Saturday morning

Today most of the group went to Venice for the day. I did not go. I have very good memories of my 2 weeks there 2 years ago and did not want to risk spoiling those memories. I wanted to see some more things here on my own, and wanted to catch up (actually start) organising my photos. I started the day with coffee and a croissant sitting in the Piazza delle Erbe – one of the 2 main piazzas. I got there early, before the piazza and the cafés got too crowded. Of the 12 or so cafes, about half were still closed, and the others had at most ¼ tables occupied, mostly by locals.

After spending quite a while there I moved onto the main church in town, the Duomo or Santa Maria Matricolare. I arrived at 9.30, when I thought it opened, and walked in through the open door. The door was open because there were quite a few people there preparing it for a wedding – about 4 florists, 4 floor sweepers, 2 carpet unrollers, 2 supervising ladies, 2 watchful priests and other comers and goers. Noone took any notice of me, so I sat quietly, read my literature, wandered around looking at paintings , admired the new round modern chairs made of the local pink marble around the new altar on the same level as the pews, admired the flower decorations, listened to the organist practising. By the time I went to leave the lady in the little booth at the entrance had arrived. She had put up a notice – closed for a service – and very pleasantly waved me through when I offered to pay the regular 2.5 euros.

Next I thought a quick coffee was in order. I went into a nearby unassuming bar and was surprised to find a large outdoor vine and umbrella covered area almost full of locals. I sat down for another cappuccino and croissant. Next to me were a group of young women, there were several single old men reading newspapers, several groups of women of all ages, a table with 3 immaculately dressed policemen and 1 portly black-robed middle-aged priest, a table with 2 grandparents and their 2 grandchildren. I think everyone was Italian other than me. There was gentle classical music in the background. Very civilised.

Next I went back to near the Piazza delle Erbe where there is a photographic exhibition of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work in an underground area called the Scavi Scaligeri. This is an archaeological site that was excavated in the 1980’s and includes Roman roads, parts of Roman houses, parts of a burial ground from the middle ages etc. There are some large round windows in the pavement of the footpaths above that people can look through from above ( and that let light into the excavation site) . I am not sure what the connection was between the photos and the old bits and pieces, but both were interesting.

Lunch time was approaching. I wandered past a few restaurants that had been recommended but it was a bit early. I donot like being the first person in a restaurant. I found a place in a side street that had a few locals sitting at outside tables. Quite often bars have some precooked food on display . This varies from a few bits of pizza to quite a few fancy dishes. This was 1 of the latter. I had a nice plate of food containing some artichoke lasagne, some of an interesting eggplant dish, some fancy semi dried tomatoes and a few other things. Lots of locals coming and going.

I bought some postcards on the way back to my room.