Sunday in Venice
Sunday 11th October 2015
Took in some of the Biennale in the daytime, interspersed with a nice lunch at Mario all Fava. In the evening, a Bellini at Harry's Bar, a drink at Florian, dinner at La Vecia Cavana, and a little flutter at the casino.
Italy October 2015
John's Pictures

08:33:59
Breakfast on the terrace at my hotel, with a rather nice view of the Rialto Bridge.

08:52:20
A pigeon.

08:54:59
The view in the other direction from the hotel's terrace.

08:55:29
...and there's the little terrace seen from the entrance.

09:19:20
Out for a morning stroll in Venice.

09:19:30

09:42:47
Wandered past Florian in San Marco and took a picture through the doorway of one of their grand salons.

09:52:07
Wandering along the front from San Marco down to the Arsenale for the Biennale.

10:01:34

10:01:51

10:02:14

10:06:05
The Arsenale.

10:08:03

10:09:34

10:12:42

10:29:42
Inside the Biennale at the Arsenale. I found a lot of the art very Saatchi-esque.

10:29:45
I'm sure I've seen something similar to this at the Saatchi Gallery.

10:30:54
A stack of drums.

10:32:03
Presumably a kind of twist of a Sisyphus setup.

10:32:55
What's the collective noun for chainsaws?

10:34:07
This installation made use of the impressive columns of the Arsenale.

10:40:13
A broken plate and a side board.

10:41:21
Two pianos, one vertical, one horizontal. The vertical one was playing music by itself.

10:42:04
Maritime.

10:43:33
A pile of cash.

10:44:28
This looked quite Japanese to me somehow.

10:46:04
Something like an Iron Maiden?

10:46:39
Scribbles.

10:46:49

10:51:25
Some exterior parts of the Arsenale.

10:52:13

10:52:29

10:54:51
Some of the per country exhibits.

10:56:35
This was Ireland's exhibit, I rather like the stonemasonry here.

10:58:33
A crane.

11:05:21
China's phoenix.

11:06:39

11:06:53

11:07:46
Lovely old decaying stone carvings.

11:10:38
At the sea entrance to the Arsenale.

11:11:21

11:13:48
The gardens of the Arsenale.

11:18:34
Left the Arsenale now, and decided to take a walk across the bridge to the San Pietro di Castello island.

11:21:03

11:21:13
A dog.

11:24:10
Google Maps marker.

11:29:20
Took a picture of the Vaporetto route map for reference.

11:37:02
On the vaporetto from San Pietro di Castello to San Marco.

11:38:03

11:40:24

11:43:41

11:43:59
Followed behind this cruise ship.

11:45:55

11:46:06
...which looked like it was on a coliision course with the Doge's Palace.

11:48:59

11:49:07
The Doge's Palace and the Campanile seen from the water, with a plane in the background for good measure.

11:49:26

13:18:47
At Mario alla Fava where I went for lunch. A business card from Cyril Golding, a member of the Magic Circle.

13:33:20
Really liked this old photo.

13:37:34
My first course (they impressively had a vegan menu here) was I suppose a sort of vegan version of the popular Venetian dish fritto misto. Really enjoyed this.

13:37:37
Didn't take a picture of my main course (orecchiette in an olive and sun dried tomato sauce) but that was good too.

14:35:49
Back at my hotel, took another picture of the sitting area for some reason.

15:02:43
Got the vaporetto along the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge to head back to see more of the Biennale - this time I wanted to see the Giardini part. En route I snapped some of the palazzo I particularly liked the look of.

15:04:35

15:06:36

15:08:43

15:09:12

15:10:45

15:11:48

15:13:16

15:14:35

15:16:05

15:16:09

15:21:10

15:29:10

15:56:57
At Giardini now, the other main area of the Biennale, where there are permanent pavilions for the major participating countries. Here's Japan.

16:04:08
Inside the Japan pavilion, this was really mesmerising - two rowing boats from which a huge web of threads with dangling keys emanated.

16:06:15

16:06:34

16:10:46
The British Pavilion, wherein the art was just kind of horrible, I'm rather disappointed to report.

16:13:25
France had these wonderfully quirky moving trees which I rather liked.

16:16:08
Korea had an uber-futuristic series of video pieces which were also very good.

16:24:15
After the art, I paused for a Spritz at one of the outdoor cafes in the Giardini, overlooking the water, which was very pleasant.

16:26:54

16:55:09
More of France's moving trees outside their pavilion.

16:57:59
On the way back to San Marco from the Giardini, I rather liked the way the sun glinted off the sea here.

16:58:03

17:29:13
Although a bit apprehensive, suspecting it to be very touristy (and I was right), I thought I had to go to Harry's Bar at least once for the Bellini, so I could say I'd done it.

17:41:33
Outside Harry's Bar. Very subtle signage.

17:51:23
Next, I decided to go back to the bar at Caffe Florian (I'd been for coffee in the morning) and try a couple of their cocktails. First, a Negroni made with the new Martini Riserva, which I'd been chatting to the barman about in the morning.

18:14:48
Then the Florian cocktail - perhaps a cousin of the Negroni, featuring a liqueur I hadn't seen before called Aurum.

18:55:54
Outside Caffe Florian.

18:59:38
Was treated to some rather nice early evening skies as I was walking along the water's edge near San Marco.

19:00:55

19:02:18

19:03:06

19:03:16

19:27:52
Back at my hotel, I poked my nose in at the breakfast room, which they'd mentioned doubles as a bar in the evening. Took a sneaky picture as nobody was around.

19:44:40
The view from my room in the evening.

19:49:38
On my way to dinner.

20:24:05
Dinner at La Vecia Cavana - linguine with mushrooms (I think includng some porcini, I forget now).

21:47:28
After dinner I decided to go for a flutter at the Casino. Not a very profitable endeavour. No photos are allowed inside but I sneakily took a picture of this unoccupied lounge.

21:49:11
Outside the Casino.

22:19:57
My hotel, seen from across the Grand Canal.

22:20:06
Note there was a bit of acqua alte today, the canal was coming over the side of the walkway.