Day 20: April 21

The third week really flew by. Language class added on past tense as well as imperfect tense and now my head is exploding. I need to study a LOT more. I definitely felt a set-back with the language. I booked two private lessons for next week for help with my conversational skills. And I need to figure out what I will do when I get home because I don’t want this month to go to waste by not continuing with my studies.

Highlights of the week included a trip to nearby Padova, aka Padua, with my young friend Felix. It is only a 30 minute train ride from Venice. We spent a nice afternoon here walking around and seeing the sights. Padova is a beautiful town with an historic university, where Galileo taught mathematics at the university for 18 years. He is even said to have claimed the time to be the happiest period of his life. There are several impressive churches and an 800 year old food market above which sits the stunning Palazzo della Ragione — a huge civic hall listed as a Unesco World Heritage site for its’ frescoes. We also visited the Scrovegni Chapel which rivals the Sistine Chapel. Stunning. And a very personal visiting experience because you make a reservation and are allowed to be inside for 15 minutes with only about 15-20 other people.

Friday was a gorgeous day and I participated in one of the school’s walking tours, this one of Canaregio, with the Alessandro with the beautiful rolling rrrrr’s. We concluded near Santa Maria Assunta church, also just called the Jesuit church. I popped in because I’ve heard it is quite beautiful. It is indeeed. The marble work is astonishing. The walls look as though they have been wallpapered but it is a design all created in marble. There is a Juliette balcony festooned with elaborate heavy drapes and tassles… nope. Marble. All marble. Plus an elegant ceiling designed with pastel shades of pink and green. Just stunning.

There were several on my tour from my class, the sun was shining, and the weekend had arrived. We all took a spritz at the bar next to the church. I made friends with the “bassotto tedesco”, aka wiener dog, nearby, missing my Cluney. Our party moved on to the wine bar Vino Vero, about a 10 minute walk and located on my favorite street for bacaro and restaurants, Fondamenta Misericordia in Cannaregio. Felix arrived before us and saved a table. Huzzah! The temperature dropped but we stayed a couple rounds before saying our good-byes. Felix and I made our way to Al Timon for some dinner. Al Timon is known for it’s wonderful steaks but we ordered gnocchi instead. I watched an interview with Jamie on the CNBC app, thrilled I could get it to work for me. Huzzah!

Saturday, back to Caffe Levana in San Marco for coffee with Giovanni and Lara. It was Giovanni’s birthday a couple days prior so I was happy to celebrate a bit with him. Coffee turned into spritz which turned into mezcal palomas. Well this day just took a detour.

I met Felix a bit later for an excursion to the island of Murano. As we got on the boat, the Sun said ciao-ciao, while Rain and Wind made their entrance stage left, quite a noisy and chilly duo those two. Murano now seemed perhaps a poor idea. We searched for a warm bar for a coffee but found instead a glass blowing demonstration, with nice temperatures inside from the 2000 degree fahrenheit oven. Ahh… that feels nice.  The demonstration was touristy but still entertaining and interesting. Afterwards, we commenced our search for glassware for Felix to purchase. Third or fourth store in, we saw some promising items in a window and a nice older man inside who humored us with speaking Italian. We loved the shape and colors of the glasses. Felix took two. I couldn’t pass them up, so two for me as well to add to an expanding collection at home. Dinner at a pizzeria when we returned to Venice. A very nice Saturday indeed.

Today Felix left Venice to head to Pisa where he will be completing a research program at the university there for his Masters degree in chemistry. Before he left, we met for coffee with Giovanni and Lara at… guess where… my now favorite coffee bar, Caffe Lavena. We followed with an aperitivo at Caffe Florian, because Felix can’t leave Venice without experiencing these beautiful historic cafes, now can he? Felix said his good-byes, and the remaining three converged to Harry’s Bar to enjoy some tiny yummy sandwiches and cocktails at the bar. Harry’s was packed but Giovanni found us seats at the bar where everyone knows his name.

Giovanni took me to his optical shop where I hoped to find new Italian glasses. Success! And it was a welcome bonus  to have two friends with style give me their opinions. Winning pair Celine, ok NOT Italian, but tres chic. The prescription lenses should be completed this week.

The afternoon concluded for me with molto molto molto art. First Ca D’Oro, a gorgeous palazzo on the Grand Canal with a small collection of mostly Renaissance era art. And then an exhibit from the artist Zeng Fanzhi, a collaboration between the artist, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Scuola Grande della Misericordia here in Venice. Amazing building, amazing art. I feel like I am viewing so much art but I’m actually barely scratching the surface here.

Click page 8 below for the final entry.