Friday 17th

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John woke early again and took a walk past the old Arsenale (naval fortress) which is still in use by today’s Italian navy. In the days when Venice ruled the seas this little corner of the city produced one war ship a day using a technique of building in sections (sounds familiar alla Kaiser and Ford, who Americans think invented the production line. Out in front of the entrance to the Arsenale are some of the statuary captured in engagements with enemies back in the hayday of Venice.

After breakfast we took the vaporetto to San Toma and the Franciscan church and guild hall. The church is filled with monuments to famous artists (Canova and Teziano) and religious art that is over the top (Bellini’s Madonna and Teziano’s Madonna Ascending). The guild hall had some incredible ceilings and a huge painting of the crucifixion by Tintoretto. After the art we took a cappuccino break in Campo Santa Margharita before a visit to the 18^th Century Palazzo Ca Rezzonico with its marble columns and walls and multiple floors with hundreds of religious and secular works of art. Imagining someone living in this palace is difficult until you learn the nickname for the owner: tea cup. Signore Rezzonico collected tea cups and gained a reputation for the quality and quantity.

Peggy had an interest in the silk business in ancient Venice so we stopped at Rubelli’s in a palazzo on the Grand Canal. After all the years they are still one of the finest providers of silk and velvet for shoes, walls, chairs and certainly curtains. Beautiful but thank god we didn’t want to buy anything.

We took the traghetto (gondola for multiple people where you stand and pay a minimum amount) across to San Paolo where we found one of our favorite luncheon restaurants, Trattoria da Ignzio. We shared a risotto with shrimp and fabulous artichoke hearts … as well as some nice chardonnay from the area. Then back to the hotel for a mid-afternoon rest period.

But the hotel is doing construction on some of the rooms on the floor below and alongside so the drilling was loud and constant. We decided then and there – with the internet issue (slowwwwww) and noise each day (reminds me of the dentist), we decided to move our hotel. We walked next door to the Londra Palace and they had a nice room with a view of the lagoon. We took it and checked out of the old hotel. The network connection is great, the room is wonderful and the view cannot be compared…

Happy we had a spritzer and shared a Sicilian pizza nearby (Ristorante Alla Fonte) and settled in for the night. Snug and happy.

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