An unexpected treat: an opera rehearsal!!

I had an unexpected adventure today. But first come with me on a vaporetto ride under the Rialto Bridge, which is two stops down from Ca D’Oro, my stop.

I had read in a calendar that there was going to be a talk about the art of gondola making this afternoon at 5:30 at a gondola workshop, so I went to check out the location. I had seen this charming workshop last year and didn’t know what it was. Just that I liked the looks of it.  Here’s a picture. Perhaps you can see why I liked it. For some reason, it seems Swiss to me. Maybe all the wood.

I had several hours until the workshop, so I thought I would go to San Marco Square in the daytime. Again, I loved how huge it was, but today there were tons more people than last night. I went and sat in the garden next door for awhile, but I had to leave. I sat down next to a very sad American couple who were quietly not getting along and it was heartbreaking.

I noticed on the map that I was somewhat near La Fenice, the famous opera house. During this past year I had read “City of Falling Angels,” about the fire there and the author’s discovery of what might have happened, so I knew I wanted to go there. On the way I saw some interesting products in windows I’d like to share:

These lovely cups were 60 euro each, so I decided I could enjoy them in a photo.

Then I saw some interesting eyeglasses:

There were a lot more nice weird styles, but it was hard to get good pictures. Here is the name of the artist/designer:

I got a sandwich and sat down on some steps outside. While I was eating, I noticed that every woman that went by a certain window exclaimed and said “shoes” in her language.  So after my sandwich, I had to stop by and see. This is what they were oo-hing and ah-ing about:

Here are some more:

The artist:

In case you didn’t notice, they were made out of coke bottles.

Now here comes the adventure. I found the back of La Fenice and walked around to try to find the front. It is not an easy place to find. Later I saw many people doing the same thing. It was fun to help them find the front of the building.  It was only 5 euro to go in and see the building. The ticket even came with a free headset and narration.  I don’t usually like these, but this one was done by a British woman who sounded like she was telling us a story. I dutifully listened to the entries downstairs. Then it directed us to go upstairs, but it wasn’t clear where we were supposed to go. I saw some open doors and a bunch of people inside each door. They were the box seats of the theater.  I went inside preparing to listen to #5, 6, and 7. Instead, I saw that there were people in street clothes on stage rehearsing for the opera  Rigoletto. I was spellbound for the next hour. I decided to skip the gondola workshop. I couldn’t tear myself away. The singers had beautiful voices and it was so much fun to be there and see the director and conductor stop the action and do it again. When the woman lead walked in, she was wearing jeans and a fluffy scarf around her neck. There were a few main singers and then a chorus.  All looked like people you would see on the street. Except that they had white masks on top of their heads. Two men were walking next to them, herding them along during the singing and teaching them where to be. I quietly took some video with my iPhone, but can’t figure out how to upload them to this post. I’m using WordPress. Does anyone know how to do that? I’d love to share it with you. When they finished, I moved on. I had noticed another woman about my age when I first walked in. I went up to her and asked if she spoke English. We then spent the next hour together exclaiming about our good luck to walk in on something like that. We just couldn’t get over it. We decided to go and have something to drink.  She is from New York and was here with her husband who is at a conference. We had a lot of fun talking and sharing our lives. We saw a BUNCH of gondolas going under the bridges and one had someone singing opera. I took a video of that too that I’d like to post.

Everyone we saw along the way was lost. But this year I have the solution. I just keep walking because Venice is made up of many islands and you always come to an edge where there are vaporetto stops. I can get home I think from any of them.

I got home and checked my email, and someone I met at the Bologna street event is going to be in Venice tomorrow and wrote to ask if I’d like to meet her. And Nadia, the  woman I met on the train last year from Venice to Milan answered my email and we are going to meet in October when she comes to Venice to see her sisters.

Thank you for sharing these adventures with me. It’s fun to collect things during the day to tell you about.