When I woke up, I had no idea about what had happened during the night.  I did my blog, first thing, as usual and opened Facebook to see I had actually slept through a disaster.  

This was not acqua alta but acqua grande.  The highest, flooding tide in Venice since the record setting 190cm in 1966, it reached 187cm.  Many boats came up onto the streets as the water surged onto the island.  Ground floor homes and businesses were flooded.  Two people died, there was a bad fire in the Ca Pesaro museum and the crypt of St. Marks Basilica was totally underwater. Disastro.

Another high water was predicted for the morning, albeit not nearly as high, so we stayed inside and read and relaxed.  

Finally, around noon, we put on our boots and went out. Elisa and Pietro were cleaning the ground floor with brooms and amonia.  We offered to help but they were nearly finished.

 Most shops were closed.  Some had their doors open to sweep out water.  Pipes along the calles spit out random gushes.  The streets were still quite flooded but we could walk with our boots. 

The somber sense was palpable.  I am so sad for Venice.  These people are resiliant and will bounce back but this is a setback not to be forgotten.

We walked along Strada Nuova and one or two places were open.  The “big” Coop had this sign in the door. 

It says:   “Notice.  Kind customers, Due to exceptional events we will remain closed today. Please excuse the inconvenience.”  There were signs like this all over town.

Coming back home we passed this shrine with many more candles than usual.

There was debris all along the fondamenta.

We came back home to process what we had seen.  And Ken signed up for a VPN so he could watch the impeachment hearings, live on MSNBC.

Our date with Nan for dinner at Vini da Gigio was foiled because they were closed but resourceful Nan suggested we try a new place called Bacanera, very close to us.  We met first at a new winebar called Retro. 

What a cute place!  We drank some Franciacorta and then walked 25 feet to the restaurant.  I had low expectations about it because I saw it was #1 on Trip Advisor; I told Nan and she actually teased the waiter when we arrived.  But the food was really pretty good and they were warm and welcoming. They were missing a lot of menu items but we managed. We shared a bunch of dishes:  Smoked burratina with a little eggplant spread and seared tomatoes; tuna carpaccio with some really good mustard.  Pasta with pumpkin sauce and guanciale and pasta with mushrooms and guanciale.  And a Piemontese beef dish.  We drank a nice Nebbiolo.  We left quite satisfied.

Everyone in Venice will always remember this day. Like we remember the names of hurricanes, 12 November 2019 will be forever in the minds of Venetians.