do you have family travel tips you'd like to share? Email Dea at dbirkett@thenational.ae

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Overview

What: The Arab Women’s Sports Tournament is a biennial multisport event exclusively for Arab women athletes.

When: From Sunday, February 2, to Wednesday, February 12.

Where: At 13 different centres across Sharjah.

Disciplines: Athletics, archery, basketball, fencing, Karate, table tennis, shooting (rifle and pistol), show jumping and volleyball.

Participating countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Qatar and UAE.

Singham Again

Director: Rohit Shetty

Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3/5

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Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)

Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits

Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine

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Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

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Asia Cup 2018 Qualifier

Sunday's results:

  • UAE beat Malaysia by eight wickets
  • Nepal beat Singapore by four wickets
  • Oman v Hong Kong, no result

Tuesday fixtures:

  • Malaysia v Singapore
  • UAE v Oman
  • Nepal v Hong Kong
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
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'The Batman'

Stars:Robert Pattinson

Director:Matt Reeves

Rating: 5/5

Results
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The specs

Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now

RESULTS

West Asia Premiership

Thursday
Jebel Ali Dragons 13-34 Dubai Exiles

Friday
Dubai Knights Eagles 16-27 Dubai Tigers

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RACE CARD

6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Dirt) 1,200m

7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,900m

7.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (D) 2,000m

8.15pm: Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (D) 1,600m

8.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,600m

9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m

While you're here
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ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures

October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA

The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
Martin Sabbagh profile

Job: CEO JCDecaux Middle East

In the role: Since January 2015

Lives: In the UAE

Background: M&A, investment banking

Studied: Corporate finance

Scotland v Ireland:

Scotland (15-1): Stuart Hogg; Tommy Seymour, Huw Jones, Sam Johnson, Sean Maitland; Finn Russell, Greig Laidlaw (capt); Josh Strauss, James Ritchie, Ryan Wilson; Jonny Gray, Grant Gilchrist; Simon Berghan, Stuart McInally, Allan Dell

Replacements: Fraser Brown, Jamie Bhatti, D'arcy Rae, Ben Toolis, Rob Harley, Ali Price, Pete Horne, Blair Kinghorn

Coach: Gregor Townsend (SCO)

Ireland (15-1): Rob Kearney; Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray; Jack Conan, Sean O'Brien, Peter O'Mahony; James Ryan, Quinn Roux; Tadhg Furlong, Rory Best (capt), Cian Healy

Replacements: Sean Cronin, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Ultan Dillane, Josh van der Flier, John Cooney, Joey Carbery, Jordan Larmour

Coach: Joe Schmidt (NZL)

Joker: Folie a Deux

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson

Director: Todd Phillips 

Rating: 2/5

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher:  Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5