Wednesday - Fresh Produce & Music

This morning I set the alarm for 7:15 so that we could go down to watch the market being set up.  I imagined that there would be boats everywhere offloading fish, fruit and vegetables and that the canal would be a hive of activity.  However all but 1 boat had been offloaded, and the stall holders were finishing unpacking crates when we arrived.  One of the stall holders who had everything unpacked said good morning to me and I asked him at what time he had arrived (all in Italian of course) and he answered "alle quattro" (at 4 o'clock)!  I decided there and then that seeing the market being set up probably wouldn't be all that great.

Anyway the market looked fabulous and we jumped on a vaporetto full of workers and school kids, and headed to our coffee shop.  It was lovely to be out at that time of the morning - no hawkers or beggers anywhere - and we saw Venice's only female gondolier working at the front of one of the traghetti (gondolas that ferry people from one side of the grand canal to the other) with passengers standing holding a brief case in one hand and checking their mobile phone with the other.  I'm not sure who is the  most skilful - the gondoliers or the passengers - probably the latter!

By then we were feeling quite sleep-deprived and went back to the apartment for a bit of rest before heading out again just after 12 for the Dorsodura walking tour that we failed to complete yesterday - but first a quick trip around the corner to our favourite restaurant in Venice (we first discovered it 5 years ago when we were here with Oliver and his and our mates James & Simon) to book for Friday night dinner - but they are completely booked out.  Oh No!  Can you fit us in now? A quick look around the restaurant by the owner and the only table available inside was in the reception area - perfect!

Lunch was very simple and sensational.  A bottle of wine recommended by the owner, a plate of the most perfect home-made tagliatelle with scallops and porcini mushrooms, some bread and finally coffee.  This restaurant, Antiche Carampane has lost nothing.  It's name was taken from the name of the area in the 15th century (Carampane) when it was the red-light district.  The bridge just at the side of the restaurant is called Ponte delle Tette (you can imagine what that means in Italian) where the girls were apparently encouraged to stand topless in an effort to convert gay men!  

Then finally off to Dorsoduro.  It is such a beautiful area - parts of which we have visited before, but many parts which we'd not seen, including the beautiful and peaceful formal garden behind Ca' Rezzonica - just a few metres from the grand canal.  Dorsoduro is an area for Venetian residents more than tourists with lots of children everywhere and interesting, non-touristy shops.  I popped into one of them to buy a birthday present for Jacqui and I think the world outside did a quick 180 degree turn causing us to step out of the shop and head off in exactly the wrong direction!

It took us so long to find our way home - on 2 separate vaporetti calling at Giudecca and having to disembark at San Marco etc etc - leaving us with very little time to get ourselves ready for our chamber music concert at Chiesa San Vidal on the other side of Academia Bridge.  As it happened, the concert started half an hour later than expected and we managed to get front row seats (about 2 metres from the lead violin) in the old church  to see and hear 8 musicians from Interpreti Veneziani playing 3 Vivaldi, 1 Bach and 1 Mendelssohn concerti, and an encore of one of Vivaldi's Four Seasons.  What a magnificent way to end another fabulous day in Venice.