Please Don’t Eat The Daisies

“Dearer to me than the evening star
A Packard car
A Hershey bar
Or a bride in her rich adorning
Dearer than any of these by far
Is to lie in bed in the morning.” - Jean Kerr


Up and away even earlier this morning, we were out the door to explore Venice at 6.34am. Jean Kerr obviously wasn’t in Venice when she wrote that! After cappuccino and brioche at a ‘glossy’ bar, we headed down Calle de le Rasse towards the Riva degli Shiavoni. We walked clear along, admiring the large wake left by the tug boats holding onto the leashes of the massive cruise liners as they forged up to San Marco. There were five this morning but we may have some as we turned into the Public Gardens at the far end of Castello Ovest.

From here we wended our way to the Arsenale, then through the residential calle of Castello, watching the apartment shutters being opened, then the school children streaming out in small groups, heading for the vaporetto or in the case of the younger ones, holding papa’s hand and being walked to school.

We spent time today sitting under a large umbrella in Campo Santa Maria Formosa, looking for tourists, but finding few, as most people we saw were from around here. It was another drifting day, along calle, over bridges including the Rialto, pausing in campos to gaze up at the buildings and admire the wisteria and wonder where the honeysuckle was hiding, that we could smell.

After lunch Alessandro bought a bag of grain to play with the pigeons and had a wonderful time with one which was so tame, we could both pat it.

In the evening, in a little store in San Marco near Calle dei Fabbri, Alessandro finally found a belt that was then remade in front of him, specifically to fit just him. Then we headed for Piazza San Marco again, to see how the cathedral looked in the dusk light. We sat on a trestle table watching a reception of well dressed people drinking Prosecco outside Quadri. All the bands were playing, and it was returning to the quiet state that we always see it in, as we are out so early in the morning.


San Marco at dusk


Quadri bathed in golden light