Venice Day 2

My husband is a genius. Our second morning in Venice had us in a 'real' room with a/c that worked. And we think this was the room we were originally supposed to be in, so there you have it!
The rain stopped and the weather turned sunny again and we were met in the B&B Lobby by Alessandra, the manager & sister of our chef. She was a 'friend' immediately and we headed out to meet Sebastiano in the marketplace. We did our shopping for the items that we'd need and that was actually a lot of fun. They have items that we don't have in the U.S. - one is a huge artichoke. They only use the bottom part of it and it's about 5" diameter across the bottom. Their tomatoes here are incredible and most of you know that I don't eat tomatoes. That is, until I came to Italy! They have numerous kinds and they're all fresh, which obviously is the key.
John was right up under Sebastiano having the time of his life! We arrived at the apartment that we were using for the lesson and began. I wasn't real excited about the prospect of putting this all together but after Sebastiano asked if I wanted to deal with egg whites and I kinda smiled and said, "That's okay..." he realized that I was there to take pictures for the most part, and he & John did the work! The meal was about 3 courses and took about 3 hours or more to prepare. John ate it all up and I hit it off really well with Alessandra because we both were singers and loved classical music! So I took pictures and we chose different cd's to play while they were working and had a great time.
One of the photos you'll see I actually did help some and that was alright - nothing too weird or confusing!
At the end we were given certificates of completion and we were given our aprons to keep. John was ecstatic over the entire event and I must say it was a blast.
Afterwards we decided to walk around Venice and "get lost" as per instructed by many people. I love this city - it's a maze but small. Crowded but nothing crazy and there are shops everywhere and fascinating sights all along the way. We ran into a lady in a piazza that was dressed in 17th century costumes and she was advertising a concert that evening in San Marco's Square. It was a chamber orchestra with singers. John & I immediately perked up at this and bought 2 tickets.

After all the wanderings we realized we had just enough time to eat, grab a Gondola ride, and hit the concert. The Gondola ride was a blast! It cost a small fortune but well worth it. The concert was in a small church right across from St. Mark's Cathedral and the acoustics were extremely live. The chamber group was absolutely stellar - the cellist is probably one of the best I've heard and the violins and viola (and cello) were so tight that it was a pleasure to watch. The first singer was a soprano and as soon as she opened her mouth John & I started smiling! She was really quite wonderful. They had a tenor, as well, who did some incredible arias. We weren't as crazy about his "style" more than anything but he was solid as a rock. We had an amazing evening and we were sad to leave.

We were smart enough to catch the water bus back to the train station instead of trying to haul all our luggage over three thousand stairs again..... :>)