VI.xiv. l'Estro Armonico

"The spectacle of Venice afforded some hours of astonishment and some days of disgust. Old and in general ill-built houses, ruined pictures, and stinking ditches dignified with the pompous denomination of canals; a fine bridge spoilt by two rows of houses on it, and a large square decorated with the worst architecture I ever yet saw."
- Edward Gibbon

Rosie and I decided to go to Venice for the day. I suppose I have just become desensitized to the fact that something like Venice is within a constant two-hour grasp, but every time I go there it seems as though I damn myself for forgetting its closeness.
    At one point, we went into a church that had been converted into a museum of period string instruments, and also a convenient point of sale for tickets to a series of profit-making Vivaldi recitals. These days, I find Vivaldi increasingly alluring, but I have learnt that it is far better to hear his work performed beyond his native shores. In Venice, it is assumed that anyone wealthy enough to spend an evening in the city will also want to shell out for a mass-production performance of the Red Priest's concertos. Needless to say, we returned home to Bologna early.