March 25, 421 AD is the recognized date for the founding of Venice. Wow! She is 1,605 years old, and she looks marvelous.

The day looked promising, weather-wise, and after weighing our options we set off for Ca’ Pesaro, the Baroque building which houses a modern art museum. We have been there a couple of times before, but they were showing off their new acquisitions and they looked very interesting.

We started with Bar Cupido and set out for Rialto. Over the bridge we went a little too far but eventually found the museum. We enjoyed the back streets of San Polo with memories of our visit in 2014, and crossed into Santa Croce.

On the ground floor they have a small room with some really interesting paper art. I was missing our friend Donna who is a fine paper artist, but none of this was anything like her work. Here’s my favorite piece from that room, kind of an ode to hippies. OK, I’m biased:

We headed upstairs to see the new collection of contemporary art donated by Gemma de Angelis Testa. It included two impressive pieces by Anselm Kiefer, a gauzy flag by Rauschenberg, a Cy Twombly painting, and a leggo piece by Ai Weiwei This piece by Marina Abramovic was moving:

This painting by Tancredi made me smile:

One of our favorite Italian sculptors is well represented here. Arturo Martini:

We left the museum very satisfied and just in the nick of time because a big school group was coming in.

Wandering towards San Giacomo dell’Orio, I took this shot of the, beautiful exterior of the Ca’ Pesaro building:

We sat for a bit and an outside table opened up at Al Prosecco. I loved my shrimp salad, glass of sparkling Malvasia wine and people watching in the Campo. Here’s my salad:

After lunch we came back for a rest. We went to the Coop later on to get a few things for a pasta dinner.

We came home and lazed around, cooked and ate dinner, and then watched a movie called 21 Bridges with Chadwick Boseman. Didn’t love it, but it really showed his potential as a leading man.

Can you even imagine being “born” in 421? Venice is aging very well, indeed.