We had to be out of the apartment by 10:00 because the cleaning person was coming, but rain was forecasted so we didn’t want to go far.  We stopped for coffee at Campo Santa Maria Nova at the bar we now refer to as “the cute guy’s place.” I finally found my attractive barman and he likes to talk with us.

Palazzo Van Axel is housing a collateral Biennale exhibit, which is located on the side of the Miracoli church.  We discovered this is the back door.  We walked around the block to find the real entrance. It is a building we have passed hundreds of times and always wondered what it was. It seemed like this couple was posing there just for me:

It is a private residence, which must be worth many millions of euro, and is now home to the show “Collective Behavior” by Persian artist Shahzia Sikander. The exhibit includes sculpture, mosaics, paintings, videos and textile work. I think it would have been helpful to be more familiar with Persian, Hindu and Islamic symbology, but the sheer beauty of the pieces was enough for me.

This mosaic dominates the first room:

And here is some detail of the skirt.

Placed over the existing window so the light can come in was a big stained glass piece.  I loved the henna-like details inside of the glass:

There were a few small animated video pieces called Liquid Light and a small theater room with a longer animated“movie,” which seemed to have some anti war elements.

This was the perfect, not exhaustive size for us and we came out with plenty of energy.

Walking back around towards Miracoli, we saw this cute corner; I think there is a little school there:

We headed over the Rialto bridge for fresh bread and vegetables.  An animated crowd of locals was at “our” vegetable stand, what fun.

Two more stops, in our neighborhood: wine and the Coop and we were home just about 2 minutes after the persistent rain started.

I enjoyed just staying in and watching the weather out the windows and cooking dinner.  We are also watching with trepidation the weather in Florida. I made a chicken stew and bietine (little chard) and some pasta—nothing spectacular but nice and homey for us with our bottle of Schiopettino wine.