La Biennale di Architettura...

We made it to the lovely Giardini Pubblici for the Architecture Biennial. It's hard to make sense of it with photos, but as you can see from the lead off, it's fun to take 'em. All the exhibits had a ton of sensory info, from models to sound to video to just an all-around sense of excitement from the mostly architecture students. My favorite display was from Rem Koolhaas. But I love this person who hated the exhibit even more. He didn't change my mind. I still think Rem's got it right when it comes to the West's reaction to Gulf architecture and development, but I'm now a huge The Gutter fan.

We've had aqua alte here at 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. every day. It hasn't hampered our movement, but it does make travel more interesting. An old lady with a cane came creaking up the gangplank to the vaporetto, so I offered her my arm. It turns out she got off at the same stop as Ira and I did, so I helped her off the even more perilous descent. (Imagine exiting a bus as it's bucking like a bad metal pony and you get the idea.) Once we made it to--relatively--dry ground she thanked me and we exchanged kisses on the cheek. The language of chivalry is universal. Sweet start to the morning.

On to the eating. For lunch today I had the worst meal I've ever had in Italy. Sorry to disappoint, but our first two choices were both ciuso. The first for a family death. In fact, the funeral was being held right as we stood in front of the doors. We briefly debated going over the the church to see if maybe they were doing a cold collation or a pot-luck, but decided to go to another nearby place that turned out to be closed Mondays for lunch. So we were tired and just went to a pretty view, sat down, and ate... well... crap. My spaghetti carbonara was buttery. I don't even want to describe the meat dish, but "dry," "dusty," and "possibly shoe leather" come to mind. The view was splendid, however, and last night's meal was heavenly.

We went back to al Covo. This meal will definitely appear on the top ten list. My before was simply the best gnocchi I've ever had, smothered in baby calimari. It was tender and just cooked enough to bring out the texture, but not enough to make it doughy. It was a perfect complement to the oh-so-slight chewiness of the calimari. Then I had the fried soft-shell crabs with onion rings, but onion rings has such a '50s diner sound, where as these are pretty much the sweet/salty equivalent of eating pure delight. The pear and prune cake from the previous trip was so good, I had to have it again. Diane shared the secret of how she prepares the pine nuts, a secret I will try to replicate at home this winter. (I'm also trying to duplicate the apple tart I had at l'Ambroisie in Paris, though it was not so much a tart as an apple slice on a bit of flaky dough, a bite-size apple pie that again was a perfect combination of texture and taste. Pray you get invited to our house for dinner this winter!

I should mention what we did yesterday. We went around to various museums and churches (even though you're *technically* not supposed to visit churches on Sunday. But our big project was a four-hour opera, l'Olimpiade by Galuppi, staged at the charming Teatro Malibran. The singing was extraordinary. I'd never heard such powerful singing from an entire ensemble. One of the roles was acted on stage but sung from the pit. I'd never seen that before and didn't know the reason. Luckily, tomorrow we are dining with an opera expert, so I will get the info. I've got to get out of here. Dinner awaits.