Italy

Our last full day of travel started with a lengthy vaperetto ride to the Biennale Giardini site. This is the site where the major countries have their pavilions. We couldn't believe how enormous the space was! We began in Spain and started making our way through the various countries. It would be impossible to describe (or remember) all the works we saw, but I'll try to describe some of our favourites.

The Canadian pavilion was manned by Geoffrey Farmer. He had created a water based installation that would spout in various ways. The water spout almost looked like it had destroyed the roof of the pavilion, which was purposeful.

The United States chose Mark Bradford as their artist. His pavilion featured some abstract expressionist installation. He had really used the pavilion's space well. Apparently he had created the pavilion's dimensions in California, where he normally works.

Another interesting pavilion was Russia's. The whole piece was focused around the idea of Dante's 9th level of hell. In it were plaster casts of hands and faces of people who had committed all sorts of cyber crime and it rated the severity of their offences on labels.

We eventually stopped for lunch in the garden area where we had sandwiches while Evan had pizza and a lemon granita.

In total, we spent about 3.5 hours checking out the pavilions and art. We didn't see all the pavilions, but we came pretty close!

We took the water bus back towards a stop where I had seen Nico's Gelateria, which is famous for its gelato creations. It was getting late in the afternoon, so we opted to just have gelato. I tried a creation that included a block of hazelnut gelato topped with whipped cream, while Brad tried a tiramisu gelato and a rum based gelato. Evan, true to form, had straticalla and chocolate. The sky was darkening quickly and we saw all the restaurants start to pack up their patios, so we hurried home to grab our rain gear before going out shopping.

After a bit of shopping, we went back to the apartment to get ready for dinner. Brad had made us a reservation at La Zucca, a restaurant that has continually been in the Michelin Guide. We arrived promptly at 7 and were seated in the back at a nice table. To start, we ordered a bottle of Venetian sparkling wine and Evan got a special Arancita pop. We all got pasta for our primi. Evan had tagliatelle with duck ragu; Brad had lasagna with asparagus; and I had tagliatelle with Gorgonzola, pears and walnuts. They were all so good! We will certainly miss all the freshly made pasta when we get home.

For secondi, we shared osso bucco with rice. We also ordered contori which consisted of mushrooms stuffed with parmigiana and a pumpkin and potato "cake." Since it was our last night, we also got dolci. Evan decided he wanted to spend his own money and buy his own dessert, which was the same dessert Brad and I shared, a hazelnut semifreddo. The entire meal was luscious from start to finish and we couldn't have asked for anything more!

Evan had become obsessed with the idea of going on a gondola ride, but they are insanely expensive (100€ for 20 minutes, nearly $175 CAD) and looked pretty cheesy, so we weren't keen. I eventually offered him a second dessert instead of the gondola and he was sold! So we stopped at Majer and he chose Nutella gelato and, you guessed it, straticalla.

At home, it was time to get packing. We had to craft ways to get our wine, oils, and balsamic in our suitcases in a protected manner. Here's hoping they make it home! We have had an incredible adventure in Italy and it is sad to be saying goodbye, but I think we are all looking forward to seeing in our own beds tomorrow night!Read more