Tonight's festivities in Piazza San Marco are being advertised (see photo of poster below) as White Christmas 2013. Too bad- we have no snow. Perhaps everyone will be wearing white!
If you are here and want to be where the action is tonight-
10:30 pm- live music in the Piazza with the Venice White band, and entertainment by Mr. White. (Don't know who Mr. White is, I'm almost tempted to go to St. Mark's just to find out!)
11pm- free toast with Bellini Canella
Just before 12pm- the countdown to the New Year. Just like in Times Square!
12:15 am - Fireworks in St. Mark's basin
12:30 am - music in the square with DJ Maci
I was present in St. Mark's square for New Years Eve two years ago, I will not be returning this evening. I will avoid the masses, probably will be 7,000 to 10,000 people there. Instead, we will have a quiet dinner at home. At midnight, we'll stroll over to the waterfront just up from Sant'Elena at Giardini to view the fireworks. No one does fireworks like the Italians. I think they invented pyrotechnics.
Cotechino or zampone and lentils are traditionally served for dinner on New Year's Eve, which is called Cenone di San Silvestro. Cenone literally means "big dinner". Lentils, because they look like coins, are eaten in the hopes of having lots more money/luck in the coming year. We were given a gift of a cotechino last year, we tried it, we're not having it again this year. Our dinner is a little less traditional. Roast chicken, roast potatos with onions and raddiccio, and yes, lentils. We will hope for a little bit of luck in 2013!
(photo courtesy Italianfood.about.com)
My initial idea for today's blog was a month by month review of my 2012. As hard as I tried, I couldn't come up with anything that satisfied me. It's been a good year. A bit trying at times, but on the whole, a good one. We traveled- the month of February in Portugal (Porto, Lisbon and Madiera Island) and the month of November in China (Beijing, Xian, down the Yangtze River, Shanghai and Hong Kong), with a brief 2 day visit to Istanbul. Both of our dogs, Sam and Leo, passed away this year. We had great visits with family and friends, including a month with my daughter Shannon, and made new friends along the way. We sadly said goodbye to loved ones who succumbed to cancer this year. We survived the move to the new apartment.
Mike and I were just commenting over lunch this afternoon that the move feels like we flipped the page, closing a chapter of our lives and starting a new one. Perfect sentiment for today, the last day of the 2012.
With that, I will wish all of our family, friends far and wide, and all my blog readers the happiest of New Year's. Buon Anno. Tanti Auguri a tutti!
9 comments:
I've been keeping an eye on Piazza San Marco via my new favorite webcam:
http://www.camhotelconcordia.com/
I'm sending this with 1 hour to go until 2013, looks like a crowd already.
Is the stage a permanent structure now? I know the billboard behind it has had several different ads since we were there in March.
Happy New Year to you. Look forward to reading more of your blog in the coming years.
I so enjoyed reading your "New Year's Eve 2013 in Venice" post which I came across quite by accident. My husband and I spent a good part of our honeymoon in Venice nearly 25 years ago. Nice to reflect on that as I scrolled through. Best wishes for a happy new year!
Happy 2013. Looks as it's going to be a tough one, but we'll make it.
Looking forward to this new year's posts.
And to you both!
Let's hope 2013 is a better year.
Rob n Nat
Happy new year ! a presto !
I just found your blog by chance and have been looking at your lovely photos of Venice. It must be quite a culture shock to move from Baltimore to Venice. It was for me to move from Paris to a suburb of Atlanta, Ga. We were in Venice in October – I can’t imagine living there with all the tourists, even more of them than in Paris where at least you can be in areas where tourists don’t visit. I wrote one post on Venice but will write several more. I’ll come back to your blog – have a great 2013!
9318Tanti auguri anche a te! We too had a quiet New Year's Eve. Had two couples over for dinner then watched some TV with our springer spaniel Darcie. One of the gifts I got for Christmas was Summertime with Katharine Hepburn. My Tivo'd copy had somehow gotten erased. Now I can look at Venice whenever I get the longing. Don't know when I will next be there but wish you and Mike a great 2013.
Maite- Buon Anno a te!
Vagabonde- Grazie for reading my blog, and taking the time to send a message. Yes, the move was a huge cultural shock, and still is ongoing, even though we're not newcomers. Actually, there are many places in Venice where you can easily get away from the throngs of tourists. That's one of the things we love most about Venice- the quiet residential areas. Where we are now in Sant'Elena is very non-touristy.
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