Redentore - il giorno dopo ( the day after)

I wanted to try to share a little bit of Redentore with you. My firework photos aren't spectacular, I'm envious of some of the incredible photos I've seen on the internet this morning. I'm going to have to really practice with my night photography next year. For what it's worth... here are a few. Redentore fireworks are some of the best I have seen in my life. I just don't think anyone does fireworks better than the Italians do! 

This year we had a wonderful dinner on our terrace, then walked out to the waterfront along Sant'Elena to join the thousands of others who had already staked a spot there. Families had set up tables and chairs all along the water earlier in the day and had even hung lanterns and lights. By night, their dinners were over, everyone was ready for the fireworks. Others were on blankets on the grass in the park. There were young and old alike, dancing, singing, just enjoying the evening. 

 After the fireworks, most of the people who had gathered on Sant'Elena gathered up their belongings and headed home or to the Lido by vaporetto.
Sunday morning I headed off to Giudecca  island to Pesca di Beneficenza, a lottery type game to raise money for the church, held annually on the morning after the Redentore celebration. This has become a favorite of mine, and it's well known amongst my friends that I have no luck winning anything- except fly swatters!  I have quite a fly swatter collection now.  So--- Sunday morning it was more fly swatter time for Karen! I hopped on the 4.1 vaporetto and made my way to Giudecca.

Here's a little taste of Redentore, through my eyes......

 Here's how this works- you pay 1 Euro per ticket, hand your money over to the volunteer who is manning these bins of little rolled up papers. They pick out tickets from the bin and hand them over to you.

 I contributed 10 Euros this year, these are my hot 10 little winning tickets!

 You unravel the papers, hoping one of them is a good number!  They either have a word or a number on them. The lower the number, the better the prize.

This is a display of some of the better prizes. The motorbike was number #0001.

 And this is my stash of prizes..... a curtain and rod, a swiffer duster, 2 plastic flowers, 2 small glass dolphins, a little glass ring, a car air freshner, and a tiny little plastic keyring with a small container of playdoh attached!  No, I didn't even win a bottle of wine. And no, no fly swatter!!!!

 Here's a view of the Redentore church from the temporary bridge. Yellow paper lanterns are a tradition, lining both sides of the canal. I love the atmosphere on this weekend!

 The bridge is constructed from sections that are held in place by large pilings.

 Contributing to the party atmosphere are the nut, candy and balloon vendors stationed near the church. I always buy a bag of roasted almonds for Mike. It's become a tradition for us whenever there is some festa going on. Of course, a bag of nuts came home with me yesterday.

These are fresh , warm and delicious smelling.

And finally.....one last remnant of a special night in Venice... empty tables on Sunday morning along Giudecca canal waiting for their owner to come pack them up and carry them home.  

New Year's Eve 2013 in Venice

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

The stage in St. Mark's square will be the center of all the festivities, until a little after midnight when the fireworks begin.

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!  

Redentore 2012 !!!

It's been HOT,  and we've been busy, busy, busy, but NOT too busy to celebrate Redentore!!!  As you may know already, Festa della Redentore is probably the biggest festival in town. Venetians have been celebrating this holiday since 1577, first held to celebrate the end of the terrible plague years and the construction of the Church of the Redentore (the Redeemer). The holiday begins with a procession across the Giudecca canal on a temporary pontoon bridge led by the Patriarch of Venice.  A special mass is held in the church, followed by merriment and LOTS of food consumed canal-side, in anticipation of the evening's fireworks which commence at 11:30 pm. The weekend long celebration ends the following day with gondola races in Giudecca canal. 

We waited along with the rest of Venice, it seems, alongside the fondamenta, at 7pm on Saturday evening waiting the opening of the bridge.  Just before 7 we caught a glimpse of the new Patriarch Francesco Moraglia arrive by boat and make his way to the area on the bridge where Mayor Orsoni and a crowd of others awaited him. The crowd got impatient as 7pm came and went- everyone wanted to get across the bridge!  Finally, almost 10 minutes later, the red, green and white ribbon was cut and the masses made their way across to the foot of the Redentore church.

I caught a few minutes of the mayor's speech given at the doorway of the Redentore just prior to the mass. We didn't attend mass, instead we stopped at a vendor's stall along the street to buy some candied pecans, then made our way down the fondamenta towards the other church, the Zitelle, on our way to our destination for the evening- the home of our friend Caterina and her family, who own an old squero (gondola boat yard) on Giudecca.

We couldn't have asked for a better location to spend this special event!  In previous years we've sat along the street along the Giudecca to watch the fireworks, and always wished we could be included in some family's celebration too. We'd always been envious, watching from afar, as the families and groups of friends gathered along the waterfront to celebrate, eating vast quantities of food! This year we got to experience a Redentore like we had always hoped for- and alot more!

We all brought food to share, and there was no shortage of either food or drink. However, the highlights of the evening were the bovoletti ( small snails) made by Caterina's mom, and the tiramisu made by Caterina herself!

Here's Caterina's dad enjoying the last yummy morsels of tiramisu!

Dinner being consumed, we made our way back to the fondamenta just in time to catch the first of the fireworks going off. We were in a great location, just ahead of the vaporetto dock at Zittele.  Way better location than we'd had in previous years.  Normally, there are thousands and thousands of boats decorated with paper flowers and lanterns loaded with people moored in the lagoon in front of the temporary bridge. This year, the city decided to pass a new regulation banning the use of transport boats to hold people during this celebration, and announced fines would be levied for any violations.  So- far fewer boats this year. A little disappointing, unfortunately.

Not only was our location better, the fireworks display was the best at Redentore we've seen. Absolutely spectacular!  I've said this before, and I will say it again now- no one does fireworks like the Italians do!  This was pyrotechnics at it's finest.  Somewhere around 2 am we made our way back home amidst throngs of happy Venetians, and a very happy Karen.

The Redentore celebration continues the next day- and so did I.  I met up with Caterina and her mom to attend the Pesca di Beneficenza at the Redentore church. But first, we stopped into the church to catch a bit of mass. Pesca di Beneficenza is a lottery type game, proceeds going to the church. It was explained to me that everyone wins something, and some of the prizes are very good.  I handed over my 5 Euros, for which I received 5 little pieces of paper all rolled up.  With great anticipation and tickets in hand, we walked into the next building where all the prizes are lined up on shelves for display. Caterina and her mom explained the process- first, I unroll all my little pieces of paper. On each piece is either a number or a word. I hand over the papers to the kids running the booth and they hand over my gifts. My little pieces of paper all had words on them - not good, Caterina's mom tells me!  I came away with a plastic spaghetti strainer!!!!  Caterina got a bottle of white wine.  Proof positive that I have no luck!

The temporary pontoon bridge is up all day Sunday as well, for people to enjoy walking back and forth.  Sunday afternoon Mike and I were invited to have lunch with Caterina's family again.  Her mom made a delicious spaghetti with mussels, after which we had snails, a variety of cheeses, prosciutto, melon, bread, and fresh peaches. Her dad, Guido, broke out the grappa and Fernet Branca, an herbal liqueur that tastes like bad cough medicine and weeds, (myrhh, cardmom, camomile, aloe, rhubarb and saffron).  Good lord, how could anyone drink this????

Last event of the big weekend is a series of regattas on the Giudecca canal, beginning with a race for children in twin oared pupparini's, ending with two oared gondola races.

All in all , Redentore 2012 was the perfect weekend. Lots of good food, surrounded by good friends and family. It's already marked on my calendar for next year!

Festa del Redentore 2011 - Part 1

Festa del Redentore is one of the most important festivals for Venetians, my hairdresser Simone reminded me yesterday. Every year since  1577, Venice has been holding the Festa del Redentore to commemorate the end of the Plague.  Venice lost one third of it's population during these devastating disease years. To keep a promise the Venetians made asking God to end the plage, Venetians built the Church of the Redentore on Giudecca Island. Still to this day, Venetians celebrate on the third weekend of July.  In earlier days, people tied boats together to make a temporary bridge and walk across the Giudecca Canal to attend a special mass  on the  festival's opening evening. Today, the city constructs a temporary pontoon bridge which opens at 7pm on the Saturday night of the Festival weekend.  When the gates are opened, people flock across the bridge on foot. People are also lined up along both sides of the Giudecca canal, and on boats in the canal.

 I snapped this photo at about 5:00 pm this evening.  The bridge is empty, but ready for 7:00 pm!

 Along the banks of the Giudecca canal this afternoon, several large party boats were getting ready for the big events later this evening. I also saw about 10 smaller party boats loading up with people over at Piazzale Roma, getting ready to go take their position in the Giudecca canal. Everyone will be eating on the boats, partying and having a good time as they wait for the fireworks to begin around midnight. In my opinion, nobody does fireworks quite like the Italians do.

Along the sidewalks on both sides of the Giudecca canal (this photo is on the Zattere side) lanterns are strung.  Restaurants decorate their patios with colorful streamers and lanterns. Families and large groups of friends set up tables on the banks of the canal or camp out on the sidewalk. There's lots of eating,drinking, dancing and merriment as everyone waits for the fireworks to commence at 11:30 pm.   It's one non-stop party along the Giudecca this weekend. 

We've walked across the bridge along with thousands of others the past 2 years, taking up a position in front of the Redentore Church to watch the fireworks.  This year, we've been invited to watch them from an apartment on Giudecca.  We'll avoid the huge crowds and be 3 flights up.  I'll hope to snap some great photos from here. I think it will be bedlam trying to get home!!!  

Starting around 11:30 pm are several beach parties over on the Lido which will last until morning.  On this weekend, teenagers are allowed to sleep/camp out on the beaches also. 

Tomorrow afternoon there are boat regattas in Giudecca canal.  The schedule is as follows:

At 4 pm, the first race is for young rowers in puparini (type of small rowing boat), teams of 2.

At 4:45, the second race is for all other racers in puparini, teams of 2

At 5:30, the last race of the day is in gondolas, teams of  2 gondoliers rowing.  

  Let the Festa begin!  More to follow tomorrow....

Life in Venice - New Year's Eve in St. Mark's Square - Love 2009

Our New Year's Eve celebrations in Baltimore have been spent at home with our dear friends Steve and Lisa. We dress up formally, decorate the house with balloons and streamers, cook a wonderful gourmet meal together,and then enjoy counting down the minutes until the New Year. We're not really into the huge crowds or big parties.

2008 has been a whole different year ,though-- and this seemed to call for something a little out of the ordinary in the way of a New Year's Eve celebration. We still can't believe we've been here in Venice for a full year already-- the months and days have just flown by! When I inquired what people do for the holiday, the most common answer was go out to dinner then have a small celebration with friends. My daughter Shannon has been here with us for the holidays so we decided to go see the fireworks at St. Mark's. In 2008 the city put on a big party, called Love 2008, where they did the countdown to the New Year and everyone joined in for a mass kiss. This year, Venice was planning to repeat the event, with a bit more in store for the crowd.

Earlier in the afternoon on the 31st we walked through St. Mark's Square and could see a huge bandstand had been erected. They were doing sound checks, and unloading cases and cases of Bellini, and we saw a huge blow up balloon of a Bellini bottle, which reminded me of the Macy's day parade balloons! This looked like the city was really getting ready for quite the party! with expectations of 60,000 in attendance.

Love 2009 started at 10pm. We walked to the square from our apartment out in Santa Croce and arrived around 11. It was cold, just starting to snow, and we didn't want to spend 2 plus hours out in the cold just waiting for the countdown. By the time we arrived, St. Mark's Square was packed with people, and the hosts of the event were up on the stage in the midst of some "Practice" countdown kisses with the crowd. A band played on the stage, and people were singing and dancing in the crowd. This whole set up reminded me of New Year's Rocking Eve in Times Square with Dick Clark. This picture is of the stage area complete with large screens and all.


All sorts of cute images were projected onto the wall of the Campanile which was on the opposite end of the square from where the stage had been set up. They were doing the 10-9-8 -7 etc. countdown by displaying the numbers up on the wall for everyone to count along with.

We decided to move out to the molo before the stroke of midnight to get in position for viewing the fireworks display over the lagoon in front of the Doge's Palace. We wouldn't hear the countdown to the New Year by the event hosts on the stage, or take part in the free Bellini toast, but we were able to participate in the kiss at midnight along with everyone else around us out on the waterfront. It was snowing pretty heavily all this time, and everyone was cold and wet!!

We had just about decided to give up waiting and start walking home when we heard the first blasts and saw the showering of colors out over the water. The Italians do love their fireworks!!! It was a wonderful display, ending in a huge splash of colors that seemed to last for a good 5 minutes. While we may not do this event year after year, it was the perfect way to end our first year and begin 2009.

It's midnight!!! Mike and Karen's first kiss of 2009!!

Fireworks over the lagoon in front of St. Mark's Square - 2009

You can justbarely see San Giorgio Maggiore across the lagoon ! What an awesome sight!

Buon Anno, Tutti!!!!