Today is going to be a big day. It is sunny with a blue sky and a perfect temperature of 19C. I have discovered a great little bar/ cafe just outside our door that opens early enough for my latte. I introduce the Italian community to my pink reusable cup and they also make a great pistachio and white chocolate croissant (Cornetto) that Tanya develops a liking for.
We head out for an explore in a completely different part of town, our apartment flamingo farewells us.
The architecture in Venice is so different and varied from building to building, often tiny little alleys giving access through to the next connecting bridge.
We finally visit the amazing Chiesa Frari or Church of Santa Maria.
It has magnificent marble sculptured altars and many ancient relics. As well as some very famous paintings of Titian of the Virgin Mary.
It is spring here and florist shops are bursting with colour, we notice that the Italian way of carrying a bouquet is upside down, which we think is meant to keep the petals of the flowers from drooping??
As we explore a very different part of Venice we find ourselves in a much less touristy spot. We come across a little restaurant, no-one there so we call a break for an early lunch.
This turns out to be a good pick , both of us selecting a pasta dish, mine is a mixture of squid ink and regular ravioli with a beautiful prawn and zucchini sauce and Tanya goes for the tagliatelle with scallops and pistachio sauce.
We are a little taken a back when the dessert menu comes out with a little disclaimer at the bottom.
It seems to say to us that “all sweets are fatty in this house” but there comes a translation to put us at ease :
Energized, we continue around to the Rialto bridge which is the oldest bridge in Venice , it’s construction finished in 1591. It is one of the three bridges that span the Grand Canal. This is of course a major tourist attraction and it is hard to get to the edge of the bridge during the day for a little selfie of us, we settle for a view from the bridge.
Although we did not pick a dessert at the restaurant we know that there are many tempting sweets everywhere we have gone so far, we therefore pace ourselves at the restaurant and wait for another opportunity. It doesn’t take long to find one 🙂
We are also in search of a nice leather bag for Tanya and although the quality and design of some of the bags we see are just gorgeous, the prices are a little chilling. We might wait till Florence as it turns out a lot of the tanneries and craftsman work in and out of Tuscany.
Tonight is our big night out at the Opera, at the Teatro La Fenice, it is often equaled to La Scala in Milan with the quality of sound and it’s character being quite famous in Italy. We have bought the tickets thanks to Elisabetta and they are front row box seats. Both of us have brought fancy outfits for the night including an evening pair of shoes. After an early bite at home with local cheeses, olives and some antipasti, we are ready.
There is no public transport to the Teatro, so we know we have to hoof it there. Backpack with the change of gear to “glam” on my back we make the 20 min walk. Tanya exhibiting an amazing pace despite her cold. Time is getting a bit tight but luckily we come across the side door that with only two flights of stairs delivers us to our box.
Well, WOW! We feel like Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman”, there are a lot of elegant , stylish gowns and we fit right in especially down to our joggers which we did not have time to change out of.
This does not seem to be a complete faux pas, the only difference being, that the Venetian crowd wears, sequined and diamontied pairs which do match their outfits somewhat. I guess no-one gets to take a taxi to the Teatro so you have to be comfortable to get there.
The performance is spectacular , voices of the lead performers are Maria Callas/ Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti standard. The story in Turandot quite moving, Tanya sheds some tears.
We leave really enriched and with a bit of a giggle, as we have certainly set a trend , Tanya in her red poker dot socks and navy shoes not to mention my little pack of goodies.
What a big and wonderful day, we walk home, not a wrong turn even though it’s dark now!
All so beautiful!!!