A slightly slower start on a cloudy, cool Saturday had us heading via the "1" to Accademia to go to Peggy Guggenheim's beautiful place. We have said often before that the best way to experience art is via an intelligent (and rich!) person's private collection!! This was certainly no exception to this rule! Peggy collected in the 1940s and the examples of Picasso, Klee, Kandinsky, Brancusi, Pollock etc. really knocked your socks off! The enhancement and intimacy provided by such a lovely small space really made this a special experience ... we really loved it!!!
Home for salad, cheese, proscuitto and beer before a siesta to prepare us for the evening!
This was one of those magic times that just seem to happen!! ......
Having read about Campa Santa Margherita, a large square in Dorsoduro, we made this our base (guided by Lonely Planet) for the evening. First we had a beer and coctail at "Imagina Cafe" around 6, then we headed into the square to "Cantina di Millevini" a wine merchant with good food. We snaffled an outside table and just sat there for several hours eating lovely cicheti (Italian tapas) and watched Italian life unfold before us. The square was full of Italian families just enjoying the Saturday evening.
Kids playing everywhere, a group of mothers catching up over a glass of wine next to us, young families pushing and carrying infants ... lots of lovely noise and life - it was just like being in a village! This carried on until it became dark around 8 when the families gradually slipped away and the young people began to slowly gather for the evening. Mick had several glasses of the best wine we have had since leaving home and we had a great time talking and watching.
We had to slip away around 8:15 for our evening's entertainment. Monteverdi Madrigals in Scuola Grande di San Rocco, just nearby! This was a French group "Les Arts Florissants" who presented a great program accompanied by a chamber group using period instruments. The rooom, which we had visited yesterday is full of Tintorettos (at least 15 really big ones in the upper room alone!), and was a wonderful place to absorb the beautiful music.
We had stumbled across this almost by accident and it was truly one of those pearls of this trip.
We wandered back to Millevini for a nightcap - the square was really pumping by now with a very different beat!! - before the Vap from Ca' Rezzonico and home, 
wonderfully tired, around midnight!!
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