We woke up to rain–not hard but steady. I cancelled our meeting with Jill because of the weather, but we had a nice talk on the phone and rescheduled. So, we took our time and finally got our rain gear together and set out for San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale. Donna had never been there before, but this was my fourth visit. Since we bought the tickets the day before we had a short wait to enter. We were there primarily to see the exhibition of Anselm Kiefer painting, but in order to see them you must walk through the designed route for visiting the whole palace. Finally, we found the Sala dello Scrutinio (balloting room?).

The title of the work is from the writings of the Venetian philosopher Andrea Emo: Questi scritti, quando verranno bruciati, daranno finalmente un po’ di luce (These writings, when burned, will finally cast a little light).

Exhibition

Made over the last 3 years, this is a visually and emotionally complex work, specifically designed for this space and time. And it is huge. Look at the me in the first photo to get an idea of the scale. I forgot my phone so the photo credit goes to Donna Ruff for all of these:

We spent a long time in the gigantic room, finding new images in the layers of the works and talking about it together. Every once in a while my eyes would bounce back to the 16th century ceiling and my mind would be blown again.

I had a long conversation with the guy who was working there about the history of the palace. He was so knowledgeable and kind.

Finally we trudged home. We were all hungry so we stopped at La Perla, pizza place, and got some really good pizza to take home. After lunch we all took a good rest. All this art viewing takes its toll.

When there was a little break in the sky, Ken and I went to the Coop. Walking home, holding hands, we talked about being bummed our time here is nearly over. The tree in the back of our apartments is in full bloom.

Donna cooked us a lovely pasta with asparagus for dinner at her place. We talked about our life histories and ate the store bought gelato.

Ken and I have started The Staircase on HBO. I like it more than he does.