Since I skipped yesterday (you know why) I’ll cover both days here.  No extra charge for you.  😉

Election day.  The morning was amazingly clear.  We could see the Dolomites, shining in their snow capped glory from our windows.

Ca’ Pesaro is a gorgeous palazzo on the Grand Canal from the early 1700’s that was transformed into a modern art museum around the turn of the century.  We had visited before about 5 years ago and it was interesting to see what I remembered in the permanent collection.  Seeing the Arturo Martini sculptures felt like visiting an old friend.

Upstairs, the special exhibit was about Coco Chanel.  What an interesting woman she was! There were a few paintings (several Picassos) and some clothes, but the show was mostly about her books and letters.  Luckily there was an audio guide in English.  Chanel lived in a whirlwind of creative friends including Cocteau, Stravinsky and Diaghilev.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way home we got some vegetables at Rialto, took the traghetto over.  I had to stop and turn around to look back:

and stopped at the butcher on Strada Nuova.  They have a back room there with prepared foods and I chose a few of those and the woman gave Ken a free meat ball to taste.  It was fun!

Our visit to the museum was a good distraction from the waiting for the election results.   We ate lunch and dinner at home and couldn’t resist turning on CNN.

Before dinner, we went for a walk and I stopped into a bakery and got a small bag of cookies,  I was really surprised when the price was €11!

We finally drank the bottle of Brachetto from Diana to pre-celebrate.  Loved it!  It felt like the beginning of a historic night, but…  I went to sleep around 10:00 and got up at 2:00am to watch.  By 4:00 am the writing was on the wall.  I felt totally sick (and it wasn’t just from eating too many cookies) and upset.  Actually it feels like loss.  I took a Xanax and went back to bed around 4:30. Ken heard me and I told him the news.  I don’t think he really believed me, but it was true.  And heartbreaking.

New day.  But it doesn’t feel like it. The lagoon is sparkling again and the mountains are, if possible, clearer than the day before, but I feel really dark and shut down. Even standing at our window didn’t lift my spirits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to go to the Puppa bar, and have coffee and a croissant to ease our pain.  So we did.  And then we took a long walk. Ken took an interest in the dredging machine and I thought it was appropriate for the day.

Somehow we ended up in Campo Santa Margherita and sat on a bench.  The man sitting next to us struck up a conversation–he was from Viceneza but now lives in Austria.  We talked with him for a long time and finally headed home.

We rested, read and watched more CNN–salt in the wound.  After another nice walk, we went to dinner at Promessi Sposi.  I had a fabulous fritto misto, one of my favorite Venetian dishes.  Ken had spaghetti with clams and a vegetable plate.  We drank white wine and smiled.

I really don’t want our last few days in Venice to be over-shadowed by grief.  We will learn to live with this somehow.  Tomorrow will be a new day.