VENICE OUTTAKES...

This Fiat Cinquecento is clearly my Duckie's long lost Italian cousin.

Last weekend in Venice wasn't just about the film festival. Venice also concurrently played host to the Architecture Biennale, the literary prize Il Premio Campiello, the Regata Storica and probably some other major cultural happenings I've missed out.

There was an exhibition of Louise Bourgeois' works on fabric (with a token crouching spider thrown in) at the old salt stores (I might talk about that another time) and an exhibition of Stanley Kubrick's photography, which we ended up deciding not to go to once we got there. We hung out in the foyer bookshop for a bit instead. Turns out it is possible to overdose on art.

{Hayley's photo above}

In Venice you also have to drink a lot of Aperol spritzes (for energy) and eat a lot of gelato (for sustenance). I'm a big fan of a little bacaro my friends go to which is very close to the fish market. There aren't many places I'd happily scarf down a whole raw octopus or a huge plate of sliced raw fish. During this trip I was also initiated into the joys of bottarga: (A&A - it's because I wrote it down!) dried, grated fish eggs (eaten with pasta). Nomz.

(The results of gruelling taste tests show that Grom has the best gelato in Venice. This representation is not from Grom and is shown purely for illustrative purposes.)