Monday 13 May

This morning we went back to The Smith café for breakfast – so easy when it’s not crowded. Then onto the subway at Columbus Circle to find a bookshop on the upper east side which I’m led to believe is a favourite haunt of many chefs. 

We were told by the friendly subway assistant that travelling north to south and vice versa is always easy in NYC (he hasn’t seen me in action) but travelling west to east can be a challenge. Well we did it – with one more train change than was necessary – but we found our way quite easily to “Kitchen Arts and Letters” on Lexington Avenue. I wasn’t disappointed. This shop is amazing, and the guy who runs the show is unbelievably knowledgeable. There is a section for “out of print” books and I asked him if he had ever heard of Greg Malouf. Not only had he heard of him, he was able to recite every single book he and Lucy have ever written and the chronological order in which they were published. I asked about sourdough baking and he directed me to a book which he thought I would love – a new release that I bought at Three Lives Bookshop just a few days ago. So many books to choose from. I finally settled on one which has only recently been published and signed by its author “Salt Smoke Time” by Will Horowitz.

We travelled back down on the train but instead of climbing a million stairs to change trains, went back out onto the street to walk the east west part of the journey. Stumbling upon a Vietnamese pho café provided a welcome relief from the pouring rain – and the pho was wonderful. Then into a taxi for the post office on West 60^thStreet. There were big black cars everywhere when we arrived and the taxi pulled up across the road from the post office, outside what I now know is the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Two huge security guys came over, opened the doors to greet us warmly and helped BDR struggle out of the cab. It was then that we saw the crowds of fans behind barriers on both sides of us – we had been delivered to the VIP section of some fabulous event, arriving at the same time as somebody very famous (no idea who he was) and were welcomed by a crowd of cheering, smiling faces.

Boxes for international shipment were then purchased, taken to our hotel to be packed with 9kg of books and stuff we no longer need, and then returned to the post office for delivery to Perth – and they will arrive long before we do.

Tonight we had tickets to dinner and a show on upper east side – Woody Allen and the Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band at the Carlisle Hotel Cafe. The hotel is beautiful – art deco style, opened in 1930 – and the café was absolutely packed. The food was very good – I had fabulous oysters natural to start (so different from those we get in Aus) and BDR had lobster bisque, we both had rare sirloin for mains and shared a bottle of pinot from Oregon. The band members were all on stage by about 8:30 and Woody was last to arrive. He looked like he’d just stepped off the set of Annie Hall wearing brown corduroy trousers, a checked open-neck shirt and a grey pullover, which he promptly removed and threw over the edge of the grand piano.

The band included 2 older guys, Eddy Davis on banjo and vocals and the other guy playing drums. There were three others who all left early – a youngish woman playing double bass, a guy playing trumpet and another playing saxophone. Then there was a younger guy on piano. They were all fabulous musicians, playing wonderful swingy jazz but I thought Woody, on clarinet, was a bit of a weak link – seemed to lose his breath and hit the wrong note from time to time. It was quite sad really but the audience was very supportive and so were the band members. He appeared to be very introverted, kept his eyes shut most of the time, made no eye contact with the audience and showed very little emotion at all. There were several times when we thought he’d fallen asleep, but he managed to join in at the appropriate time. Having said that, we absolutely loved the show and are so glad we went.

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Tuesday 14 May

Today was our last day in New York. We skipped breakfast to finish packing and then headed out to Del Posto, a Michelin 1 star restaurant in the Chelsea district. Lunch was organised to celebrate (belatedly) three significant birthdays – for both of our NY friends and my boy, and to thank our friends for their wonderful hospitality during our stay.

This restaurant is absolutely beautiful – a huge Italian palazzo with marble, white linen, custom-made crystal candle holders, white leather chairs etc etc. and the tables are all very well spread-out which was perfect for the men at our table with their potential hearing challenges. We were given warm, herb-scented hand towels as soon as we sat down which I really love (being just a tad OCD about hygiene), and BDR chose a fabulous white wine from the Veneto region.

We were served 2 different tiny starters which were absolutely delicious – can’t remember what they were exactly – and then the most wonderful little panini sticks (the waiter said they were a cross between a panini and a baguette) and a heavenly cheese somewhat like a buratta – and of course they were served on custom made side plates. Great way to start.

We then each chose an entree and main course. I chose a chicory salad and had a bit of food envy when I saw the vitello tonnato our friends had. But the salad was delicious and probably a wise choice given the amount of food I was about to consume. I had fabulous sea bass with crispy skin for mains and chocolate hazelnut cake with hazelnut gelato for dessert. We were given a bowl of mini-doughnuts to share as a birthday cake and four different petit fours served on and in custom-made Italian cheese grater boxes. The company was wonderful, the food was great, the silver service was flawless though perhaps a bit over the top for my liking, but all-in-all a lovely way to lunch.

We then walked together to visit our friends’ daughter and her 2 beautiful rescue dogs at her gallery in the meat packing district before we said our goodbyes and promised to catch up again soon – either in New York, Australia or more likely, somewhere in-between.

We visited our rooftop bar one last time for beer (BDR) and G&T (me) and to say goodbye to Tony, our favourite barman. Then off to the airport with our Emirates’ chauffeur and a very light dinner in the lounge before boarding our flight to Milan.

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We first visited New York 18 months ago and did all of the touristy things and while we loved it, this time has been so much more fun. And now we’re off to Italy – and I reckon my heart is pounding at twice the normal pace at the sheer prospect. Goodbye New York – you’ve been wonderful.

Wednesday 15 May

We arrived in Milan with the sun shining and a clear view of snow-capped mountains. BDR was hobbling a bit but it worked to our advantage when a lovely young woman escorted us past the long queue straight to a customs window. So it was a quick exit and an even quicker drive (160 kph) in a new Mercedes to our hotel just a few hundred metres from il duomo. We had just enough time for a luxurious afternoon nap before preparing for dinner. And what a dinner it was.

I have been following a restaurant / bar called Tartufi & Friends for a long time and made a booking many weeks ago for tonight’s dinner. It was a very comfortable walk from our hotel, along elegant cobbled streets and down Corso Venezia (though the concierge marked it on the map as being closer than it was, causing us to travel back and forth before seeking help).

This place is so chic, with black walls and the highest ceilings (mirrored), comfortable and cosy seating and unassuming and welcoming crew. Each table setting is on a silver tray with belt-like leather handles – bit like a cruise ship of the 1920’s? and the best quality starched linen.

We both had the Signature Menu:

• Compliments of the chef lightly honeyed, roasted bread topped with black fish roe
• Violet eggplant, tomato drops, burrata cream, lemon and fresh truffle
• Foie gras, Sicilian shrimps, cacao, orange scented mayonnaise and fresh truffle
• Spaghetti “memories of carbonara” and fresh truffle
• Anchovies in tempura, sprouts, ligurian olives, hollandaise sauce and fresh truffle
• Simple green salad and fresh truffle
• Shortcrust, rhubarb scented cream, maldon salt, pistachio icecream and star anise powder
• Compliments of the chef macaron, profiterole, cheesecake and tart with a glass of limoncello

The truffles were about the size of walnuts – black truffles from the south of Italy. They were quite mild both in aroma and flavour in comparison to other truffles we have had – but delicious just the same. And the servings were very generous – one or two truffles with each course. We shared a bottle of Italian pinot nero and finished with the most fabulous espresso coffee. We were waved off at the front door and window-shopped on a leisurely walk back to the hotel. Such a fabulous night.

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Eighteen months ago, we were lucky enough to have a degustation lunch at Eleven Madison Park in New York which, at that time, was the number 1 restaurant in the world. We both agreed that tonight’s dinner was the best restaurant dinner we’ve had since Eleven Madison Park. So elegant, so relaxed, nothing pretentious and all such great fun. We would go back in a heartbeat.

Thursday 16 May

We had the most wonderful sleep last night, the first time we’ve slept in relative silence since leaving Perth 13 days ago. The view from our room this morning was spectacular – the brilliant gold Madonna on top of il Duomo’s main spire against the brightest blue sky – so beautiful. The cathedral is currently being renovated so below the spire we could see only scaffolding. Then downstairs for a fabulous Italian buffet breakfast before packing and taking a taxi to the railway station.

We always love Milano Centrale – it looks more like a cathedral than a train station. Getting onto the train was relatively easy, though we were in carriage 2 and had to walk what seemed miles to reach it – meaning at least that we wouldn’t have far to walk on arrival at Venice. We had seats in business class (no noise please) and arrived in Venice a few minutes ahead of time. Then out onto the platform and down to the canal to meet our water taxi, as arranged by our apartment managers.

The sun was shining, the taxi was very comfortable and we both noticed immediately how peaceful Venice was. Don’t think we’ve ever been here when it’s been so quiet – such a surprise considering the press we’ve been getting about overcrowding. The taxi was able to pull up right outside our front door and the landlord’s rep. was waiting to greet us. This whole trip so far has been such smooth sailing.

We unpacked and walked through the market, past the Chiese di San Giacomo di Rialto (Venice’s first church built in the 6th century) over Rialto Bridge and bought vaporetto (water bus) tickets from a vending machine. Then back in the direction of the railway station to visit our usual supermarket and bakery, walk to Ca d’Oro vaporetto stop, cross the canal and go back to our apartment. We really feel as though we are back home – just so incredibly comfortable. Everything is as it was when we left l8 months ago, apart from the fact that there are fewer humans.

In preparation for dinner, we strolled around our area to see what restaurants were open and ended up at Alla Madonna – traditional, old Italian restaurant, usually full of tourists but not so much this time – nothing fancy but good service and very good seafood. I had one of my favourite fish, Orata, grilled and served “on the bone” (though our waiter did offer to remove the bones for me).

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We love the walk back to “our” apartment (this is the fourth time we’ve stayed here) along the grand canal and it was lovely to have a hot shower in “our” bathroom and to climb into “our” incredibly comfortable kingsize bed. And once again, everything was so quiet. I often say that my soul is in Venice, and today’s arrival has done nothing to diminish that feeling. It’s so wonderful to be back “home”!

Friday 17 May

Love that feeling of waking up not knowing where I am and then realise I’m in Venice. I cannot believe my luck. We popped downstairs for a brief visit to the market and our most favourite cheese shop in the world (Aliani Casa Del Parmigiano) to buy a few essentials and returned to the apartment for our traditional Venetian brunch that included tomatoes (they’re not yet the beautiful summer tomatoes that we love so much), provolone cheese, the most unbelievably fabulous buratta, prosciutto, mortadella etc etc. All so delicious.

One of my favourite books of all time is The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal. It was a book which I was sorry to finish because I loved it so much, and I did some research into exhibitions of his Japanese netsuke figures (little hand-carved ornaments) which feature so prominently in the book. They have been shown a couple of times and when I heard (from our lovely New York friend) that there was an Edmund de Waal exhibition in Venice as part of the biennale, I was thrilled with excitement, only to find that unfortunately it has nothing to do with netsukes.

Nevertheless, we set off for the 500 year-old synagogue in the Jewish ghetto to see Edmund’s exhibition of his latest work called “Psalm”. The ghetto is such a solemn, sad place (horrific history), but the old synagogue is so beautiful. The exhibition is on the third and fourth floors and when we asked the young man at the door if there was an elevator, he cheekily said something like “We are waiting for the elevator, just like we are waiting for the messiah”. So funny.

Fortunately the stairs (around the place where the lift is being constructed) were reasonably easy to climb, and fortunately also, we were able to see wonderful views of the old synagogue on the way up – because I’m afraid that Edmund’s work didn’t really mean much to either of us.

As we headed back to the vaporetto, we came upon a fabulous supermarket inside an old theatre. Mr Google tells me that this early 20th century “art-nouveau neo-gothic” building stood in disuse for decades. There was great controversy in converting it to a supermarket but it has all been done with enormous respect – no signs outside at all to suggest that it’s a supermarket, nothing commercial about it at all really. We only went to investigate the building because we were curious about an exhibition of Hilary Clinton emails upstairs (in the dress-circle) that was advertised outside the theatre. We weren’t interested in seeing the email exhibition but we did spot the supermarket inside. Unbelievable setting for a supermarket, and great quality produce.

As usual, we took a wrong turn on our way to the vaporetto stop and stumbled upon the building in which Wagner died (now a casino). A photo was essential since BDR happened to be wearing his New York Ring Cycle cap. Then back home to prepare for tonight’s dinner at a restaurant recommended to us 10 years ago when we were looking for a place to take one of our sons and his 2 mates who were joining us briefly in Venice as part of a whirlwind round-the-world trip. We wanted to take them to Alla Madonna but it was not going to be open and one of the waiters there suggested we try Antiche Carampane. It was sensational then and has become a regular haunt for us every since.

The restaurant was booked out with many tables used twice while we were there, and the food was as wonderful as ever. The complimentary starters are always great, and tonight’s was fried salty strips of zucchini served in paper cones. I had spaghettini with clams (I always love this dish) as first course and fritto misto mare as second, BDR had seared octopus with asparagus as first course and monkfish as second, we shared a plate of mixed green vegetables and of course a fabulous bottle of Italian white wine.

The first time we went to this restaurant in 2009, the owner, Francesco, and BDR discussed Australian wines, the conversation continued for a while by email and then BDR sent him a book about Australian wines. We reminisced about this briefly with Francesco tonight and when it was time for us to leave, Francesco came to our table with what he said was a gift for BDR (the bill) and a gift for me (the English version of his cookbook which he duly signed).

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Arm-in-arm, we walked the short path home that we now know so well (seemed to take hours the first time we went). We’ve had such a lovely day and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am with my new book. I’m going to treasure it forever. I especially love the back cover which replicates a sign that has always hung at the front of the restaurant – “No pizza, no lasagne, no menu turistico” – something that really appealed to us all those years ago and still does today.

Saturday 18 May

I popped down to the market this morning for a few supplies of seafood and vegetables while BDR prepared brunch. We then headed out for Arsenale on a very rainy day to attend the Biennale Arte. The Biennale theme this year is “May you live in interesting times” and is set in two main locations (Arsenale and Giardini) as well as many smaller venues all over Venice.

The rain kept the crowds away today and we had no problems entering or making our way around this enormous exhibition. The art we saw was frequently confronting, a bit scary, thought provoking, moving and occasionally amusing. Stand-out works for me included:

1. Soham Gupta’s “For, in your tongue, I cannot fit” looks like a room of microphones with music stands but the microphones are actually speakers and the work is all about censorship. A line of poetry written by one of 100 poets who were imprisoned for their work is quietly spoken or sung from one speaker at a time (I got such a fright when I was standing next to one – felt like someone whispering in my ear).
2. Yin Xiuzhen’s “Nowhere to land” is an enormous sculpture of a passenger in the emergency landing position, all made of recycled clothes. It’s supposed to reflect on the excessive development, consumption and globalisation of post 1989 China.
3. Cameron Jamie “Smiling disease” – grotesquely grinning carved wooden masks which the programme describes as being “frightening, humorous and macabre”. I agree completely.
4. Australian-born twins Christine and Margaret Werthheim’s “The Crochet Coral Reef”. Its description states “These reefs tell time: they’re dying, bleached of colour, due to rising water temperatures”. I found this work to be incredibly beautiful.
5. Alexandra Bircken’s “ESKALATION” – 40 figures made from calico dipped in black latex and suspended from ladders to show “a dystopian view of what the end of humanity might look like”. I found this one to be very creepy – and to get past it I had to walk under a ladder – yikes!
6. Andra Ursuta’s glass sculptures are fragments of female figures that are “partly filled with liquid, reminiscent of liqueur bottles, but a closer look reveals troubling forms”. I found these works quite confronting.
7. Neil Beloufa’s series of interviews with young soldiers from many different war zones. In order to see the soldiers’ faces and to hear their stories, we had to sit on a piece of gym-like equipment (there’s one for each soldier interviewed) and become part of the exhibition ourselves. I found this quite confronting – felt as though I was in a very intimate conversation with the soldiers making eye-to-eye contact.

Well it took us 3 hours to see the 71 exhibits in the first building and there were still another 20 to go in several different buildings and only 45 minutes before the whole venue was due to close. We braved the elements and stepped out into the pouring rain and puddles to make a quick visit to the Swatch exhibit (major sponsors) which was wonderful – similar to an exhibition we’ve seen before but we cannot for the life of us remember where. Miniature models of buildings with things happening in all of the rooms – all very colourful and interesting – bit like a peep-show.

We skipped the next 13 exhibits by following a flooded walkway to go straight to the large Italy pavilion called “Neither Nor: The challenge to the Labyrinth” which was gorgeous. A maze of different exhibits with a sign at the start saying “In front of you are two entrances, mirrored by the possible exits on the other side. Enjoy the sense of dilated time and don’t worry about having to see everything”. The maze links small rooms, all with interesting works of art, and includes doors that look as though they are locked – all great fun – a reflection of exactly what happens when one walks around Venice. You don’t know where you’re going and you never know what you’ll find.

We finally made our way to the back gate of Arsenale, onto a courtesy boat to take us to somewhere else (we weren’t sure where we were) but we managed to make our way to a vaporetto stop. We arrived home absolutely exhausted at about 7pm and sat in our living room with a pre-dinner glass of wine before I retired to the kitchen to make asparagus wrapped with prosciutto as a starter, and then fresh tagliatelle (purchased from the supermarket) with king prawns and baby calamari – all delicious.

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This is the third Biennale Arte we’ve been to in 4 years and they have all been so different. However they all have challenged us and introduced us to new concepts. Can’t wait to visit the Giardini exhibition – though we will need time to recover and dry out our clothes.

Sunday 19 May

When we’re at Moore River, Sunday is usually a really lazy day, beginning with a big sleep-in – and today we managed to replicate that tradition without even trying, and woke to the phone ringing at 12:15pm!! We had a restaurant booking for 2pm so the time wasn’t a problem, except that the phone call was from the restaurant asking if we could possibly arrive early. In my normal “I can do anything” mode, and trying to sound as though I had been up for hours, I agreed. That was mistake number 1.

Mistake number 2 was that in my hurry, I managed to switch north and south and led BDR off to catch the vaporetto at the south side of San Polo opposite Giudecca instead of crossing the Grand Canal and heading north to the lagoon! The rain was pouring so my tears of anguish were not visible and when we realised that we were going to be too late, we returned to the apartment (wet and very unhappy) to phone the restaurant and change our booking to Monday evening. That meant changing our Monday lunch booking to Wednesday evening and cancelling our Wednesday lunch booking – but that was all relatively easily and at 2pm BDR made lunch and we replanned our day.

On our second visit to Venice together in 2009, we researched Venice’s best coffee and started a very long love affair with Gino’s Café (and the larger-than-life Gino himself and his charming and quite large wife) in Accademia. We were heart-broken in 2015 to find that Gino had retired and his cafe had changed hands. Since then, we have been searching for another cafe to take its place. Today we headed back to Accademia to find a cafe recommended by Russell Norman (a restaurateur I follow on Instagram who was also responsible for our New York walking tours) – and it was fabulous. I think we may have found it!

It’s a small, old-style café with really good looking sandwiches (called tramezzini – a bit like Katz’s deli ruben sandwiches in that the filling is about 5 times the thickness of the bread) and the coffee is sensational – may even be better than Gino’s. We didn’t want to leave and ordered a glass of wine each. This place is fabulous – so Venetian, mostly Italian clientele, great service and wonderful atmosphere – and there’s a blackboard on the wall telling us that this is the place where tramezzini were invented – even better. I paid the bill and pointed out to BDR that this was the cheapest coffee we’ve had in Venice (we always compare the prices of coffee in Italy – seems so cheap compared with Perth), only to realise later that we hadn’t been charged for the wine. Oh well, we’ll just have to go back tomorrow to settle that account.

Then onto the vaporetto for what we now think is the best supermarket in Venice – the old converted art-deco theatre – to buy wine, flour and a few other bits and pieces for the apartment. The produce is second to none – a bit like the Boatshed in Claremont. I love the way they’ve converted the stage into a cheese bar / deli and the dress circle into an exhibition space (Hillary’s emails are there at the moment).

I was so excited to buy castruare (tiny baby artichokes) at the market on Saturday. They have such a short season (cut or “castrated” from the artichoke plant) and I had never tasted them previously, let alone prepared or cooked them. I painstakingly prepared the castruare into very fine slices, tossing the slices in lemon juice before mixing them into a green salad with lots of olive oil, salt and pepper – looked fabulous. Then par-boiled some potato cubes and roasted them in a hot oven with lots of garlic and olive oil – fabulous aroma – and pan-fried the fish I bought at Saturday’s fish market – Orate on the bone (I removed the heads) with lots of lemon juice. And of course BDR provided great wine.

Our dinner looked fabulous and I was full of anticipation. The fish: Perfectly cooked and delicious. The potatoes: Crunchy and delicious. The salad: The castruare slices were too thick (I think I needed a mandoline to slice them paper thin) and they were so dry in the mouth. I felt like I had just swallowed a teaspoon of talcum powder! The flavour was OK – but a bit too bitter. Oh well – that was my first time and there is plenty of room for improvement. BDR by the way said it was fabulous but I’m sure I could see his lips puckering.

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On a more positive note, we believe that we’ve now found the very best supermarket in Venice, and even better, the very best coffee. Can’t wait to go back tomorrow.

Monday 20 May

Our morning started with a trip down the Grand Canal to Accademia to try brunch at Bar Alla Toletta – and it was great. Freshly squeezed orange juice (spremuta), toasted baguette with prosciutto, cheese and rocket, and cappuccino (for me) and double espresso (for him). We have agreed that this is definitely our favourite cafe in Venice.

Following Sunday’s disaster of missing our luncheon booking, we had a 7:30pm reservation for dinner at Venissa. To make sure we didn’t get lost again, we decided to take 3 vaporetti to get there, and that meant leaving home no later than 5:30pm. We came home after brunch, did a few house-keeping bits and pieces and then it was time to start getting ready for dinner.

It was cold and raining most of the day, and getting to the island of Mazzorbo, on which Venissa is located took forever – but we got there just on time. We’ve been to Venissa many times and as far as I can remember, there has been a different chef each time we’ve been. The restaurant is quite simple but set in one of Venice’s vineyards (I think there are only 2 or 3 remaining) with roses and gorgeous gardens. And next to the vineyards are the community gardens for people who live on Mazzorbo and the neighbouring island, Burano, the lace island. These gardens supply the restaurant with vegetables and herbs all year around.

We decided to have the 10 course “mystery” degustation dinner, but instead of having matching wines with each course, chose to share a bottle of wine – and that decision took BDR forever. We finally settled on an Italian Pinot Nero (I think this is the third we’ve had this trip). And the menu:

1. Compliments of the chef grisini (extra long, on custom made servers) and dark brown light-as-a-feather spongy bread and whipped butter, which I’m sure included egg whites because it tasted very, very meringue-ish.
2. Compliments of the chef starters – 5 tiny morsels each which were delicious but we can’t remember what they were exactly.
3. Scallops, roe gel, seaweeds, almond – this was so delicious with a beautiful flavour of almonds.
4. Smoked eel, red beetroot, oxalis – this was the dish of the night for me (I always love smoked eel) with beetroot done in 3 ways – roasted, dried and fermented. And such a perfect match for our wine.
5. White asparagus, mint and mint milk – really delicious and such beautiful textures.
6. Oyster gnocchi, hempseed, silene. This dish was a bit wierd – raw oysters inside the hot gnocchi, and I thought the green sauce was a bit overpowering.
7. Gold spaghetti – perfect hand-made pasta with a very rich, buttery sauce, topped with a bit of gold leaf (I really don’t get why people use this) to represent the golden grapes that are grown in the surrounding vineyard, and from which Venissa make their own very golden-coloured wine.
8. Fermented tamarind tortellini, double cream, angostura bitters – I thought this dish was a bit weird too. Lots of bitter tastes and the double cream tasted like egg custard.
9. Rabbit liver with teriyaki sauce – beautifully cooked though quite rare, and delicious flavours (even though I’m not particularly keen on liver by itself as a rule)
10. Mallard, jerusalem artichoke, dandelion – the pieces of duck breast were practically raw, but hot, and everything in this dish was beautifully balanced. We both thought it was great, however BDR, for once in his life, thought the duck was a little undercooked.
11. Wild fennel ice cream and red carrot – very unusual but delicious.
12. Green sea – bits and pieces of green with a strongish flavour of apple.
13. Purple dye murex ice cream, coffee sponge, dried mushroom semifreddo – this was very nice, very rich and almost defeated me.
14. Compliments of the chef petits fours – those that I had were delicious, but I just couldn’t eat them all.
15. And to finish, we had little cups of espresso – double for BDR, single for me.

What a marathon. We were given a printed copy of our menu and then the maitre’d invited us to go back to San Marco on the restaurant’s private launch because another couple had booked it and there was plenty of room for us and one other couple. So that was what we did. And when we got to San Marco, the rain had stopped and we had a short stroll to the vaporetto stop. It took us 2 hours to get to Venissa and only 45 minutes to get home.

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We have had such a fabulous day – all revolving around eating fantastic and/or interesting food and beverages. But there were also many hours of sailing around this exquisite part of the world, an activity we both love but which will probably cause me to feel like I’m rocking on a boat for the next few weeks.

Tuesday 21 May

Another quick trip to the market this morning for some small San Pietro fish fillets, a few more castraure (baby artichokes) – and the grocer offered me some parsley to go with it which I accepted gratefully (not sure how I’m going to cook them but the parsley sounds good) – and a small punnet of the wild, sweet strawberries that usually taste like fairy-floss. Then around the corner to All’Arco, said to be where cicchetti (Venetian bar snacks) were invented. It’s a lovely little bar frequented by the locals which we have previously visited for an aperitif (standing on the footpath outside), but today we went for breakfast and sat at a table for two. Four different sandwich toppings on crunchy toasted bread – all delicious – but unfortunately they don’t sell coffee. So around another corner to a coffee shop we found on our last visit, Goppion – nowhere near as good as the coffee at Bar Alla Toletta.

We were lucky enough to score seats on the back deck of the vaporetto for today’s destination – the Biennale at Giardini. We were told by our former Venice landlord that it is customary for couples to kiss when they pass under the Rialto Bridge – so of course that had to happen – and we loved seeing the beautiful gold sculpture of “the man who measured clouds” (9m high), but the best experience of the whole trip for me was meeting a beautiful little fluff-ball dog who smooched up to my legs like a cat. I massaged his left side and he turned around so that I could massage the right – and lots of eye-to-eye contact. I was in heaven. He barked as we walked down the vaporetto isle to get off – think he wanted to come with us.

This is our third visit to the Biennale at Giardini and we’ve worked out a system that works for us. We select which of the pavilions we must see (based on what we have researched) and visit those first before going to the general pavilion – I reckon it would take at least a week to see every country’s pavilion, and another week to see all of the general pavilion. Some of the memorable exhibits for me included:

1. Belgium “Mondo Cane”:  Life-sized muppet-style models, many of which are animated, representing a range of interesting people from the past. There is “The Fool” (looked like he could be an Old Easts’ fan at the 1965 grand-final) who was said to have had the mental age on an 8 year-old, “Sateri” the man who started a pizza chain (my favourite), “The Town Crier” who was sacked for telling an inappropriate joke (something about a xmas tree, a priest and balls only for decoration), “The Rat Woman” who was said to be a harbinger of death, “Lathgreta Toft” who knitted a scarf every year for each of the 400 people in her town, and lots of others.
2. France “Deep See Blue Surrounding You”: What is normally the entrance to this classical pavilion was marked with “no entry” signs and we wondered if the exhibition was closed or if this was a trick somewhat like the Canadian pavilion in 2015 which was covered in scaffolding and didn’t have a visible door. And this was a trick too. We noticed a hard-to-see sign which gave us a hint, and then wondered around the back down a really rough track, under the building into a freshly dug tunnel with rubble everywhere. Such fun. Then up a few stairs to the pavilion where the floor looked and felt like water with all sorts of rubbish (mobile phones etc) under it.
3. Australia “Assembly”: This exhibition was an amphitheater showing three different channels of the same movie shot in the senate chambers of both Australia and Italy.
4. Brazil “Swinguerra”: Photos and a movie of young dancers rehearsing for competitions in an abandoned basketball court – we thought it was fabulous.
5. USA “Libertà”: Sculptures of different types expressing liberty.
6. Central Pavilion “Can’t Help Myself”: A completely mesmerising, quite sad and a bit scarey industrial robot, looking like a caged animal in a huge plastic-walled room, sweeping thick red liquid in a monotonous circular motion, and then having random fits of rage, with the motor roaring and spraying liquid everywhere before falling back into it’s boring, sweeping rhythm.
7. Central Pavilion “Untitled”: A mechanical gate that swings back and forth every minute slamming into (and damaging) the wall on both sides with a deafening bang.
8. Central Pavilion “Pod World”: Small reefs using crocheted pieces made by contributors (there were 40 of them) for the Australian born twins who created works called “The Crochet Coral Reef”, several of which we saw at Arsenale. They are so beautiful.
9. Central Pavilion “Muro Ciudad Juarez”: A large section of a school wall from Mexico that is riddled with bullet holes – in memory of victims of drug-related violence. So sad.

This year, so many pavilions used film as their exhibit’s medium, most of which were just too long for us to watch (ranging from 45 minutes to 160 minutes) . We made our way to the exit gate a few minutes before closing time at 6pm, along with hundreds of other people, and there at the gate, in front of the Thailand pavilion, was a garden bar with chairs and tables and a sign saying “It’s Spritz Time”. What a welcome relief, and the chance to let all of those other people fight for spots on the vaporetti.

We left the bar at 6:30 and witnessed a beautiful sunset – unfortunately blocked by a very large cruise ship belching black smoke as it passed San Marco. These ships cannot be good for the Venetian environment, though I’m sure the small business owners benefit greatly. I must admit that I couldn’t help saying “good riddance” as it swept past us leaving large waves in its wake.

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And for dinner tonight, I cooked the San Pietro fish fillets (such beautiful fish) and ribbon beans and threw a little caprese salad together using the last of our burrata – really delicious. And a few wild strawberries – tasted awful and not sweet at all! Oh well, you can’t win them all.

Wednesday 22 May

When we leave Venice, we will be flying with Air France and our luggage allowance will be 23kg for checked-in luggage and 12kg for carry-on, so as usual, we will have to send a box of heavy stuff home. When I have a serious mission in Venice, I’m not too proud to get out the map and look like most of the other tourists. So after getting lost just as many times as we would have without the map, we finally found the post office and I set the timer. Our record for posting a parcel from Italy is two and a half hours at Rapallo (near the Cinque Terre) and our fastest time was 35 minutes in Milan when I became best friends with the post-office teller (she came around the counter to kiss me goodbye as we were leaving). Well Venice didn’t even come close to the record though I had to join the queue for the teller three times and fill in three lots of forms (none at the same time or course) – only took 1 hour and 10 minutes!

Then onto the vaporetto for brunch at Bar Alla Toletta. I couldn’t leave Venice without trying one of their famous tramezzini and chose one with ham and egg, BDR had a toasted panini and we both had coffee – just fabulous.

Another vaporetto trip to find a bookshop I’ve long wanted to visit – Libraria Acqua Alta. We didn’t get lost all that many times before we found it and wow – what a treat. Books from floor to ceiling, nothing seems to be in any particular order and a gondola full of books and other bits and pieces in the middle of the long narrow shop with just enough room for one person at a time to squeeze between it and the books stacked up on either side, and at the back of the shop, a little courtyard with a staircase made of books on which one can pose for photos along with a collection box to help the stray cats of Venice. On the way back past the gondola I chose a couple of little Italian books and BDR chose a pack of playing cards. When I got to the check-out at the front of the shop to pay, there was the most beautiful cat curled up fast asleep on the cashier’s chair. A lovely young woman came to the till and had to stand so as not to disturb the sleeping fur-baby. A girl after my own heart. I paid for our goods and happily made a donation to the stray cats’ collection.

After a longish walk and short vaporetto ride, we arrived home to prepare ourselves for dinner at Ristorante Local. This is a restaurant we first visited in 2017, not long after it had opened, on the recommendation of Russell Norman. We chose the 7 course “Identity” mystery menu and were given a hand-written menu just before we left.

1. Compliments of the chef starters – I think this was the best selection of starters I can ever remember having. A sardine that was so delicate, a tiny brioche roll with baccala and a light-as-a-feather tendon cracker – all so beautifully prepared and so delicious. I would have been happy to have had 7 courses of these.
2. Compliments of the chef artichoke broth – tiny cup of beautiful clear veal broth with the flavour of artichokes – really delicious.
3. Cuttlefish in spring – the most beautiful cuttlefish I have ever had. Sous-vide and rolled paper thin. The most amazing texture and so tender.
4. Mackerel, red pepper and green olives – simply delicious. Such a wonderful combination of flavours.
5. Smoked eel, mango and miso with puntarelle – apart from the starters, this was the dish of the night for me.
6. Ravioli, guinea fowl, coconut and shrimps – delicious prawns natural which were very delicious and the ravioli which I didn’t find to be anything special – but perfectly OK.
7. Artichoke, rocket and black garlic – this was another dish that was fine but not outstanding for me.
8. Duck breast, asparagus, teriyaki and strawberries – very delicious.
9. Celery in 3D – such an unusual dessert with celery icecream, jellied celery and celery leaf with a delicious crumb.
10. Compliments of the chef petits fours – always delicious, but these were especially good.

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Such a fabulous dinner. Our friend Maggie asked if we would be rolling home. I don’t think we’re quite that bad however our jeans definitely do seem to have shrunk. Must be the Venetian air.