Alan went to Mestre last night to play music with a friend he met through the Amateur Chamber Music Players and wound up getting home at 1:30 AM. There were 7 other musicians and a couple of spouses at Giorgio’s house, and food, wine, and a lot of fun music to play. They played piano quartets, piano quintets, string quartets, and piano trios. All of the Italians were fantastic musicians. They only stopped because everyone, except Alan, had to go to work today.
Needless to say he was a little slow to get up this morning, but we actually left the house by 10:30. We went to Campo Santa Maria Formosa, toured the church and then went through the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, a 16th century palazzo which is now an art museum. We then went looking for Alla Rivetta, a restaurant we had eaten in in 2008, and after a few wrong turns, found it. It is just as frantic and noisy as we remembered it, and the food was every bit as good. We started sharing a antipasti meat plate, then split an order of ravioli with a ragu sauce. Noelle and Alan then had fegato (liver) and onions and polenta and I had grilled cuttlefish. We finished off the meal with splitting a cassata and having coffee. Again a terrific and filling meal! We then went to the Palazzo Grimani which has just recently opened as an art gallery and wandered through it. There were some very modern art pieces that were really interesting and even thought provoking.
This evening we met Nan and a couple from Richmond, Va. at La Cantina for a wine tasting lesson. We tried and discussed three white wines and three red wines and also had antipasti selections with them. On the way home we stopped at Grom for gelato-YUM!
Tomorrow we have opera tickets for “The Marriage of Figaro.” It’s at the La Fenice Opera House so even if the production isn’t great, just seeing the opera house will be.