Amr’s birthday in Venice

Another lovely day! Had breakfast at our little place right under us…a fabulous eatery, and very popular…in the morning there is an array of pastries, and yogurt, fruit, granola, and by lunchtime it has transformed to pizza, bruschetta, focaccia, panini - all fresh and very appealing. And wonderful coffee, fresh juice (and wine, beer and the eternal Aperol!)…so we are well placed for food. Then we set off walking - this time over the Rialto and into the markets there (saw the baby calamari that I would love to buy in Oz)…then on to the station via the different route..all very lovely along the endless streets, canals, bridges and campos. I totally depend on Amr as a guide…totally lose my sense of direction in these streets..now learning some of the landmarks on the route to S Marco…!

The high tide came up again and the walking boards came up in the piazza S Marco…it was receding by the time we got there and we sat on the dry side and had a drink watching the scene till our allotted time to visit the basilica. With great agony Amr had managed to book tickets online as we knew it reduced queuing time to get in, and we had watched the chaos of people trying to enter….so we went early thinking we’d have wait a bit, but to our delight we had immediate access, and were blown away yet again by the magnificence of the building, the gold mosaics just everywhere - quite dazzling. We even paid extra to see the Pala d’Oro which is an elaborate slab of gold and jewels, with enamel pictures…impossible to describe…created as an altar cover (instead of cloth)…altogether a beautiful visit.

We are starting to understand the weather…it is fine in the morning, and in the afternoon it clouds over, and today it did rain - needed umbrellas - and was more than passing clouds! But never pouring rain. Amr has just told me that tomorrow and Sunday will be fine in Venice! We’ll see.

Tonight we go to the concert in La Fenice, and we think we’ll have a little late dinner after. Tomorrow we plan to take a train to Vicenza, to have a look round there, and maybe stop off at Padua on the way back. It will be a bit of a break to walk along normal streets for a change - much as we love the alleys of Venice!

Now back from our evening…the concert was lovely..it was a Belgian sextet (the Phoenix Sextet) playing Wagner, Brahms and Schoenberg…not in the big opera theatre but in a smaller room suitable for chamber music…I think there are 3 halls - the opera hall, the concert hall and the chamber hall…we think we’ll do a tour if we can fit in to see it all. The renovation since the fire is beautiful…very light - white ceilings, peach coloured walls and trim, chandeliers.

The concert finished soon after 9.30, and I hoped there would still be restaurants willing to feed us…but no problem - a small place just round the corner from the hotel was open (and a few more came after us)…we had a delicious meal - Amr had a veg pasta, I had gnocchi, and we had grilled vegetables…perfect. A good birthday I think!Read more