Sunday, September 24, 2023

VENICE/CROATIA DAY 2 - A Night at the Opera

 

The St Regis Venice is a nice place to wake up, made nicer by the complimentary cappuccino delivered to the room.  Mandy sits in her robe by the open window sipping and watching the morning logistics unfold on the Grand Canal.  Purpose built boats make deliveries, water taxis scurry passengers in from the early flights, construction boats rumble into place and police boats make their rounds.  We take breakfast at the patio restaurant and get an even closer look at the comings and goings of it all. 

Today is about exploring, so after breakfast we board a water taxi from the hotel to Murano, the Isle of Glass.  Hundreds of years ago, when the furnaces of the glass factories were coal fired, the pollution and fire risk were so great that the government dictated that all the Venetian glass factories be moved to their own island, putting Murano glass forever on the map.  The taxi drops us off at the door of one of the factories where we get a tour and watch some of the artists and their apprentices hand form the works of glass art.  We break away and explore the town a bit, lovely and blessedly quieter than Venice proper.  It’s got a certain charm, but the single theme of every shop gets redundant pretty quickly.






We hop the local ferry to Burano, known for its colorful houses and lace mills.  This is definitely more our scene, more charming, more small village vibe.  Around 2 we lunch at Di Palma, feasting on very fresh fish and handmade pasta with clams, all paired with some crisp, dry local white wine.  We’re eating a big lunch late because we have big plans tonight.  We ferry back to Venice and it’s a 25-minute walk to the hotel, so we crash hard when we get back to the room.





Tonight’s big plans: the opera.  We figure if we’re ever going to see an opera, it’s here or Sidney, Australia, and we’re not going to be Down Under any time soon.  Tonight is the 7pm performance of La Traviata at Teatro La Fenice, Venice’s fabled opera venue which opened in 1792.  We are not opera fans but are here for, and open to, the experience.  The theater is genuinely grand, with gilded boxes stacked five high ringing the perimeter, the entire place a museum in and of itself.  La Traviata is the story of a 1890s Parisian party girl who finds true love but can’t escape her scandalous past.  Tonight’s performance is a reinterpretation of that classic, set in the 1960s with minimalist costuming and sets.  It’s a bit of a disappointment, as we were expecting a more lavish production.  The orchestra and cast are fantastic, the lead female vocalist inspires awe with her talents.  Alas, we only make it through two off the three acts in the uncomfortable seats, slipping out during the second intermission.





Music isn’t over for tonight however, and we weave our way through the mostly deserted alleys to Bacarando In Corte dell’Oro, a late night Jazz bar also known for their cicchetti.  It’s almost ten and we haven’t eaten since lunch, so the small bites really hit the spot.  The duo, him on a deep orange Gibson ES-335 and her on vocals, are excellent at putting an original spin on some modern jazz standards.  Oh culture… we tried, but we know where home is.






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