Yesterday we got an early start (at least for us) and got to the Accademia Museum by 11 AM.  The Accademia has mainly early Renaissance art work, and the past few months has also had a special exhibit called Hieronymus Bosch in Venice.  It consists of the three works Bosch did while in Venice and the works themselves have recently been restored.  We saw The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch at the Prado in Madrid several years ago and were interested to see if these are as outlandish.  Well, at first glance they don’t seem to be, but with careful examination, they are truly just as strange.  Here are some photos of these three works:

There are many rooms of much more typical early Renaissance art.  Here are just a few examples:

We left the Accademia after about three hours, or actually when we began to feel haloed out.  We decided to have lunch at a small restaurant just around the corner from our apartment, Il Vecio Marangon.  Our landlady has been recommending it to us as one of the chefs lives next door to our place.  It is a very small, off the beaten track place that is well-worth finding.  There are maybe 6 or 7 tables inside and two outside and even at two o’clock, it was full.  Alan had tagliatelli with fresh porcinis, I had octopus salad, and we split a plate of cichetti (Venetian tapas).  After coffees, we came home, fully intending to make an omelet for supper, but at 9:30, decided cheese and fruit were enough.

Today I had an appointment on Giudecca at the Bauer Palladio Hotel and Spa for one of their spa packages.  My brother Joe and his wife Naomi surprised me with this gift and since I hd never ever had even a plain massage I didn’t know what to expect.  The hotel is on Giudecca Island in a building designed by Palladio, one of Venice’s top architects in the 16th century.  We got there an hour early and got to sit in one of the small lobbies, reading and enjoying the fire in the fireplace.  Then I went to the Spa, checked in, and my amazing two hours began.  First was an exfoliation and, believe me, living in the desert causes lots of dead skin.  Then a facial and I finally now understand why men like to be shaved by a barber (hot towels wrapping my face). Then a head massage and hair treatment, followed by a trip to the Hamam for five minutes of hot steam, a shower and then a massage.

Here is Mr. Tooth getting ready for his spa day:

 While I was having my spa day, Alan explored Giudecca a bit.  At the Catholic Church next door, there was a Biennale exhibit about immigrants:

He also went to a photography exhibit at the Tre Oci Gallery.

After taking some snapshots of a very foggy Venice day, Alan went back to the hotel to wait for me to finish.

After I was finished, we decided to stay and eat at Ristorante Pizzeria da Sandro, a little place down an alley from the Zitelle vaporetto stop.  We split a caprese salad and Alan got the squid in ink sauce on pasta.  Without a doubt, it was one of the best versions of this dish I have tasted.  I got an anchovy, capers, and black olive pizza.  Alan thought I should have just ordered pizza topped with salt since all three are highly salty.  It was, however, delicious, and we just ate the other half for supper.  After coffee, we headed back across the Giudecca Canal to the Zattere vaporetto stop, a short walk from our apartment.  The rest of the afternoon was spent reading, sleeping, or playing on the computer.  Tomorrow we have opera tickets to see Don Giovanni at La Fenice.  Our trip to the opera is always one of the highlights of our visits to Venice.  More about it tomorrow.