We awoke to rain and many warnings about acqua alta, so donning our ridiculous plastic boots, we set out for Palazzo Bembo where the is a fairly large colatteral exhibit of Biennale art. The boots were unnecessary really, but there were puddles and wet streets everywhere. The next 2 days are supposed to be really bad.

The collection was really diverse and from many countries. Ken and I were both taken with this portrait:

I really got a kick out of 2 large paintings of a woman and her suticase. Packing dilemas–something with which I am quite familar. And Yoko Ono’s video about flashing “I love you” with a flashlight was really interesting. But the star of the show, for me, was certainly the coral reef made from many different plastic things.

From the artist’s (Federico Uribe) website: The installation covers floors and walls and two rooms of historical Palazzo Bembo , facing the Grand Canal and Rialto Bridge, with marine ecosystems made of used plastic tools and waste. The plastic coral reef should make the viewer reflect on the indiscriminate use of plastic, as well as the ocean plastic pollution worldwide. 

After the show, (and with some difficulty), we met up with Steve, who had gone to the Naval Museum, for lunch at the Mondo du Vino cicchetti bar. The guy who works there was so much fun and so very nice to us! He put an apron on me and let me briefly work as the bar’s new waitress.

We came home for an extended rest time. Steve and I are both under the weather with colds.

I made pasta Amatriciana for dinner, even though we are in Venice, and we drank an OK bottle of cabernet from the Coop.

We took this with the timer on my phone. Not great of anyone but you get the idea: we are having a great time!