A painting of the Coot, and more

HopCar said:

Wow, that's amazing. At first glance it was just a very nice portrait. Then I saw the weird stuff. Fascinating.

Click to expand...

That made even more interesting

markpierce said:

Yes, life can be sweet.

Regarding Venice (Italy), we spent several days there, finding affordable overnight accommodations at a nunnery near Il Redentore (a domed church) in the Dorsoduro district. .

Click to expand...

Wifey B: I don't think so. Me at a nunnery?

Kind of Henri Rousseau...ish ??

BandB said:

Wifey B: I don't think so. Me at a nunnery?

Click to expand...

It was an adventure. Booked the wrong nunnery and had to drag ourselves to the other side of the Great Canal. Street numbering is chaotic, but got ourselves to within 100 feet of the correct nunnery. No signs so inquired at a small restaurant. Our destination was across the street. Knocked on the locked door and were granted entry. A nun greeted us and we gave her the reservation paperwork. She didn't speak English nor we Italian, but we were able to communicate (when leaving, hang the key on the wall, self-service breakfast at such and such hour, etcetera). She led us through a labyrinth of stairs, hallways, and parlors to the breakfast location and our room. ... The nunnery ran a pre-school. ... That and the water taxis were the highlights, not counting the personal relationship developed with a restaurant owner (free wine), and Perla flashing a diamond ring toward a pair of snobbish German women at the same restaurant.

When Shakespeare, in "Hamlet", wrote "To a nunnery, go." he meant, in then colloquial English, a brothel. Fortunately that does not apply in Venice, or indeed anywhere else.