Free Day in Venice

Free Day in Venice

We have been going to bars for cichetti as our evening meal. It works like this: you saddle up to the bar and order an ombra. They give you basically the equivalent of ½ glass of house wine (unless you specify) and then you point at the sandwiches and snackies (cichetti) on the bar that you want to eat. The sandwiches and snackies are usually between 1 Euro 50 and 2 Euro 50. The ombra of wine about 1 Euro. The food is pretty filling, and often pretty darn good. There is not usually so many vegetables to be had, but otherwise it makes for a fun, cheap, interesting dinner. Well, and there is no sitting, which can be a drag at the end of a tourist day, but still, it is lots of fun. The first night we had cichetti we left the bar full, happy, tipsy with money still in our pockets.

Last night we went to a new osteria/enoteca and the wine was a bit better. Ok, I will be honest, the wine was a lot better. The snackies were pretty amazing too. The man had two different kinds of artichokes for me to snack on. What else do I need in life? We both realized at some point in the evening that this place was undoubtedly going to cost more than the night before, but decided that was ok. It was better food and better wine and if it cost a bit more, so be it. Well, when the bill came it wasn’t a “bit” more, it was 4 times more. We were not expecting that one.

Thus today became “Free Day in Venice” The goal was to rebalance our budget. We decided we were going to see how much we could do while spending very little money. The morning started with both of us eating just a bit more, and a bit healthier at breakfast at the hotel than usual. Then we walked to the Rialto Market and checked out all the food sellers. We were surrounded by gorgeous, exotic and colorful fruit and veggies. We also wandered though the fish market, itself fascinating. I hadn’t see that many kinds of cephalopod since Japan. Finally, we stood for really an inordinately long time outside a butcher inspecting pork products and the occasional dead fowl. I had a moment of deep gratitude that I had a partner who also wanted to spend that much time looking at and discussing pork products. Then, because we could, we spent some time exploring Detective Guido Brunetti’s neighborhood (for the uninitiated, this is the main character of the Donna Leon mystery novels I love). We didn’t exactly search out his street, just got a feeling for the neighborhood. It was cold, so we bopped into a coffee place to get two café Corretos-- mine with Grappa, Andrew’s with Sambuca. Total spent: 2.60. Caffeine and alcohol together. No wonder Italians seem so happy.

After our pick-me-up we visited the Correr museum. In order to get into the Doge’s Palace, you have to buy a museum pass that covers several different museums, thus the visit to the Correr. It ended up being fascinating. We got to see lots of Venetian art, as well as some lovely historical pieces. As always we spent lots of time looking at the old maps both of Venice and that Venetians drew up of the rest of the world. I just loved watching the change in the city over time. We did basically run though the rooms in honor of Venice’s military power. I learned early on this trip that I have no interested in seeing displays of really old weapons. They are usually just a bit disturbing, and excruciatingly boring.

Then it was time for “lunch.” After extensive searching we got a slice of pizza and bottle of water and ate outside in a campo. Workmen were setting up the stalls for the Christmas markets, so it was an entertaining if not restful lunch. We went to a free exhibit on Vivaldi, which included some interesting background on his life, and a collection of violins and other string instruments. Historical musical instruments generally don’t keep my attention too long, but there was one that I swear was an early prototype for a KeyTar, which I found amusing. For me, the best part of the exhibit was the lovely music they had playing. Inspired me to put on some classical music when we got back to the hotel.

We hit a few other “free” exhibits with less success. One was about the Biennale called “works in progress“. We were pretty excited about that, but as it turned out, it was about the renovations of buildings to eventually house Biennale works. So basically, this door here is being moved and this space here is being transformed into a theater, yada yada yada. We also popped into an exhibit about the interiors of buildings that had works from about 6 different artists together in an old church. Considering I already wrote a blog post this week that had to do with penises, it would be best for my reputation if I didn’t continue to describe this exhibit, but I will anyway, cause I can‘t resist. Visiting this exhibit gave us the opportunity to see a wooden pumpkin with a suspiciously shaped stem (think love valley), a statue of the god Neptune, extremely excited as he tamed the sea, and now unrelated to penises, a bright blue decapitated head of John the Baptist. You may be asking yourself, “what do those things have to do with the interiors of buildings?” I have no idea. And to think, we almost missed it.

Finally we popped into an osteria. This one had prices listed, and they were extremely reasonable. We got two ombre of wine and snacked on a few sandwiches. I was leaning over trying to delicately bite off a piece of salmon sandwich when there was a crashing sound, I was whacked by something, and noticed I was covered in white powder. As is my luck, while I was biting away, a piece of decorative bread (it is Italy, and it is almost Christmas, they have that here) fell from its spot above the bar and onto me, then onto the floor. Bad luck and bad timing. It did get the whole bar talking though.

Now it is time for a nap. My feet hurt.