Our goal for today was to see the Lithuanian Pavillion of the Biennale because Wednesday was its last day, and it was the hit, the “must see,” of this year’s expo. Who would think that such a tiny country would be the rage of the huge Biennale?

We had a good walk over to Celestia, an area of Venice we have not been to before.  Arriving there at 10:30 we were faced with a long line which snaked around 3 sides of the building, and then some. Plus it was drizzling. 

Thanks to Donna’s determination, we waited it out for over two hours before we got to the exhibit entrance.  Being on the line was an experience in and of itself.  There were people from all over the world, all bundled up for the cold damp weather.  Some people did Tai Chi while they waited, others danced and stretched.  But for the most part people looked at their phones and talked.  We ended up making great friends with a wonderful Israeli woman from England, Dana.  Her husband and son joined us later.  Andy said, truthfully, that she made the line move fast for us because we all enjoyed our conversations so much. 

Finally we entered and it was beautiful, really.  In simplistic terms, there is a contemporary beach scene populated by people doing ordinary things.  The opera is a bit droning and they are talking about everyday issues—putting on suscreen, flight delays and relationships.  The overall effect: fascinating, haunting, hypnotic, and memorable.

After that, we were all starving (waiting on line is hard work!), so we went with our new friends to Trattoria Johnny nearby.  We had a really great pasta lunch.  Donna and I shared pappardelle with swordfish and artichokes and spaghetti with a tomato and shrimp sauce.  Ken and Andy both had lamb ravioli in a white sauce.  We all drank some wine and shared a great dessert of sbrisolona cookies and chocolate hazelnut mousse.

We stopped at a bakery for some bread, but had to wait 10 minutes for it to open, so I took this shot and Andy and Donna:

At 6:15 I had a date with Elisa to go to the vegetable boat.  The time with her is so enjoyable and I got a bunch of stuff (tiny potatoes, cabbage, kale, zucchini, celery, peppers and parsley) from the charming “veg guys.”

We put together an easy dinner with a rotisserie chicken from the Coop and a curry carrot salad Elisa had gifted us.  

Crazy that we spent so long just waiting in a line in the cold and damp, but all four of us thought we’d had a wonderful day. And today was our 40th anniversary. I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate. Happy Anniversay, dear Ken. I love you.