After a leisurely morning, we went for coffee at Bar Cupido and took a likewise leisurely walk towards  Palazzo Moro on Strada Nova.   On the way, I stopped into an optical shop with lots of cheap frames in the window.  It was so much fun trying on millions of colorful frames.  I finally chose one for € 25.  They are dark pink and a bit bigger than I normally wear, but so much fun.    Walking on Strada Nova, a young woman with a backpack was talking to her friend and she said “It’s the perfect day.”  I repeated it back to her and we both smiled.  Nice travel moment. Aaah Venice:

The Palazzo Moro collateral exhibit of the Biennale has SO much to see.  It is free to enter and we may go back because we gave the top floor only a cursory glance.  But the first two floors were enough.  Some rooms are moving and special, others I just didn’t connect with but the experience overall was great, as usual.  Here are some highlights.

The very first room is the Palestinian show. There certainly was a political bent, but not in all the works.  This flag with strips on it were the written names of real victims. It touched me:

Moving on to rooms of individual artists.  I always like when things seem to be one thing and are something else on closer examination.  These really look like paintings from across the room, but see what they really are close up:

I love these glass bags of water made by a color blind artist:

Judith Unger’s 2024 ceramic busts were memorable to me, displayed in the same room as her work from 2 years ago.  Her video explained how women in the arts have been censored and over-looked for centuries. I loved her take on Freda Kahlo.

We left there and came home for a bunch of leftovers for lunch and an extended rest time.

In the evening,we went out for another pre-dinner walk.  I was hopping to catch the sunset, but it was too cloudy.  Ken wanted to find a painting in a shop near Giovanni e Paolo he remembered from last year, but we went there and there was nothing he wanted.

Dinner was really a bust.  In years past, we had gotten pizza at La Perla.  The owner was a big, gentle, friendly Neapolitan guy about our age.  Now it has been bought by a consortium of Bangladeshi folks.  Just not the same.  We got some fried calamari and I had a very sweet Hugo.  The pizza was pretty and looked the part, but it wasn’t great. 

I have mixed feelings about all this.  These guys were super friendly, but Venice, like the rest of the world, is changing.

After a short walk home, we watched Slow Horses and went to bed.