Today I left for Venezia on an 8:30am train out of Campo del Marte station, near N&M’s apartment. It left a bit late but got me to the central station, Santa Maria Novella, and that train left a bit late and got into Venezia about 15 minutes late – but a really nice smooth ride with no one next to me or across from me.
Once in Venice I bought a 3-day pass for the vaporettos, water buses, and took the 4.1 line from the station to Arsenale. The Biennale’s prime venues are happening around that stop, and it’s where the apartment is located – but I can’t get into it until 4pm. I left my luggage in a store nearby that provides that service, and then headed out toward Piazza San Marco to get lunch on my way to the MicroMega optical store.
It was relatively warm, so the jacket stayed with the bags and I sat in an open air caffè in the piazza and had a grilled ham, cheese and veggie sandwich with a beer. Did a bunch of people and pigeon watching and saw a bride and groom walking through. The crowds were not huge, but this city is a magical place and people so enjoy seeing it.
After lunch on to the optical store which has even more amazing frames than before – and it turns out I bought the glasses in 2006. The woman did some minor adjustments and I headed out meandering toward Harry’s Bar – and enjoyed going through all the small passageways (sotoporteghi), but always knowing roughly where I was. I was supposed to meet my landlord Gianni at 4pm, got to Harry’s at 3:15, sat at the bar and was just ordering a cocktail when Gianni texted said he was ready to meet me.
I headed back over to where my luggage was stored, met Gianni (really nice retired guy of Croatian descent) and walked 2 minutes to the lovely apartment – on only the first floor above the street (yay!). He showed me around the place and now I’m sitting and relaxing before dinner later this evening.
I did some investigation of places for dinner, and unfortunately none of JoAnn Locktov’s suggestions had availability. I looked on Yelp and found a wonderful, and high-end place, Ristorante Do Leoni, in the Londra Hotel which was a short walk. I had a two-course prix fixe with a primi piatti of baby octopus, sardines and polenta (a less dense polenta). Secondi piatti was spaghetti with a somewhat dense veal ragu sauce. The bread was great focaccia, and also pretzel bread, accompanied by a nice glass of chianti. I asked one of the servers to pass along my thanks to the chef – my best meal in Italia so far!
The Biennale opens at 11am tomorrow (it is Italy after all) and I have my ticket for entry and a guided 90-minute tour in English..
Once in Venice I bought a 3-day pass for the vaporettos, water buses, and took the 4.1 line from the station to Arsenale. The Biennale’s prime venues are happening around that stop, and it’s where the apartment is located – but I can’t get into it until 4pm. I left my luggage in a store nearby that provides that service, and then headed out toward Piazza San Marco to get lunch on my way to the MicroMega optical store.
It was relatively warm, so the jacket stayed with the bags and I sat in an open air caffè in the piazza and had a grilled ham, cheese and veggie sandwich with a beer. Did a bunch of people and pigeon watching and saw a bride and groom walking through. The crowds were not huge, but this city is a magical place and people so enjoy seeing it.
After lunch on to the optical store which has even more amazing frames than before – and it turns out I bought the glasses in 2006. The woman did some minor adjustments and I headed out meandering toward Harry’s Bar – and enjoyed going through all the small passageways (sotoporteghi), but always knowing roughly where I was. I was supposed to meet my landlord Gianni at 4pm, got to Harry’s at 3:15, sat at the bar and was just ordering a cocktail when Gianni texted said he was ready to meet me.
I headed back over to where my luggage was stored, met Gianni (really nice retired guy of Croatian descent) and walked 2 minutes to the lovely apartment – on only the first floor above the street (yay!). He showed me around the place and now I’m sitting and relaxing before dinner later this evening.
I did some investigation of places for dinner, and unfortunately none of JoAnn Locktov’s suggestions had availability. I looked on Yelp and found a wonderful, and high-end place, Ristorante Do Leoni, in the Londra Hotel which was a short walk. I had a two-course prix fixe with a primi piatti of baby octopus, sardines and polenta (a less dense polenta). Secondi piatti was spaghetti with a somewhat dense veal ragu sauce. The bread was great focaccia, and also pretzel bread, accompanied by a nice glass of chianti. I asked one of the servers to pass along my thanks to the chef – my best meal in Italia so far!
The Biennale opens at 11am tomorrow (it is Italy after all) and I have my ticket for entry and a guided 90-minute tour in English..