Gallivanting Grandma

Wednesday – November 9, 2011

Today was our last day in Venice and thankfully the sun was shining brightly!  I was so happy that it was finally a sunny day, I wanted to celebrate by running around the city and taking as many photographs as possible.  I wanted to take lots of sunny-day-Venice pictures!!

Gondolas for Hire

The people who were part of the many tour groups wasted no time rushing into Piazza San Marco and cueing up for their tours of the Doge’s Palace.  I know why we don’t go on lemming-like tours!!

Light and Shadows

The pigeons and souvenir stands slowly moved back into their places in the Piazza as the alta aqua receded.  The sun was shining brightly, and all seemed right in the world…..

Il Campanile – The Bell Tower

On our last trip to beautiful Venice, we had  visited the Doge’s Palace, and we were awed by the golden Basilica, and we had climbed the Bell Tower.  This time, we decided not to see the interiors of these interesting historic buildings.  We admired these magnificent structures from the outside.

Looking Toward the Riva Degli Schiavoni

San Giorgio Maggiore

Because it was so bright and sunny, we decided to take a vaporetto ride up the Grand Canal and stand outside on the boat and take photos and enjoy the boat ride and the view!  The sun light was incredible!

Amazing Light on the Grand Canal

Ponte Accademia

Ponte Rialto with Gondolas

We rode the vaporetto past the Rialto Bridge and got off at the market station called Rialto Mercato.  It was still early in the morning and we were looking for the famous fish market.  We were surprised to be greeted by a busy fruit and vegetable market along the canal.  I was astounded by the unbelievably fresh produce at very reasonable prices.

Greens!

Chili Peppers

Fresh Fish

Octopus and Sardines

Keeping the Fish Cool & Fresh

More Fresh Sea Food

Filleting and Cleaning Fish on the Sidewalk

We walked around the markets, took photos, and admired the freshness of all the seafood and produce.  No wonder Venetian food tastes so good!  We stopped at a cafe for a couple of cups of good cappuccino and took a traghetto across the Grand Canal.

Traghetto Crossing the Grand Canal

It was bright and sunny and the traghetto was full of Venetians going to work or going shopping.  The ride was smooth and silent; and much too quick!

View of the Canal From the Traghetto

We decided that this would be a good day to go to the outer island of colorful Burano.  We had to walk to Fondamenta Nove to get the vaporetto to the islands.

Colorful Small Canal in Cannaregio

Murano is the island where the famous Venetian glass is created.  The furnaces were moved to the island hundreds of years ago for the safety of all the Venetians.  Burano is the smaller island beyond Murano in the Venice Lagoon north of the central part of Venice.  It takes about 40 minutes to get to Burano on the vaporetto.  It is a pleasant ride especially when the sun is shining.

Vaporetto Stopping at Murano

Burano is known for its handmade lace production, although most of the cheap lace in the tourist shops are obviously machine-made Chinese imitations.  The island is also known for their colorful houses which are painted in bright colors so the fishermen could see their own houses when they’re offshore.

Burano Main Canal

Burano Houses

Fun Colors!

Bright Ideas!

Reflection

Burano is such a fun place to walk up and down the little canals and look at the colorful houses and take lots of pictures!!  Since our last visit, more houses are painted bright colors and the town looks more prosperous.  There are also many more touristy souvenir and gift shops.

A Personal Favorite

We had a simple lunch on Burano and had fun looking at all the rainbow colors of the houses.  I think more communities should paint their houses bright colors like these.  They’re so much fun!!  After a while, we took the vaporetto back to Venice.

Across the Venice Lagoon

When we returned to Piazza San Marco, the sun was setting and it cast a golden light on the Basilica.  The 13th Century domes of the Byzantine church glowed and looked incredibly beautiful!!

Basilica di San Marco at Dusk

We returned to our hotel room to rest up before dinner.  Later at night, we took the vaporetto back up to the Rialto area to find a restaurant for dinner.  We couldn’t find the rotisserie-type restaurant we had in mind, so we started to walk back towards San Marco.  The walk was familiar now and we passed many sights that we recognized.  I stopped to purchase a variety of Italian hard candies from a colorful candy shop.  Then we happened upon Restaurant Felice.  It was an acceptable restaurant with modern decor and friendly young waiters.  We had a light supper and continued our walk slowly back to Piazza San Marco.

I always feel sad to leave a beautiful magical place like Venice.  The thought of going home to my ordinary routine always leaves me yearning for another adventure.  Venice is truly “magical”; full of history and beauty and surprises.  We walked along the Grand Canal admiring the twinkling lights of the city for the last time and promised to return soon.

Tuesday – November 8, 2011

Another rainy alta aqua morning in Venice, Italy.  It was beginning to be routine for us.  There was a steady rain outside, so I decided  to leave my digital Nikon camera in the hotel room because I didn’t want to get it wet in the rain.  I took all the photos in today’s blog with my iPhone.  At the end of the day, I was pleasantly surprised with the iPhone photos.  They’re not too bad!

At least the vaporettos were running!  Our tickets to the Venice Biennale were still good for admission to the Arsenale and this was another good “museum day”.

Waiting For a Sunny Day

The Arsenale is a huge tract of land and water in the Castello Sestiere which had been the dockyards of Venice since the early 1100s.  It is enclosed by medieval walls punctuated with towers.  The impressive land entrance is a Renaissance triumphal arch dating back to 1460 which is guarded by two ancient Greek lions.  We took the vaporetto from San Marco to the Arsenale station and walked to the entrance of the Art Biennale.

The Hong Kong Frog King Exhibit

The large exhibit space in the Arsenale was perfect for large contemporary art pieces because of the very high beamed ceilings and thick medieval brick columns.  Below are some of my photos from the exhibit.  I think they give a good idea of the art and the exhibition space.

Photographs From China

New York Gallery Catalogues

Noisy Creature Mobile

Shadow of the Object in the Photo

Great Space

A Lotta Melted Wax

Ladies Room Graffiti

Inspired by unusual visual images, we left the Arsenale and walked toward the Grand Canal.  It was drizzling a little, but the sky seemed to be brightening over the lagoon.

Rio Dell’ Arsenale

We walked to the Arsenale vaporetto station and hopped (literally) onto the next vaporetto going north. We had never visited the huge church opposite Piazza San Marco, so we continued one more vaporetto stop to “La Salute”.  The huge marble church is formally known as the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute. The beautiful white marble church was erected in 1631 after the Venetians, who were overwhelmed by the plague, pledged a solemn vow to build a church once the plague had subsided.

Basilica of Santa Marie della Salute

The architectural interest of the basilica is that the interior space is dominated by a huge main dome with a large rotunda below which opens out to six chapels.  A number of notable Italian artists’ paintings, including Titian and Tintoretto, adorn the walls of this impressive building.

Light on the Grand Canal

The Basilica is on the end of the Dorsoduro Sestiere and we thought it would be fun to explore this district, which seems more residential.  I also wanted to see the Peggy Guggenheim collection which we had missed the last time we were in Venice.  The museum is just a short walk over a couple of bridges from La Salute. Unfortunately, when we got there, we discovered that the museum is closed on Tuesdays!  Oh well, there’s always next time!

Squeri di San Trovaso

We walked along the Calle Nova Santa Agnese and found an outdoor cafe for lunch.  We sat at outdoor tables with some students from a nearby university.  Jeff and I had tasty sandwiches on good bread with fresh ingredients.  Well fortified, we continued exploring while the sun tired to come out.  We were rewarded by finding the Squero di San Trovaso.  This is one of the few “squeri” still in operation in Venice.  A “squeri” is a boatyard where gondolas are built and repaired.  How cool is that!!?

Workman at Squeri di San Trovaso

We watched the activity at the squeri from the other side of the Rio San Trovaso for a little while and then continued walking down the street. A short distance away, we also found the woodworking shop where the little chairs and carved tops of the gondolas are made.  Amazing!

Rio San Trovaso

We came upon an open square (a campo) where there was an outdoor flea market.  I tired to buy some old postcards but everything was way over-priced, in dollars or euros.  It was fun to look at Venetian “collectibles”.

The Mask Shop

Then we found the mask shop where we had purchased two masks on our last visit.  The owner had expanded into another shop, but we remembered the original and browsed.

Mask Shop Window

What a fun place!  All the masks are hand made of papier mache and hand-painted and decorated.  They even have a copy of the old plague doctor’s mask.  I imagine they do a great business during la Carnivale in the spring.

Traghetto on the Grand Canal

We returned to the hotel to rest up before dinner.  Jeff read about a highly recommended restaurant near the Rialto called the Ristorante Rosa Rossa.  It was a modern style place with brick walls and nice warm decor.  The people were very friendly and after waiting for a nine o’clock reservation, we had a delicious dinner!

Note: the actor Johnny Depp, who owns a villa in Venice, purportedly likes to eat at Ristorante Rosa Rossa.  It is reported that Mr. Depp gave his jean-jacket to the owner and it is framed in a plexi-glass case and mounted on the back wall.  Here is Jeff’s photo of the jacket.  It would have been even more fun if Johnny Depp was there that night!  :-)

Monday – November 7, 2011

What a difference a day makes!  Finally, a sunny morning!  What a difference the sun makes!!  We were so excited about the sun shining that we skipped the hotel breakfast and went out to greet the day!  We were surprised to see the highest alta aqua of the week!  The entire area of Piazza San Marco was flooded.

Alta Aqua in Piazza San Marco

There were a few tourists out, along with Venetians rushing to work, all balancing their way on the elevated platforms across the piazza.  The morning line to visit the magnificent Basilica had started on another walkway.

Early Morning Shoppers or Waders?

There was water everywhere!  The restaurant chairs were knee-deep in water.  It was funny to see a couple of seagulls swimming in the middle of the Piazza San Marco.

Reflection

Alta Aqua Everywhere

The Grand Canal

The shops sold everything that tourists need to survive wind, rain, and alta aqua: umbrellas, plastic ponchos, raincoats, and rubber boots for 15 Euros.

We made our way on the elevated walkways to the San Marco vaporetto station.  First we noticed there was no line to board the boat/bus, then we saw the lighted sign alternating between Italian and English:

Vaporetto Station Sign

My first thought was, “Do we get a 24 hour extension on our 7-Day vaporetto pass?”  :-)  We had used public transportation frequently when were too tired to walk, or needed a break, or just to see Venice from the water.  Then the thought of the challenge of getting around Venice without the vaporettos arose in my consciousness.  My “map brain” was in full gear!

The Grand Canal

Unfortunately, the clouds were moving in again but the temperature was comfortable and the sunlight was brighter than it had been for days.  We walked toward the Realto Bridge trying new pathways.  We stopped at a Venetian coffee shop for delicious stand-up cappuccinos and pastries with the locals.  No English spoken, but we did OK!

Window of the Famous Millinery Shop

Then we accidentally found Guiliana Longo’s hat shop.  We had read about her famous shop before we left New York and it was one of our planned destinations.  However, it’s so difficult to find any specific place in Venice that we had almost abandoned the idea.  Then, we were walking along and there it was!

Gondoliers’ Hats

Guiliana Longo makes all the hats for the gondoliers!  She makes the funny straw summer hats with colorful ribbons and the warmer wool winter berets for all the 400 plus gondoliers who work in Venice. I wondered what the different color ribbons mean. Her small shop was also full of men’s and women’s colorful custom-made hats.

Gondolier

Traffic Jam

We were happy that it wasn’t raining but the bright sunny light was fading.  Still, we walked along the narrow alleyways and small canals, taking pictures as we went.

Boat-Load of Tourists

One of Guiliana Longo’s Hats

I love the way the gondoliers toss their straw hats anywhere in the boats.  Every part of the gondolas are made by hand, including the lovely small carved chairs with tasseled cushion.

Venetian Delivery Service

This is a typical Venetian scene near the Ponte San Giovanni Grisostomo (bridge) with a mix of locals, tourists, and deliverymen hauling their goods with specially designed hand trucks.

Balancing Act

Cheese Shop

We could smell the strong fragrant cheeses as we passed this cheese shop in the Cannaregio Sestiere (district).  We decided not to take a hunk of smelly cheese back to the hotel room!

Corner Fruits & Vegetables

News Stand

We tried to get away from the tourist paths to see where the Venetians lived.  We found some quiet, clean alleyways with European-style family shops.

We crossed a small bridge and arrived at a rather large piazza: the Campo di Gesuiti with the Baroque-style Jesuit Church on the right.  We could see the lagoon at the end of the street.

Campo di Gesuiti

We sat on one of the benches to rest since we had been walking for quite a while.  The streets were empty of people but we could hear music echoing off the stone buildings.  Wonderful smells of onions and garlic cooking somewhere near, reminded us that it was past lunch time.

Isola di San Michele

Fondamenta Nove Vaporetto Station

We walked out to the long quay known as Fondamenta Nove in this part of Cannaregio.  The Allaguna boats from the airport and the vaporettos to Murano and Burano have stations here.  Since we were tired from walking, on another day we would have taken a vaporetto somewhere for lunch, but we were reminded that there was a public workers strike and the boats weren’t running.  I hoped they were having a nice day.

Campo San Apostoli in the Rain

As we walked back toward the Rialto and San Marco, it started to rain.  We stopped under an awning near the lovely Campo San Apostoli to watch some gondoliers hand out umbrellas to their passengers and put on their rain jackets.

Gondola in the Rain

It was getting windy and chilly and we were tired from walking.  We luckily found a fabulous restaurant for lunch named Fiaschetteria Toscana.  It had been listed in Venice Zagats and received high reviews; it even had a Michelin note.  It has been rated as the best seafood restaurant in Venice.  In olden days the building had been a Tuscan wine distribution center, hence the name of the restaurant. “Fiaschetteria” is supposed to mean a flask or other wine carrying container.

Wine Delivery to Fiaschetteria Toscana

We were given a warm welcome and seated in the front room.  The waiter, who spoke fluent English, was chatty and friendly and we felt at ease.  For an appetizer, we shared the famous Venetian dish of  fish “in soar ” which is marinated fish, usually sardines.  It was unbelievable!  Jeff had lasagna in a mushroom sauce for a main course.  I had tortillini pasta with squid cooked in squid ink.  Delicious!! We had a nice conversation with two women who sat at the next table, who were visiting from Norway. They spoke fluent Italian and English and this was their seventh time in Venice.  They said Fiaschetteria Toscana was the best restaurant in Venice!

Another Straw Hat

After lunch we walked back toward the Rialto Bridge.  To help tourists from getting too lost in the labyrinth of alleys and canals, there are signs on the buildings pointing to San Marco and Rialto.

Rialto Bridge

We crossed the bridge which, similar to the Ponte Vecchio across the Arno River in Florence, has shops along the steps in the middle.  The outer sides of the bridge is taken over by tourists taking photos of themselves on the Rialto.

View From the Top of the Rialto Bridge Looking North

Shops On the Rialto Bridge

The Southern View From the Bridge

We had stayed in the San Polo Sestiere the last time we visited Venice, so this district immediately looked familiar.

Gondola Station

There are more signs around Venice telling people where they are which is sometimes helpful.  I think visitors just have to spend time in Venice (and return frequently) to have a true feeling of the city.

District Sign

I had made a wager with Jeff that I could find the building we had stayed in during our previous visit. We had stayed at a lovely family-owned B & B on the Grand Canal which had been almost impossible to find from the Silvestri vaporetto station.  Every time we went out, we wondered if we would be able to find it later when we wanted to return, especially in the dark!  It became our private joke that we would have to sleep on the streets because we couldn’t find our way back to the B & B.

Along the Grand Canal

As it turned out, I was able to find the tiny back streets that led to the B & B, but Jeff remembered the final little twists and turns that brought us to the entrance of the building.  So typically Venice!!

Local Osteria

Like old Venetians, we walked along familiar streets and noted the changes to the San Polo Sestiere since our last visit.  The shops seemed to be more prosperous, but there were also many more tourist shops selling everything from cheap souvenirs and postcards to lovely handmade crafts.  It seemed to be a more artsy district with more cafes and small restaurants than the San Marco Sestiere.

Campo San Polo

Poster Shop

We remembered a traghetto station near the San Silvestri vaporetto station, so we looked for it. We wondered if they were on strike also.  Traghettos are slightly larger gondola-type boats which cross the Grand Canal between the Rialto and Accademia bridges.  There are two operators in the traghetto and they make it easier for local people to get around for a cheap price of .50 euros.

San Silvestri Traghetto

We found the traghetto, which was running despite the vaporetto strike, and we paid our .50 euros each and stood up like the locals, for the ride across the canal.

By the time we had our peaceful ride across the canal, it started to rain again.  It was a relatively short walk back to the hotel but it was chilly and raining heavily.  We put our digital cameras away and stopped at a corner shop called The American Cafe.  We thought we could resort to the familiar containers of hot carry-out tea but were thwarted by Italian customs.  They had paper cups but no tops!

Small Painting on a Building

We returned to our hotel to warm up and rest before venturing out again for dinner.  Later, the rain continued and we quickly walked to Campo San Filippo e San Giacomo and the Ristorante Aciugheta. There was lots of activity in the streets, people were out and the restaurants were busy.  It sure doesn’t look like Kansas, Toto!

Sunday – November 6, 2011

Everyone in Venice walks on water!!  I love to watch the gondoliers work their long paddles through the water, moving back and forth near the rear of the gondola, silently moving the boat forward, they appear to be walking on water……  Today’s higher “alta aqua” forced everyone to walk on the long platforms above the water and everyone was walking on water!!

Sunday Morning in Front of St. Mark’s

Tourists and Venetians seemed to take the higher water level in stride.  Local police stood in the water keeping the walkers quickly moving through the square.  No photos; just keep moving!  “Avanti!!”

Walking On Water

The water seemed to recede fairly quickly and before we realized it, the  alta aqua was gone.  The pigeons and the tourists slowly moved in and took over the square again.

Post-Alta Aqua

We walked out to the harbor to see the tide.  The water gently lapped over the edge.  The high tide elevated the boats to the same level as the people on the quay.

Gondolas

We walked around the small alleyways avoiding the flooded ones and marveled at Mother Nature and the resiliency of the Venetians.   It was Sunday morning and the tourists were out in full force.  It seemed that the locals had receded with the tide.

Sunday Brunch at the Venice Hard Rock Cafe

The rain started again and we had a snack at Le Chat qui Rit which is a utilitarian cafeteria near the Hard Rock Cafe.  We just felt like having a bowl of soup and some good Italian bread on this damp, rainy, chilly day. Then we rode the vaporetto to Gallerie dell’Accademia located on the Grand Canal to visit the famous museum of art.

First Room at L’Accademia

The Gallerie dell’Accademia, which was originally created as an art school in 1750, gave a warm and glowing welcome.  It contains masterpieces of Venetian painting up to the 18th century.  The collection was generally arranged chronologically starting in the first room from approximately the 14th century. Some of the most famous artists include: Canaletto, Tiepolo, Tintoretto, Titian, Veronese, and there was even one drawing by Leonardo da Vinci.

Main Gallery

It had stopped raining when we left L’Accademia so we walked in the direction away from the Grand Canal to the rear of the building.  We wanted to explore the Zattere in the Dorsoduro district of Venice.  The Zattere was built in 1519 as a landing dock for the delivery of timber for ship construction.  The wide quay is a spacious promenade lined with inviting restaurants and cafes that runs along the entire southern shore.

After walking a while, we took the vaporetto back to St. Marks’s Square and returned to the hotel to rest up for dinner.  We wanted to try a restaurant not too far from the hotel, so we walked to the end of the street and chose a homey place.  Jeff had pizza and I had ravioli.  It was ok, but we learned not to trust “tourist” restaurants.

After dinner, since it wasn’t raining, we walked around to see the lights of Venice at night and went to our local gelato store.  There are actually two gelaterias across the street from each other.  It was fun to compare gelato flavors!

Saturday – November 5, 2011

The Sirocco wind continued to blow and we had another rainy morning in Venice.  From the breakfast room window of the hotel we could see the tourists with umbrellas unfurled. We also noticed that the small plaza was full of water and the wooden walkways were stretched out in a line.

The Saturday Morning Tourist Line to Get Into St. Mark’s

We had read about “alta aqua” before we arrived in Venice but had never experienced it.  “Oh boy!”  We thought, “What fun!”

Aqua Alta

The Venetians take the high water, which they call “alta aqua”, in their stride.  The walkways had been piled up in all the low-lying places in the city and they were stretched-out in a line early in the morning as the lagoon water rises.

Workers Connecting the Walkways

The Venetians going to work are not too inconvenienced by the tide, but the tourists snapping photos get in their way.  Early in the morning we heard the siren which warns the people that the sea is rising.  One of the workers in our hotel told us they have “gum boots” for the guests, if we wanted to walk through the water of the rising tide.  We didn’t think we needed them.

Tourists At The Doge’s Palace

Later in the morning, the water slowly receded, then the tourists and Venetians resume their daily lives. The shop keepers mop their floors and the walkways get piled up again ready for the next invasion of “alta aqua”.

Venice sparkles and is truly “magical” in the brilliant sun of summer, but now in the rain it takes on a mystical cloak of quiet beauty.

Working Gondolas in the Rain

I took this photo through the glass in the floating vaporetto station.  The gondoliers, who look like they’re walking on water, were taking eager tourists out for rides despite the rain.  Notice the tourists with their umbrellas open in the photo.  :-)

Entrance to La Biennale

We decided that this was another museum day.  During odd-numbered years, Venice hosts an International Art Exposition known simply as “The Biennial”.  This is a celebration of all forms of contemporary art: visual, dance, theater, music, cinema, photography, video, poetry, spoken and written art.  The art pieces are exhibited and performed all over the city of Venice from June 4th through November 27th. The general theme this year is “Illuminations”.

Map of the Main Exhibits and Performance Spaces

One of the largest exhibition spaces is in the Giardini which is a lovely park at the end of the main island.  It had stopped raining by the time we took the vaporetto and got off at the Giardini station.  Because this has been an important international cultural event since 1895, there are permanent exhibition buildings in the park.

Art and Pigeons

We entered the main building and immediately noticed the still pigeons staring down at us.  We never saw an attribution to a particular artist, but the pigeons were amusing.  We had wondered why there were fewer pigeons in the Piazza!

Interactive Art

I won’t bore you with too many photos of  “other people’s art”, but there were a few really interesting pieces like the above “interactive” piece. The entire room was full of red and black clay which visitors could either write a smear on the walls or stick the clay onto the walls in a self-expressive gesture.  Many people were participating and wrote words on the walls.

Photographing Art

Photography was permitted throughout the entire exhibit in every room, except in the central room which had three gigantic Tintoretto paintings hanging under some stuffed pigeons.

Photographs and The Ever-Present Pigeons

The works of art were very interesting and the exhibition spaces were excellent places to show the pieces.

Venetian Art

This multi-media wooden piece was in the Venetian building.  The upright structures resembled the hulls of boats, perhaps gondolas.  Each hull had a video of water rushing by with the appropriate whooshing sound.  I thought it was a good representation of a watery Venice, especially in the rain.

Library and Seating Area

After all the walking, we needed a place to sit and rest.  This area near the end of the exhibition building was called the library and also provided free WiFi.

Bienniale Cafe

Just outside the library we found this whimsically decorated Cafe.  What a visual treat!! The seating wasn’t too practical, but it was a fun place for a cappuccino.  The far wall was covered with large pieces of reflecting mirrors which were mounted in a helter-skelter random manner.  It provided an interesting backdrop for the cafe!

Place Your Orders!

Angled mirrors behind the coffee bar reflected interesting and varied pieces of the room and the people.  The decorators must have had fun designing this room.

Reflections on the Back Wall

Outdoor Cube

We found “art” everywhere!  Perhaps that is what “Art” is…….

Brazilian Art

Probably the most thought-provoking and unusual work of art was the installation by a Brazilian artist whose name I can’t remember now. (my apologies!)  The open room was a sparse chaotic mix of litter, pieces of twine and wood, graffiti, dirt, empty plastic bottles and other garbage.  In the center of the path which crossed the room was a wooden box with rotten smelly fish-heads placed on rock salt.

Room Full of Water

One of my favorite works was a minimalist empty room that had been flooded with water. Visitors had to walk into the room on the L-shaped boards that traversed the room above the water. It reminded me of the walkways above alta aqua in Venice today!

A Bit of Humorous Comment

We found the neoclassical 1930s brick building which houses art from the “Stati Uniti d’America”.  The contemporary artistic team of Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla are representing the United States at this year’s Biennial, with their collaboration named: Gloria.

Poster for The American Exhibit

Outside the American pavilion was an up-side-down military tank with a tread-mill mounted on top, which had been a performance art piece during the summer season.  You can see it in action on a UTube video.  Just inside the front door, in the rotunda, was a copy of a classical bronze statue of “The Statue of Freedom” lying down in a tanning bed.

Freedom on the Tanning Bed

According to the New York Times, “Thomas Crawford’s “Statue of Freedom,” also known as “Freedom Triumphant in War and Peace” — a classical female figure, her right hand resting on the hilt of a sword and her left holding a wreath of victory — which has stood atop the United States Capitol since 1863.” Imagine the statue on a tanning bed.  Interesting comment about our current social culture.

Inverted Tank With Treadmill

There were old first-class convertible airline seats which commanded the center of two bare rooms.  Shabby testaments to wealth and power.

American Tourists

Convertible Airline Seats

In the center of another room there was a tall wooden organ mounted on top of a round pedestal.  We walked around the organ and admired the beautiful wood and organ pipes.  At the back in the center of the organ, there was a built-in video screen and keyboard which looked like an ATM machine.

ATM Organ

We were more than a bit surprised when a young American woman stepped up on the platform and approached the ATM Organ with her bank card and proceeded to type in her codes on the keyboard.  When she finished her transaction, the organ automatically played a short tune. She withdrew just a token amount, which demonstrated her naïvety given the current exchange rate and bank fees, but we onlookers were thrilled to hear the organ pipes blast out the loud tune.

The Danish Pavilion

Similar to a World’s Fair there were many interesting permanent buildings in the Giardini which were designed to exhibit artistic works from different countries. There were also many buildings throughout Venice which were transformed into exhibition spaces.  It was as if the entire city of Venice became an artistic palette once again, as it has been doing for hundreds of years.

Fruits & Vegetables For Sale Along the Quay

We left the Biennial Exhibit in the Giardini and walked behind the park.  This was a new neighborhood for us and we thought it would be fun to explore.  It had stopped raining and the narrow streets were deserted.  Sounds of voices and scents of garlic and onions wafted out from the buildings.  It was lunch time!

Resident Parking

It was still early, but we were tired of walking, so we hopped on the vaporetto and returned to our hotel for a rest.

Inside the Cabin of the Vaporetto

Because of the time change and approaching winter, it became dark about five o’clock.  Venice is safe at night and the city lights are beautiful.  We just a little worried about getting lost on unfamiliar and dark alleyways.  There are signs painted on the corners of many buildings which point to either “Rialto” or “San Marco”.

A Campo At NIght

For dinner we went to Do Forno which was right near our hotel.  It had a small entrance but the restaurant had several large rooms in the back.  Do Forno is an old fashioned Venetian restaurant with attentive service and good food.  Someone wrote somewhere that the interior was decorated like the Orient Express Train because of the elegant highly polished wood and silvered mirrors.  I had Grandma’s tortellini soup and sea bass which were excellent.  Jeff had a delicious chicken Provençal.  It was good to have a wonderful meal in a warm and inviting restaurant at the end of a misty rainy day.