Venice Day 7: It's Bloody Raining AGAIN!

After a not very good nights' sleep (upstairs clomping about at 2:30am FFS) I was less than impressed to get up this morning and find that the sky was not only grey but that it was pouring with rain as well :(  A sombre mood hung in the air as Mum and I had breakfast, prior to, donned in warm clothes, rain macs and clutching umbrellas we set off to meet friends at a local cafe.  However we managed to get a seat indoors and drank hot chocolate and coffee to keep warm, and passed a very pleasant part of the morning catching up and gossiping.

Deborah

Alison

Deborah mentioned the nearby island of San Servolo was well worth a visit, and that it used to house the mental institution for Venice, which of course piqued my interest at once!  Over lunch I checked it out on the Internet, and decided to visit this afternoon, but like all the best laid plans I was unsuccessful.  Duly headed down to the correct Vaporetto stop, but on looking at a map and timetable it said that the route I needed was 'seasonal', and when the boat didn't turn up at the allotted time I presumed that the season have not yet started.  After yesterday's disastrous day in which I managed to take a total of four photographs, I was pretty desperate to get out there and take some more, so just got on the first boat that came and headed off to Murano instead.

Hopped off at the first stop and had a wander about, but kept heading down dead-ends in a very residential area which was not very exciting, everything was closed and no one was about so it felt like a real ghost town.  Then it started raining on me, and I was generally tired and a bit fed up with the lousy weather, so got on the boat back home again.  A nice ride the long way round, sitting at the back outside and watching the waves behind the boat which never quite caught up yet looked as if they would like to swamp me.  It was sheltered at the back so quite pleasant, and I found it very relaxing just staring out at the water.

Early evening Mum and I decided to brave Bar Arsenale next door for a pre-supper drink, although we both wore coats and it wasn't really warm despite the sun making a feeble effort to break through the clouds, it was still nice to drink spritz and prosecco and watch the world go by.  On to supper at Paolo's.

Mum sporting her new ring

Mum and Lilli at Paolo's

Supper - mmmmm, love those green salads!

Venice Day 5: Ice-cream and Art

A bit of a lazy morning today as the weather was grey, overcast and chilly, and as neither of us had a very good nights' sleep and were feeling tired we decided to spend the morning in.  Late morning it brightened up a bit so I ventured out with my camera to just walk around locally, and then joined Mum for lunch back at the apartment.  She greatly enjoy finishing off the last of her Gorgonzola (which smells of feet) with a juicy pear from the market.

Later we caught the vaporetto down to Academia and walked over to the bridge to Campo San  Stefano for an ice cream at one of the outdoor cafes.  

Our waiter kindly offered to take a photograph of us, but in doing so must have inadvertently changed my iPad Hipstamatic settings from the ones I chose, so the pictures all look a bit washed out.  Nothing I can do about that now though!

I had chocolate, hazelnut coffee ice-cream and it was all absolutely delicious :)

Mum returned to the apartment after this and I had another wander about the back streets of Dorsoduro with my camera, before getting the boat back to Giardini, where I was hoping to sit at my favourite cafe in the sun drinking spritz. However as the 55th Biennale has now started, all the usual tables had been removed and it looked as if there was some sort of private event going on there, so I had to give up on that idea.  Instead had a look at one of the open air exhibits and then walked back down the tree-lined avenue towards Via Garibaldi.  Various performers were out doing strange things, such as a man with a black rectangle painted over both eyes and carrying a bloodstained piece of cloth walking very slowly down the avenue - unfortunately I don't have a photograph of him for this blog but I did get several with my my Nikon.

Later we went out to supper at our other favourite osteria in nearby Tana, where I had earlier booked a table as it was unusually full when I went past (due to the Biennale), but the heavens opened almost as soon as we have sat down outside said there was a mad clamour to rush in doors, and it was all very hectic and noisy for quite a while.  In fact we decided that all conversation was futile due to the decibel level, so we ate our shared pizza and green salad in silence with the occasional grin at one another.  The boss/head waiter remembered us from last year which was really nice, and told us that today, tomorrow and the day after they will be working 18 hour days to cope with demand from visitors attending the Biennale, but that after then it should calm down.  We said that we would be back!

Venice Day 6: Not Good

Rather annoying day, in a multitude of annoying ways, so not going to write about it.

Here instead is a picture of Mum's favourite Gorgonzola that smells of feet: