2004 Venice 2004

6/04/2004
Hi Everyone,Sat. I went to a free Organ Vespers recital at the Church of the Salute. The best selection was the encore - Bach's Fugue in d minor. He played it much better than I ever could!
Sunday I left home at 8:30 am to watch the 30th Annual Vogalonga regatta that started at 9am at the end of Dorsoduro. Perched myself on the steps of the Salute and had a great view. The Vogalonga is a regatta of all sorts of rowing boats - from one-man kayaks to long 22-man boats where they stand up and row. The cannon blasted at 9am and they were off. They went through the lagoon to Murano, Lido and then back through the Grand Canal from the train station. The first ones were back by 11am, and between 12 and 2 most of the rest came back. Still some stragglers at 2:30. During the regatta, no motorized boats (vaporetti, taxis, etc.) were allowed along the Grand Canal. The 2-blast cannon sounded at 2:30, marking the official end. The first vaporetto, heading west, got to the Salute stop at 2:40. There were 4,000 registered participants, from all over the world. Saw one American flag. I had brought cheese, bread, strawberries and water. So I was all set. Afterward stopped at Bar Accademia for my glass of vino.
Thursday I met with the Untour group (10:20 at San Toma stop) and Denny invited me to their orientation, in a little bar across the rio from Dona Onesta Trattoria. I'm also invited to their group outing to a villa and lunch at Denny's restaurant next Sat. Afterward, one couple invited me to be their guest for lunch at Gianni's on the Zattere. Very good pizza, but one is too much for one person.Evenings are still cool, and thunderstorms and/or rain can pop up any time.Talk to you later, Lynanne

06/10/2004
Nothing real exciting . Peggy and George are spending the week with me. Today they've gone on The Dolomite Day Tour, last night they went on the Ghost Walk, and Saturday evening they are going to a Wine Tasting Dinner and are treating me to it also. Should be interesting, especially considering the hefty price! They just ended a 16-day tour through Italy and are enjoying staying in one place for a while. She also is enjoying fixing simple dinners! We've done some sightseeing , but mostly taking it easy. Lynanne

06/16/2004
Hi all,Peggy and George have just left, after spending 9 days with me. A very nice and agreeable couple. Saturday the three of us (Peggy treated me) went to a wine dinner - 4 courses with 3 bottles of wine. Everything was excellent except for my first course choice (we ordered off the menu, and the steward gave us the proper wines). I had Scampi Agruso. Was worried about the agruso, but it was the scampi that was weird. In Venice, scampi are crayfish and they were mashed in sort of a pasty sauce. Agruso are citrus fruits, little slivers of orange and lemon peel, very good. Second course we each got their colored lasagna-shaped pasta with herbs and tomatoes in a delicious sauce. My entree was Venetian liver and onions and polenta - the best polenta I've ever had here. Dessert was Strawberry Tiramisu, Very light and delicious!We also visited Murano and Lido, wandered through the Rialto fish and veggie markets.The weather has stayed nice and warm this week. Hope it stays this way. I've spent so much time here trying to learn to use my phone card, that I had to buy another one today.Talk to you later, Lynanne

06/24/2004
Hi everyone,Nothing really exciting this week. I'm just enjoying living here in Venice. I'm sort of collecting those Murano-glass watches with different colored bands. So far I've gotten pink, lavender, purple, and turquoise ones since I've been here. I've got lots of honeysuckle on the patio, and the aroma is overpowering at times. The roses have about finished blooming for now, but the trumpet flowers are in bloom, and today I saw the first butterfly. Sparrows are everywhere, and eat off the land because I don't feed them. I'm enjoying my private patio, and when it's not too cool I stay out til dark - about 10 pm. I feel like I'm home, even down to the breakers tripping for no reason. Every evening and early morning, the chimney swifts swoop and continuously fly around, and making a squealing noise. They never land anywhere.
Last Thursday I met with the Untour group at their orientation and enjoyed meeting them. Andrea Zyper, from the home office was at the meeting, and it was nice talking to her. Today they were going to visit the Francesco Deserto Monastery. My daughters and I had seen it before, so I didn't join them, even tho I was invited. They were only doing the monastery, not visit Burano or have lunch on Torcello like my daughters and I had done.
I've been a tourist this week and visited some churches. I bought the Chorus Pass for Euro 5.00, which allows me entrance to 15 of the churches that charge admission. Also visited some free ones, and the Carmini, across from my apartment is very elaborate, and much bigger than it looks from the outside. Pretty little church on the far west side is San Nicolo Mendicoli, and the area is very different from most of what I've seen so far. It is perhaps a lower middle class neighborhood, no tourists, and hardly any dogs. Maybe dogs are a status symbol!Enjoyed the Organ Vespers again last Saturday at the Salute, and I've reserved the Hill Towns of the Veneto Day Trip for this Sunday. Saturday nights are still lively at Campo Santa Marguerita, and this week the grads have been celebrating on the square.Last Sunday was a miserably cool rainy day all day, so I stayed inside. I feel for the tourists on a tour and have to continue as planned because they are only here 2 days! Even the lightning and thunder are different here. There is a continuous rumble that never stops, just gets louder or softer, like it's echoing all through the heavens.So far I've never been asked to sign a contract for the apartment lease. He's very casual about when I pay rent.Yesterday I did a "first". I went on my first traghetto ride.Also stopped and got my abonnamento for July, This monthly vaporetto pass saves me a ton of money. It's even cheaper than a one week pass.That's it for now. Oh, Linwood, in your spare time in your geneology search, see if you can find out how much Venetian blood I have. I've got to have some.Lynanne

7/02/2004
Hi All,Happy Fourth of July!! All last week there was a big Flea Market/Antique Fair on Campo San Margherita. And the graduates are still celebrating there, singing "Dottore, dottore..." with their big green wreathes on and reading a proclamation and having a grand time.Saturday I met Andrea, the Untour Italian rep in PA. She was here to talk to Denny and scope out possibilities for an Untour in Rome. Had cappuccino in Campo Santa Margherita and chatted. At noon she suggested we go to lunch, and went to a nice little osteria near cpo S Geremia D'Orio. She treated! and I tried her spaghetti in squid ink. Not bad, but I wouldn't pay money to order it. Afterward I wandered through Santa Croce sestiere, trying to get lost, but ended up knowing exactly where I was.Sunday I took The Hill Towns of the Veneto day trip with Avventure Bellissime. Went to Maristoca and Bassano where I sampled some grappa and bought 2 little bottles. Had a nice lunch in Asolo, a real old really hilly little town. and after lunch we walked the town, with our guide pointing out all the historical sites. Going up and down all these bridges in Venice prepared me for this very hilly town. Then we traveled to the Villa Barbaro where we saw outstanding frescos. Our last stop was up a winding road to a winery that makes prosecco. The six of us shared a bottle of their extra dry prosecco, excellent! This is not the flat kind that we get at the fill-up store, but real champagne-style bubbly. Bought some to take back to Norfolk, but have decided it's too heavy, so I'll have to drink it here!
I've gotten the hang of taking the cart when I go shopping, so much nicer than lugging bags. Went to find some shampoo and had to make a choice among all the different Pantenes that were offered. Finally decided on Antiforora, which later my translator said was Antidandruff. A lucky choice. Tuesday I took a day trip to Chioggia, trying to get some info on a fishing trip for David. Did get a business card, but don't think it's for actual fishing. Walked all along the waterfront, it's a real serious commercial fishing village. To get there I went to Lido, caught Bus No 11 that traveled the length of Lido, then the bus gets on a ferry to Pellestrina. The bus then travels through Pelestrina to a passenger ferry. Get on that and get off in Chioggia. From the apartment it took 2 and a half hours to get to Chioggia - a real day trip.
Wednesday I met two ladies - Sandy and Stephie - I had chatted with thru Untours chatline. Helped them get their vapporetto tickets, then took them to their hotel. They treated me to dinner at the Bar Accademia, right on the Grand Canal and round the corner from their hotel. It's recommended for their pizzas and fantastic views of the Grand Canal. We then took a tour of my apartment.Last Sunday, there was one couple who was from near Toronto, and Sandy is from upstate New York. They each asked if I was from Canada, because of how I pronounce "house", "out", "about", etc. I've had comments about those words all my life! As you all know, I've lived in Norfolk, VA all my life.Yesterday the "gardeners" finally came to clean up my patio. It was beginning to look like a forest. What I called honeysuckle, Sandy said is jasmine, very much in bloom and very aromatic.That's about it for now.Talk to you later, Lynanne

7/12/2004
Hi everybody,Saturday I visited a former palace, Ca' Rezzonico, full of 17th century paintings, frescos, furniture, sculpture that was typical of the way the rich citizens lived back then, very impressive. Saturday night I met my two new friends from the states and we went to a Vivaldi concert and listened to "The Four Seasons" and other works. As a gentleman we met leaving the concert said, the only place to go to a Vivaldi concert is in Venice!! As I was hurrying to meet them I had the ultimate trip, right in Campo Santa Margherita, in front of the whole world. Skinned my knee and elbow, but didn't do serious damage to my long black split skirt. Sunday evening I had Sandy and Stephi to the apartment for real Prosecco that I had gotten on the Hill Town tour - extra dry and sparkling - , cherries, cheese, and crackers at 6pm, and we sat out on the patio until 10pm. Tuesday, the day David and Christine (son and granddaughter) were to arrive here there was a 24-hour bus strike, so we came back to Piazzale Roma by private taxi, but still had to lug their luggage to the apt. Christine had left her wallet at JFK, so we went back to the airport to pick it up Thursday. While waiting in line in the restroom a lady wanted to know where the Tourist Information office was and how was she going to get into Venice, etc. So I told her what she needed to know. She was impressed and called me her private info office.Peggy had gotten in touch with David last week and gave him a "care package" to bring to me - 2 jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzle book, BIG wine plastic glass (the ones here were teeny weeny), and Kroger's Natural Crunchy Peanut Butter! (There's no peanut butter in Venice).Friday the three of us spent the day in Murano, the glass island. Found lots of goodies, and an inexpensive cafe for lunch. Saturday we spent the day shopping around the San Marco area, and ate lunch at an expensive restaurant. The food wasn't bad, it was the cover charge and service added, that I had neglected to notice. To top it off, the lady leaving the table next to us swung her pocketbook around and knocked a big glass bottle of balsamic vinegar off our table onto the sidewalk. Needless to say, it shattered, and got on Christine's favorite cream-colored purse that had been on the floor. The waiter took it and sprayed some powder on it, and when we got home, Christine scrubbed it and soaked it, and all the stain has come out. Seeing how upset Christine was, the waiter went across the calle where some guy was selling little pliable rubber-like toys and gave Christine one. We call it her "stress ball"!Yesterday, on a cold and very windy day, we went on a self-guided walking tour of an off-the-beaten-path route. We only got through 2/3 of it because we kept getting off the suggested route that we were trying to follow, and one time really couldn't get to where the route said we were to go!This morning we went and reserved the Ghost Walk for Wed. evening, and did some window shopping.Talk to you later, Lynanne

07/24/04Hi All,We've been busy exploring the city this week. David, Christine and I spent the day in Chioggia, a little fishing village west of Lido. It's a pleasant 2-hour ride from the apartment. Take the vaporetto to Lido, then get on the No. 11 bus that travels the length of Lido. The bus then goes onto a ferry to Pellestrina. After traveling the length of Pellestrina, everyone gets off the bus and gets on a passenger ferry to Chioggia. Lots of shopping opportunities there. And of course, the fishing boats. Most of them were big commercial vessels.We three rode the vaporetto along the Grand Canal from its beginning at Piazzale Roma to its end in Lido. We got the front outdoor seats so we could see everything and take pics along the way. We had lunch in Lido before heading back home. Christine had some very good French Fries there!
Wednesday night we took Avventure Bellissime's Ghost and Legends Walk. Went through a lot of the calles that we had taken Sunday when we had gotten lost on the little walk we were trying to follow that went from Fond. Nova to the Arsenale. This time tho, the guide told us about the area and the legends associated with it.David and Christine took the 11:35am Secret Itinerary Tour at the Doges Palace, while I hung around the regular tour area of the Palace. I have the Museum Pass that lets me into 10 different museums, including the Doges Palace. I had already been on the Secret Itinerary tour before. When they finished, we had lunch in the cafeteria there - a different but very good pizza. We also toured the Peggy Guggenheim Museum with its modern art collection. The museum was her home, and some of her furniture is still there. She collected the art and was friends with lots of the artists whose works she admired. She and all of her dogs are buried in her garden. We had lunch in the Guggenheim Cafe'.
On Friday afternoon we walked along the Zattere to check out where the pontoon bridge will be erected on Sat. to span the Giudecca Canal for the Feast of the Redentore. On Sat. afternoon the people and boats started gathering for the huge party that evening. Private boats big and small covered the Canal, with many boats having tables set up for eating and partying. Yellow lanterns were lining both sides of the canal. At 11:35 the fireworks started, and for 45 minutes we watched a magnificent display. Since the Vaporetti were not allowed along the canal that evening, we started walking back to the apt. What normally would have been a 30 minute walk, took 75 minutes, because many, many other people were also leaving and squishing into the narrow calles. There were still lots of people and boats staying and partying. Sunday afternoon we went back and watched the 2-man row boats race. They had 3 categories, starting at 4:00, 4:45, and 5:45. A busy weekend. A very special weekend for the Venetians.I'll finish this later (I've just gotten through Sun the 18th) because I'm supposed to meet Ellen Marie and Beverly back at the apartment so we can go up into the San Giorgio Maggiore bell tower on this clear Sat. morning.Talk to you later. Lynanne

07/31/04
Hi all,David and Christine left July 20 at 10 am and Ellen Marie and Beverly (daughters) came the same day at noon, so I spent most of the day at the airport. The best way to get to and from the airport is a bus from Piazzale Roma, a 12 minute walk from the apartment (without luggage). In our wanderings in Cannarregio, we found a nice "fast food" restaurant, sort of on the order of Morrison's cafeteria. The difference is if you want meat, they cook it while you wait. Lots of good cheap food, and self-service wine and beer on tap.After all these trips to Venice, I finally got to San Giorgio Maggiore Church and went up into the bell tower. Great photo ops of the whole area for EM and Bev with their cameras, but my point-and-shoot needs a zoom, which I don't have. Saw the swimming pool that the expensive hotel on Giudecca Island has that is advertized in brochures, but is hidden from public view.Sunday I went back to the Guggenheim Museum with the girls and spent the whole afternoon there. Can't take pix inside the museum but there's lots of stuff in the gardens and on the terrace facing the Grand Canal. One statue that everyone was shooting was the naked man on a horse on the terrace facing the canal. Peggy G.'s ashes are buried in the garden, as are all of her dogs. We also enjoyed a nice, but pricey, lunch in their cafe, and spent time in the gift shop.Monday evening we had a nice long dinner at Pier-Dickens, a very popular and recommended restaurant in Campo Santa Margherita. I got bold, and we all ordered the spritz, an orange-colored drink that is a specialty of Venice and that almost everyone at the bars seem to be drinking. Should have tried it long time ago! It's made with white wine, aperol (a sweet liquour) and a splash of soda water. Served with a big green olive on a stick in the glass and a garnished with a slice of orange. It can also be ordered with compari, which is a red, bitter liquour. I had my liver and onions with polenta, one of my favorite dishes in Venice. The girls got Tiramisu, good, but not as good as what we had bought in the grocery store. As a final treat, we had Sgroppino, a thick drink made of lemon sherbet and vodka, also a Venetian specialty.I had read that Chioggia had a flea market every Tues or Thurs. and Bev wanted to shop. We took a chance that it was Tuesday, and went there. Enjoyed wandering around the fishing village, but the flea market is on Thursdays. This is also a day trip because it is a 2 and a half hour bus and boat ride. On the way back we spent some time in Pellestrina, a long narrow strip of land. They have a parapet all along the Adriatic side of the island, and on the sea side there is a nice beach. We walked along the parapet for a while, and the girls went to the beach to dip their feet into the Adriatic Sea! The bus makes several stops along this island, so we hopped back on the bus to return home. All this is covered by our regular vaporetto pass.Today (Wed) we found our flea market! Went to Mestre and saw a market that goes on forever. Clothes, shoes, hair accessories, household stuff, fabrics, bathing suits, lingerie, notions. They also had lots of veggie and fruit stands, meat markets, cheeses, flower shops, baby clothes. Bev found two culottes, and I got a bright sleeveless loose dress (only for wearing at home) and a "sweat band". They started putting away at 12:30 so we wandered abit and found a little bar to enjoy some lunch. After we got back to Venice we decided to ride the Vaporetti around the outer edges of Venice. Started at P. Roma and went left, through the Giudecca Canal to Lido. Got on the return vaporetto and went around the northern lagoon of Venice. Our vap ended at Fond. Nuovo, so we had to catch another vap to go back to P. Roma, and our 12-minute walk back home.Thurs morning early, EM and Bev left to take pix of the working boats, then we went to the airport to check their flights for Fri. The airport assured us that the 4:40 bus to the airport will give plenty of time for their 6:25 am flight. In the evening we strolled through Via Garibaldi, a main calle toward the eastern end of the island that has very few tourists. Everyone was out, chatting and visiting with one another.. There were lots of little bars, and benches in the middle of the calle. We stopped and had another Spritz. During the day they have lots of small stores and veggie and fruit stands open.
On the way we had watched a big private yacht trying to leave the dock, but the wind kept pushing it back against the pier and toward another ship docked right next to it. Finally it got away, with the help of a little auxilliary tug boat from the yacht. The girls took lots of pixs of that, and the lights across the lagoon.After staying up all night packing, we left yesterday morning at 4:00 am for the bus to go to the airport. Their 6:25 am flight left with no problems. I came back and took a little nap. Then caught up on my paperwork.Talk to you later, Lynanne

08/17/04
Hi all,These past two weeks have been pretty hectic for me - doing last-minute shopping and going to new places. There are still lots of places I haven't been to yet. Maybe next year. I also have had to do some housecleaning that I've neglected while at the apt. When I went to change the vacuum cleaner bag (the girls said dust flew out of it so they didn't use it) There was no bag in it, and no filter that should have been in it. Spent one whole evening trying to get a bag installed,and never could figure it out. The instructions only told how to remove the bag! Left it open and told Michele when I left. I finally bought the little mask I had been eyeing for a while. It's going on the wall in the dining room.Sunday I went back to San Giorgio Maggiore Island to take the guided tour of the Giorgio Cini Foundation. It was founded by Vittorio Cini in 1951 to commemorate his son Giorgio, who died in an air crash, and is housed in and on the grounds of the monastery there. V. Cini spent over a year restoring it to its original glory. The Foundation today has eight Advanced Institutes with scholars coming in from all over the world to study Italian culture and attend workshops, exhibiions, etc. Palladio, Longhena, and Buora are some of the big names in architecture and design that helped build the buildings and the cloisters. Since I was the only one to sign up for the English tour, I had my own personal guide!Beverly has been handling my checkbook and paying my bills while I'm gone. When she returned from visiting me she learned that BB&T had not been transfering my savings into my checking account as I had directed. And of course I had "Insufficient Funds". So she had to deal with straightening the mess out. No permanent harm done, except to Beverly's nerves!While the girls were visiting, we watched a family move out of a fourth floor apartment beside mine. It took the movers one whole morning to raise and position the loong ladder that is used to haul the furniture out. Everything had to come out through the window on a large platform. Then they loaded everything onto the boat that made two or three trips to the new place. Altogether, it took them two whole days to move out. I went to the far eastern part of Venice, an area with very few tourists, and went onto the Isolo di San Pietro. The church there was the original "Church of Venice" before the religious center was moved to Piazza San Marco. There are two bridges to the island that cross a busy waterway where there are boat repair shops all along the shoreline. Leavng the island, I walked along Via Garibaldi, a very wide street that has mostly Venetians along it. The street is wide enough to have park benches in the middle. When I got to the end, I rewarded myself by having a Spritz at one of the cafes.Wandered through an area in Cannarregio that was all apartments that seemed to be built in the 20th century, very nondescript and bland, but right next to them were the very old apartments. Most of the street names weren't even on my map.Should have gone to Ciak 1 sooner. It's a little bar on Campiello San Toma'. Had a Spritz, and it came with four baguette slices with a different spread on each and a bowl of chips that was bigger than the 99¢ bag we buy in the states. That ended up being my dinner!I finally got back to Trattoria San Toma' for my dinner of Venetian-style Liver and Onions with Polenta. It is actually very close to how I used to cook it, with lots of onions, except they cut the liver into small pieces. For dessert I had sgroppino, the delicious Venetian specialty of lemon sherbet, vodka, and prosecco, and served in a champagne flute. When I got to the trattoria at 6:45, there was only one couple there. But when I left at 8:45, it was packed.I managed to buy two dresses, in the new European style (for mature ladies) of always being wrinkled. They are so-o-o comfortable, and don't show the water that is always running down my face and back and dropping off the ends of my hair. I also indulged in my favorite pasttime - buying the Murano glass-faced watches in different colored bands to match my clothes. On one occasion I saw a watch, in a case outside a shop, that perfectly matched one of the dresses for 15 euros. Went inside and she showed me the same watch in the watch drawer - at 20 euro. Started to walk away (I've never paid that much for any of my watches) when she said 15 was okay. Didn't know haggling was so easy!My last installment will come shortly :-]Lynanne


Hi all,Venice is such a fabulous place for me, I have to give you some of my thoughts and observations:In Venice, the children are mostly very well-behaved and happy. The adults gush and fawn over them, not only their own, but their friends' and relatives' children. A dad was walking with his two young sons when a friend came along. Before the friend chatted with the dad, he talked to the children and shook one's hand (the littlest hid behind Dad). After the children, the adult came next. This was typical. I was especially surprised at how the men - young and old - made over the little kids. Everywhere there were grandparents walking with their babies and little ones in strollers.In the small shops and stalls, if a purchase comes to an odd amount, they will usually go down. They don't seem to care about the small change. At one veggie stall, all I had was a 5 euro bill for 50 cents. He said "domani" (tomorrow)! Yes, I did go back with my 50 cents. He was surprised and pleased.What I like about Venice and my apartment:Leaving my front door open, no screen, and knowing no-one can enter (screens are mostly non-existent in Venice)........ Pointing to fruits and veggies at the stands and having the vender bag them for me.......Alternating between my upstairs living room, downstairs den, and patio, depending on my whims.......Doing sign language with non-English-speaking Venetians and being understood (sometimes it didn't work) .......Walking the calles and neighborhoods alone, day and night, and being perfectly safe...... Realizing that everything I buy has to come to the shops by boat ....... Helping a Hungarian lady find a grocery store....... Eating and drinking Venetian specialties, Liver and onions with polenta, Spritz, Sgroppino.......Going to the "fill-up" stores with my empty 1½ liter plastic water bottles and filling up with my choice of keg wines at under 3 euros.This is my last installment, and I'm having a terrible time getting used to the "real world" :-[Arrivederci,Lynanne