Musica alla Veneta

I have, in recent days, attended a number of musical events here in Venice, all of them free. Let me describe some of them to you.

The first ended up not being much of a concert at all. Reading about events in Venice on the city’s website, I saw the word “cello” and thought it would [...]

Change of plans

Just when Kyle and I thought we had everything well-thought out for this adventure, we think of something else that has completely changed our plans! Kyle recently wondered about the legality of our planned lengthy stay on the Continent (Italy for a month, Camino for 2 months, and Germany for a month), and he discovered [...]

R.I.P. M.J.

The news that Michael Jackson died last night put me in a weird and sad mood all day. I guess we’ll never know if he would have made any more great music, but 50 was far too young. My generation was born too late to witness any of his career except the unfortunate later stages, [...]

Visualizing Venice

I have used a few free minutes of spare time in the last two days to create some interesting ways of looking at Venice. First of all, let’s examine the path I take to work every day:

It looks reasonably straight, but every little left and right turn is critical to my successful navigation. Unlike in [...]

Living in Venice: a permanent vacation?

Last Friday after work, I went to the Lido beach with Alberto and his family. It was a very pleasant time, and the water was as warm in mid-June as it ever gets at Nova Scotia’s beaches. There were some gentle waves, and the sand, except for a line of washed-up seashell fragments that were [...]

A Death in Venice

On Friday, I was having my lunch as usual down the Strada Nova at Bepi’s. Normally, it’s an extraordinarily pleasant experience – I sit in a table in the shade, watching the world go by while I enjoy a spritz (with Aperol), a panino with proscuitto and cheese, and an espresso to round it off. [...]

More photos

I have added a few new photos to the gallery. Check them out! They show a few scenes that are becoming part of my daily life here in Venice, including the apartment where I’m living, the things I see along the Riva in the morning, the office where I work, and the graceful decadence that [...]

Groceries on the Lido

I’m just back from a shopping trip to the Lido Billa, which is where Alberto recommended I go for groceries (it’s arguably the most convenient from Sant’Elena). I procured a number of things that will tide me over through evenings I can’t or don’t want to eat at Pampo’s.

On the way there, my vaporetto almost [...]

Saturday in Sant’Elena

I made good use of a quiet Saturday in Sant’Elena, first catching up on some sleep and helping to get rid of my jet lag. Then, I tried out the cafe downstairs and two buildings over, and found it fine for my weekend coffee purposes. I must come across as a bit dense to Italians, [...]

Friday night in the Campo di Pampo

I am waiting for some photos to upload to the server on Pampo’s wifi connection, and am writing this blog post to pass the time. Day 2 in Venice was a nice one (and productive). I spent most of the day at the office, working on assignments for Venice-bound WPI students in the class of [...]