March 31

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Venice is turning into a museum of itself.  If I recall what I read, the population is about 20% of what it was 100 years ago.  The permanent population, that is.  There are plenty of rich people buying second (or third, or fifth?) homes here.  Venice is not an easy place to have a young family.  There are stairs (over canals) everywhere, and there is not much open space.

As a result of the shrinking permanent population, there are fewer and fewer amenities -- grocery stores, hardware stores (though we did see one, yesterday), schools.....  And all of this makes it harder to live here, so the population shrinks.......

Nowadays many of the churches charge admission, and forbid photography (more like a museum than a public building in regular use by the populace).

We decided to see if we could attend mass at St. Mark's yesterday, which is free, and lets you see at least part of the basilica.  I was surprised that there were only about 50 people at the 8:00 am mass.

It's a much smaller space than the cathedrals in France.  The ceiling is domes and more domes, and they are all mosaics, with gold backgrounds.  You really get a sense of how long that building has been used.  Some of the mosaics are the old flat style used in Ravenna, and some show human volume and perspective......

We had thought we might also try for a later mass at San Giorgio Maggiore, which is said to be in Gregorian chant, but then my daughter read a review that said the celebrant sounded like Elmer Fudd and couldn't remember all the words.....  That one is on an island that you need to take a boat to reach (7 euro each, each way) -- we decided to pass.

We did hear part of a concert in another church in the afternoon.  Flute, oboe, bassoon, organ.  The music was lovely, but it was *freezing* in there.  We left at the intermission.

Speaking of the weather, it finally stopped raining!  We had heard the "high water" alarm at about 10:00 pm, and when I happened to look outside at about midnight, the water in the canal beside our house was almost level with the sidewalk.  Apparently our metal "keep the water out" thing is only of marginal utility -- when we went downstairs in the morning, we discovered something over half an inch of water entirely covering the floor of our entry room.  Surprise!  We called our contact, and it was MUCH drier (damp in places) (and we could smell it had been cleaned) when we got home in the evening.

Anyway -- back to the morning -- after mass we went the Accademia.  (When I get home, I will correct spelling and put in links......)  I don't know what they used to do there, but now it is full of paintings from the 1300s to the 1800s, including lots of Bellinis and some Titians.  We spent a good long time there, and decided to look for lunch.

We were thrilled to discover that it was lighter outside, and not raining!

We found a nice restaurant.  I had some goulash, which was delicious.  Liver alla Veneziana was on my daughter's list, so she had that.  It was very good, but like cream sauce (or scallops), a little goes a long way.  It was served with onions, on polenta.

After lunch we looked for a place that was supposed to have really good chocolate (not because we were ready for chocolate right then, but because it was a while before our concert began).  We couldn't find it.  As with everywhere, things change, and a place that is really good one year may be gone a few years later....

We did find the Frari church where the concert was.  We had thought we could look at the church before the concert, but it was closed up tight.

So we wandered around IN THE SUNSHINE!!!!!!  We gave a few coins to an accordianist by the church, who was very nice for the ambiance.  And jwe ust sat, enjoying the sunshine, on a big (for Venice) campo (which is Venetian for piazza).  There were two big sycamore trees there -- most campi aren't big enough for trees.....

After the concert, we found some hot chocolate (good, but not holding a candle to the best we've ever had), and made our way back to our apt. 

Venice would be an excellent place for a pedometer.  Things don't look that far apart, but by the time you take all the twists and bends (and go up and down, and up and down, and up and down) all the stairs, it's a lot.  My daughter is excellent at knowing where we want to go.  We've done very little back-tracking.  And still, we've spent a LOT of time on our feet.  We miss the French tradition of cafes, where you expect to sit (as long as you want) and enjoy your coffee, as you watch the people, or look at Notre Dame.  A sit-down with your coffee is very welcome to a tourist.....

Of course the weather here has not been conducive to enjoying sitting outside, even if that was the expectation.

We've been getting home TIRED.  Toast and cheese about our speed.

Tonight we got ambitious and made broccoli, and past a with tomato sauce.  The broccoli was good; the pasta and sauce entirely edible.

It is lovely to have a fully-stocked kitchen.

Tomorrow we plan to have no plan, other than lunch.  Wander, get lost (not thinking about trying to get to the concert on time, etc), and sleep in.

Ahhhhh.

Buona notte.



In order to facilitate chronological traversal of these posts, here is a link to the next post.

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