BJ's and Alan's Adventures

Well, I thought we were finished with this blog about our Venice month but when I downloaded the pictures to the computer, I realized there were pictures from the last day in Venice. Oops, we didn't blog that day. I will try to remember what we did but mostly I want to post our "food porn" pictures from that evening!

We spent the morning packing (Ugh!) and Alan went around the corner and picked up some olive foccacio for lunch. We were supposed to meet Nan at 5 and still had a couple of errands to do, so left earlier than that. Of course, it was before 4 o'clock so the stores we wanted to go to were closed for lunch. We decided to walk some of the streets of Cannaregio that we hadn't explored and really found a lot to see. There are whole sections of that sestiere (our home sestiere) that we haven't seen, so we have another wonderful reason to come back. We met with Nan for a glass of wine and a final goodbye and then went back to the apartment for final packing duties. We had an early (7 PM) reservation at Ostaria da Simson. We had passed it almost everyday and Shannon from SlowTrav had asked us to go there and check it out, but we never had a chance until that last night. I must say that I wish we would have gone sooner because we would have gone more than once! It is a very small place (16 seats) and is run by two young men who have a very high energy level. The place is wide open so you can watch the cooking going on and the neighborhood men coming in for a glass of wine to drink outside and the serving of everyone's food. The meal was wonderful. The restaurant serves Venetian dishes but with a modern twist and has an extensive wine list, all available by the glass. We started with marinated salmon with sliced apples and cranberries which was so good I could have eaten two or three plates. We noticed that the other appetizers were huge so if you eat there, that course might be good to split. I then had pasta with gamberini (hope that is right, we've been back a week now and this is from memory) which was excellent and filled with already shelled gamberini and some in the shell. Alan had branzino which was outstanding. There was also a duck breast dish that others at the restaurant were eating and which looked great. We split a pumpkin mousse for dessert and it was amazing. After eating out once a day for a month in Venice, Ostaria da Simson was quite a find because the food and cooking were different enough to make it very interesting.

We came back home (about a three minute walk) and went to sleep, only to have to wake up at 4 AM to get the water taxi which was ordered for 5:30 AM. We left to go to the airport which only took about ten minutes and then had the "seven" minute walk to the terminal. It took us one hour and 20 minutes just to check in and then we had to go through security. Both of us were glad we had left enough time. Iberia was not the most efficient check-in we have ever gone through to say the least!

Now we have been back a week, are just about over both jet lag and our colds and are busy picking up the pieces of our "normal" life. About once an hour, one of us will say "Oh, how I wish we were back in Venice." What a great time we had and how we are looking forward to returning.

Marinated Salmon

Pasta with Gamberini

Pan-roasted Branzino

After 24 straight hours of traveling, we are finally home. Isn't that always the worst part of a journey, the return? Thanks to everyone for all their comments and support on our adventure in Venice. Now onto the next one!

Well, once again we didn't post last night but we really are just winding down, trying to figure out where a whole month has gone. It doesn't seem possible that we are leaving for home on Friday. Neither of us is ready for that but especially Alan who goes back to work on Monday.

Yesterday we decided was another wander-about day, so we set out again down streets we hadn't explored before and found ourselves in San Polo--well, truthfully we did realize we were walking across the Rialto Bridge but that was it. November 1st, All Saint's Day, is a holiday in Venice (and I assume Italy but am not sure). The squares and streets were crowded with Italian families, dogs, baby strollers and scooters. In S. Maria Formosa there was a guitar group playing gospel songs with people dancing all around them. Everyone seemed to be enjoying their holiday and many, many stores, restaurants, etc. were closed. It was actually fun to see all the families out and about even if it did make things crowded.

We wandered through San Polo and stopped at Osteria Vivaldi for lunch. We had eaten there in 2008 and enjoyed it but this time we really thought it was excellent. Alan started with pasta e faggiole which he had had many times growing up in Youngstown. It was like comfort food for him although he said it was not like the Youngstown version. I had very good taglierini with shrimp and basil and then Alan had fegato alla Venexiana which he thought was really delicious. We were forced to have a panna cotta with berries since we needed to have our fruit for the day.

We wandered around some more and then got on the vaporetto at San Stae for the very short ride to Ca d'Oro where we were to meet Nan. She took us to the Arzanà which was the workshop where gondole used to be made. It was a fascinating look into an amazing craft and we are so glad she had arranged to take us there. We then came home, had leftovers and put the colds and coughs to bed.

This morning we again wandered around, stopping at Ratti which is a store that has everything from kitchen goods like pots and pans and toasters to hardware such as table saws and Dremels! What a neat store. Alan then wanted to pick up some wine to give to Francesco to thank him for lending him the violin. We went to Tre Mercanti but it was still closed, so came back to S. Maria Nova campo where there is a wine store. After that we wandered down the Strata Nova to Ai Osti which is an osteria which claims to have been established in 1385. It is truly a neighborhood place where workmen in steel-toed boots were eating next to ladies with shopping trolleys. We split an antipasti misti and then I had spaghetti with shrimp and curry and Alan had spaghetti with gamberini (which is like a cross between a crawfish and a shrimp with claws, a hard shell, and a shrimp head). We didn't have time to get anything else as we were supposed to meet Francesco at one to return the violin. We jumped on the vaporetto and headed down to P. Roma, met Francesco and had a coffee with him. When Alan gave him the wine, he was very pleased because it turned out to be from his home region of Friuli in northern Italy. After making sure he knew that he and his family were welcomed to visit with us any time they were in the States, we parted and wandered through Santa Croce into San Polo, over the Rialto once more to the Vodaphone store where they made sure the offer to automatically charge us 10 euros a month to maintain the SIM account was not going to happen.

We then hurried to meet Christy (JustTravel) in Campo San Luca at 3. She took us first to her apartment where we met her husband Paul and saw the apartment. She is so right in that it is a really great apartment. I know they will be happy there for their 3 months in Venice. She then took us to her friends' glass shop where we were able to get a pendant and some beads for Erica that we hope are close to the one she and Ethan bought in Amalfi and that got broken. Then the three of us went for a leisurely drink at Zenzero in Campo S. Marina. It was our first time having a Spritz and to tell you the truth, I rather enjoyed it! It was a sweet spritz which means it was made with Aperol rather than Campari. I could still taste the bitters which reminded me of my days in LA and, if I remember, drinking Manhattens. Christy then came over and helped us greatly by taking the perishables we won't use and a few other things. It is so much better to be able to give those things to someone rather than throwing out perfectly good food.

We had the last of the pasta from the other night and are trying to stay quiet and get Alan's cough under control. One more day left and so much we still want to experience. Gosh, I guess that means we'll come back again and again.

Reflections of Venice 1

Reflections of Venice 2

Reflections of Venice 3

Reflections of Venice 4

Today was an absolutely beautiful day in Venice, an actual "no coat" kind of day. We could not stand being in anymore, even with our colds, so took off this morning with no map and no goals. Best kind of walk to take through Venice. Alan had the Flip video camera with him and took us on a "typical" walk through sottoportos, up and down steps, and around campos. We went through familiar places and not so familiar places. We wandered into San Marco thinking we had avoided it completely and got to Chiesa San Zaccharia ten minutes before it closed for lunch so didn't have a lot of time to enjoy it. We wandered some more and found ourselves at Alla Rivetta once more, were greeted like old friends and hustled through lunch as usual. No pictures but I can tell you what we had--antipasto was alici alla greca which was small, little sardine-like fish in an oil and vinegar dressing. Then Alan had spaghetti con vongole (one of his favorites but he hadn't had it yet--clams for non-Italian menu people), and I had fried squid and shrimp which was done absolutely perfectly. I decided to try something besides cuttlefish so you see how far away I got! We split an order of grilled eggplant and then split a tiramisu which was very, very good and probably very medicinal for our colds. Then we wandered some more, this time really getting into an area we had never been in before which turned out to be behind S. Maria Formosa . By then we were both coughing so came back to the apartment and have been here since. Leftovers are on tap for dinner from last night's penne with panchetta, tomato sauce, onions, etc. Then early to bed and hopefully all better tomorrow. This has been such a great trip and such a great experience that we can't really even be upset about the colds we have, just happy with the experiences we are having.

Our apartment Building at the Ponte Cavallo

Chiesa San Zaccharia

Wandering through Castello

Sorry there haven't been any entries the past two days. We came back from Ravenna with colds and have not left the apartment except to get bread and pastries for breakfast. Glad it is at the end of our trip rather than at the beginning. We have been warm and cozy and grumpy. I did cook a really delicious Veneto mushroom, onion, garlic, caper, and pancetta spaghetti sauce on Friday night and we have eaten that for two days. The weather is once again stunning so let's hope we feel better today and go out.

Anybody know what kind of mushrooms these are?

Cooking

Eating!!!

Here are some pictures from Ravenna. Alan did them all and did a great job under very low light, no flash circumstances! These mosaics and structures are from the 5th and 6th century. That alone is positively mind-blowing!

San Vitale

Galla Placidia Mausoleum

Sant'Apollinare in Classe

Sant'Apollinare in Classe

Sant'Apollinare in Classe

Sant'Apollinare Nuovo

Arian Baptistry

Theodoric's Mausoleum

Neonian Baptistry

Well, we are back from Ravenna. We missed posting for two days because our HP Touchpad decided to update the WiFi and then we couldn't connect again. Then last night we were just too tired!

We are pretty sure that we forgot to mention that we went to La Fenice the night before we went to Ravenna in order to hear the Orchestra Filarmonica della Fenice. We were in the very top tier and could almost touch the ceiling. It was amazing to be that close to all the filigree and murals on the ceiling and around the outside of the ceiling. They played the overture to Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, Mozart Symphony No.40 and Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony. Alan's violin benefactor Francesco played in the orchestra so Alan got to talk to him at intermission.

Ravenna has some of the most pristine, intact, amazing mosaics we have ever seen! We went to eight different places including two museums, a masouleum or two and several churches. For a small town of about 160,000 people, it is packed with things to do. Luckily we spent two nights there. The B&B Galla Placidia was very well located and Gabriella, the host, was wonderful and had great suggestions for us. Unluckily, it rained the entire time we were there, so we didn't get to take advantage of the terrace connected to our room.

To continue after our short entry the other night, we went out at about 8:30 PM looking for some pizza since we had had such a large lunch. Ravenna at night is so quiet you could hear a pin drop, but what we did hear was a wine bar named Cabrinini (or something like that)which was off a side street and was really rocking. Usually we avoid places like this like they carried the plague, but Alan decided he wanted to eat there. It was full of 20-somethings drinking, eating and having a great time. We had our pizza and a salad with really good tuna, and left the party to go on without us.

The next day we took the city bus out to S. Apollinare in Classe. It is about 20 minutes outside of town and has absolutely fantastic mosaics. Alan was able to hold steady enough to take loads of pictures since you can't use flash in any of these places. We came back, went to S. Apollinare Nuovo, the Battistero degli Ariani, past the Palazzo di Teodorico, took a very long walk to Theodoric's mausoleum, then walked back to Neonian Baptistery and finally to the Museo Archivescovile and the Oratorio di Sant'Andrea. We covered a huge amount of territory and saw a great deal of the mosaics in situ in Ravenna.

That evening we went to Trattoria al Gallo which was recommended to us by a friend. It's decor is turn of the 19th to 20th century, the service was excellent and we had a great meal. We started with a spicy sausage and onion appetizer, then Alan had risotto with truffles and Parmesan and I had baccala with polenta. Alan then had trippa (or tripe for you non-Italian speakers) in a tomato sauce with polenta, which is not as good as the trippa alla Fiorentina. We finished it all off with a custardy, chocolate delight and meringues and biscotti. Luckily we only had a short walk back to our B&B as we were exhausted from the days activities.

We took the train yesterday morning to Bologna. I am not sure why but Bologna makes me very anxious. We have been there twice and it has happened both times. Few places do this to me so I don't know why this happens. We crossed the street from the rail station with the idea that we would take the "Red Bus" tour around the city and have lunch at a nice place. It is a hop on, hop off bus. However, we had an almost two hour wait as it doesn't run during lunch time so we settled for a surprisingly good pizza from Pizza Leggere which is part of Bar Bistro in the complex across from the station. It was a pizza bianchi with truffle oil, porcini mushrooms and cheese. We then got the red bus tour right in front of the restaurant. The tour was disappointing in that, by this time, we didn't have the time to get on and off, and the bus whizzed by places so quickly you were not sure, even with English recorded commentery, what you were seeing. It was a way to kill an hour however. We got to the rail station about 1 1/2 hours before our train to Venice left, so we sat on the binario (platform) and read. The train ride was uneventful and we were in our cozy apartment by 7. Dinner was sandwiches, we did a load of clothes, and then caught up on two days worth of e-mail, Facebook, etc. No idea what we are doing today except that we have to go to the grocery because we are out of necessities!

So here are the food pictures for the last two days and the Ravenna pictures we will post in a second entry.

Paccheri with scorpion fish and shrimp

Garganelli with peppers, brocolli, pancetta and gorgonzola

Strawberries with mascarpone

Risotto with white truffles and parmesano.

Baccala with olives, potatoes and tomatoes

Trippa alla Romagna

Chocolate thingy with custard and crunchy meringue bits.