If it's Tuesday, it must be Mercatino Day on the Lido!

Recently I discovered the weekly market (mercatino) on the Lido.  While I love shopping at the Rialto market, this is something completely different. Vendors bring their trucks over to the Lido on the ferry boat early every Tuesday morning and set up outdoors along the lagoon.  Some of the trucks are designed to somehow magically unfold to become a shop, and other vendors set up tables alongside the truck and unpack everything onto the tables.  At the end of the morning ,every thing is packed back up again and the trucks leave the Lido.  It kind of reminds me of the circus coming to town!

There's no fish sold at the weekly mercatino, but there is plenty of just about everything else you can think of. It's become my go-to happy place now.  Besides the variety of merchandise to choose from, I am surrounded by only locals. No tour groups milling through the Lido mercatino!

I thought I'd give you a taste of what my Tuesday mornings are like.

I buy my fresh eggs from this guy now. I love that I can buy any number of eggs I want, even just one.  Large size eggs are 20 cents per egg. Well, 20 centesimi.

The linens truck sells towels, rugs, sheets, pillowcases, pillows.

There are several shoe stalls, with tables full of shoes for men, women and children.  Now you know where to find those green wellies at a good price if you need them when we have high water.

We're right smack in the middle of mushroom season here in Italy, and there has been a great selection to choose from at the mercatino. 

Candy! 

This is zucca (pumpkin), which is just about a staple in local vegetables. In Venice you will find pumpkin soup, pumpkin lasagna, pumpkin ravioli, pumpkin with pasta, even roast pumpkin. It's all delicious, something you should add to your "must try" list next time you are here.

The olive guy is one of my favorite stalls. 

Tomatoes was the focus of this photo, but look at the view behind the tomatoes. It's the lagoon, looking back towards Venice.  Who gets to shop in a place like this?  It's heavenly.

One of the more popular stalls are the flower vendors.  They sell not only potted plants but also a huge variety of vegetable plants.  My shopping cart always has some new plants in it to bring home each week.

The rosticceria is another of my favorites.  I have a tough time not overspending when I get to this stall. He sells  roast chicken,  roast pork, turkey, chicken legs, sausage, lots of varieties of lasagnas, fried shrimp, fried calamari, roasted potatoes, bacala and tons of other things. Locals are queued up at this truck all morning long. waiting to take home their Tuesday lunch.

Yes, this is the sock truck. They just sell socks. Kids socks, mens socks, womens socks, winter socks, hunting socks.  Socks. I love it.

While Venice is overrun with trinket shops selling 2 Euro masks and 1 Euro glass souvenirs, a little bit of the old traditional Venice still exists, just a few minutes away on a vaporetto. Tuesdays are one of my favorite days of the week. 

And the dream continues....

                                                    (photo thanks to Pink Lioness in Venice)




I've been reluctant to talk about what happened after my glorious afternoon row with the Pink Lionesses, but I've decided it's time to add more to the story.

Yes, I did go back and row that Friday. Twice in one week! I couldn't have been more blessed. When I arrived on Friday I got very enthusiastic greetings from my fellow rowers, which bowled me over completely. Truth be told, for as long as I've lived in Venice already, I have found Venetians to be quite closed. They stick to themselves. I've not had an easy time of it making friends, aside from expats. But among the locals, I am pretty much ignored. I did not come to Italy to marry an Italian, I don't  have other Italian family here in this area, and don't have school age children. The normal ways to integrate into local life weren't going to work for me. So to be greeted so warmly took me by surprise. These women truly have big hearts.

The row was fantastic. I was expecting to take the same route we did on Wednesday, with a left turn onto the Grand Canal and up all the way to Ferrovia. Instead, we took a right turn and headed towards St. Mark's.  As we rounded Dogana Point, Francesco steered us across the Giudecca Canal. We rowed between San Giorgio and Giudecca Island passing the Cipriani Hotel and out into the open lagoon. We then rowed towards Lido, almost to Sant'Elena!  I could see Ca'Hendersoni from the boat!  We rowed over to San Servolo, then over to San Clemente, and headed back towards Giudecca, passing La Grazia.  Cutting through a canal on Giudecca island we entered the Giudecca Canal, then cut across a canal in Dorsoduro which took us to the Grand Canal by the Guggenheim, and then finally back down one more canal where we all disembarked. Rowing on the open lagoon is quite different than on a smaller canal. This afternoon there were quite a few waves, so we all came home drenched- but smiling. Even me!

The next Monday, I received an email from Donatella asking me to meet on Wednesday to meet with the capogruppo (the head of the group), whom I had not yet met as she had been away on vacation. I was also instructed to come prepared to row, and bring a change of clothes in case we got soaked again this time.
A third row! I was in heaven.

Meeting Anna, the capogruppo, was a bit intimidating for me. She questioned me about why I had asked to join the group, if I was intending to stay in Venice, and if so, would I plan to be active in all the group's activities, including all the non-rowing events. I was fearful my Italian speaking wouldn't be good enough, but I did my best to stammer through my answers. At this point, I had zero expectations.  After the question/answer session, we suited up and went rowing. This time three rowers from the Pink Lioness group in Mestre came over to Venice to practice for the Vogalonga, the huge rowing event coming up on June 8. We rowed in open water again, and yes, we came home soaked. But happy.  I was sitting at the rear of the boat this time, doing my best to row as well as I could. The time before I was a disaster. At one point Francesco yelled out "Karen, megio!" (Karen, better!), which was great encouragement for me.

 After another wet row, we returned to the Maggazino del Sale to clean, dry and put away the boat. As  I was leaving for the day, I got another "Come row with us again next time" invitation. Yes, I went home really happy.

The next day I received another email from Donatella, telling me she had had a phone call from Anna, the capogruppo.  Anna thought I was serious and sincere about why I wanted to join the Pink Lionesses. Yay! I passed that round! Next they would all vote on accepting me as a "supporting" member, meaning I could not particpate in certain events that were only for regular members (a regular member being one who has had the surgery). That was more than ok by me!  The vote is to take place  at their next meeting on May 30 meeting, and in the meantime  I should not row until I heard the results of the vote.

Honestly, I will be completely shocked if I get accepted into the group. There are only two other supporting members and they have a very different association with the group than I do. They were instrumental in helping organize the Venice chapter of the Pink Lionesses and getting the sponsorship of the Bucintoro rowing club.  They really don't have any good reason to bother having me around.

The other day I was sitting on the Zattere enjoying some sun when along came 4 of the Pink Lionesses. They had just finished a row and were on their way home.  They stopped to chat with me (wow- Venetian women stopping to chat with me??  Did that actually happen?), and they reminded me of the vote coming up. I mentioned that I didn't expect to be voted in, and their response was "Don't be silly! We'll see you soon!"

The vote is this Friday. I need all the positive energy in the world, so if you are out there reading this, please send some good thoughts my way. Nothing would please me more than to be able to participate with these marvelous women. Wish me luck.

ps (the photo above was taken on my first row out into the lagoon, and I am in the photo, but I'm hiding right behind the woman with the pink headband in the front!)