It was our last day in Venice, but our flight didn't leave until early evening so we still had a day to take in a couple of museums and grab lunch before getting on the boat to the airport (which takes a little over an hour).The museum stop that day was Palazzo Grassi. This museum had an exhibit entitled italics that looked at contemporary Italian art from 1968 through 2008. It's on until 22 March 2009, so if you're in Venice, try to go. After seeing
so much art through the centuries, there was something extra fascinating about seeing such recent creations. The palazzo is beautiful as well. We learned that the foundation that supports the museum is rennovating a huge building on the point of the Dorsoduro as a permanent home for contemporary Italian art.Then we decided to try see if a restaurant we had passed the day before was open for lunch, but first we we went to Santa Maria della Salute. Considered the greatest baroque church in Venice, it was constructed in thanks by those who had survived the plague and held its first services in 1630.
On our way there we passed a small building that was noted in our guidebook. It was the gondola repair shop. A building that had maintained the same function for centuries. It was great fun to just accidently come up it.
From there we went t
o Lineadombra for lunch. By far the most amazing place we ate in Venice. It's location along the waterfront provides an amazing view of Giudecca, one of the lagoon islands and all the water traffic inbetween. In warmer weather they have a huge deck that juts into the water. They had the best wine list of any we'd seen our entire trip, it went on for so many pages it was hard to focus. Before ordering they brought out the most beautiful platter of the fresh fish of the day -- there were about half a dozen to choose from -- and while they had recommended preparations they were happy to prepare them any way you wanted. We just had wine and pasta and then the most incredible cheese course to wrap things up. The espressos and lemongellos that ended the meal were not on our bill. It was the perfect way to end an amazing week. I would obviously recommend this restaurant, especially if you like seafood, but make it a special occassion meal, because it's not inexpensive. That said, I don't think you'll walk away feeling like you overpaid.
