23 May - Macbeth & Biennale

I must be the only person in Europe who when booking trip back in Feb for self and a few friends to Venice (for early june) did not check about any events in the city. Safe in the knowledge that movie festival is in September and the Biennale runs Summer to September also. Ah but had not given a thought to rampant commercialism and exploitation of just about everything and guess what? Biennale acutally opens first week of June and runs to ... November. How mad is that? yes I know the scope of it has so increased that it covers 3 or 6 times the original area and they add on the other Biennale empty year and make that the architectural one, so that local food vendors ie restaurants can be kept in gold painted gondolas all year round. I didn't know. You'd think I had never gone myself in other previous years. So when I came to booking hotels I obviously left it to early May, month in advance is pretty good planning you'd agree.

Not a space, not a room, nothing! and friend's flat occupied by her musicians there for her mini festival. Never occurred to me that she'd chosen 1 June so as to be part of Biennale jambooree. At moments like this a rich russian friend with a yacht would be a welcome addition to my life.

But then the palazzo was found! The only one in Venice with private large landscaped garden . Go on a search if you like, but be smarter than I am and notice straight away that the rentable parts of it do not have balconies on the Canal Grand alas, so you can forget dreaming to play some 18th century painted dame. Never mind, will be dining in Mazzorbo. You must know have been to Venice plenty of times (including a spell in hospital there in 2003, won't go into it but they have one of the best departments for ophtalmology/transplants etc) so have to find new things to delight me.

As for Machbeth in the title, well we went to ROH and a friend took us to backstage canteen and was kind of surreal to eat a sarnie surrounded by the vast chorus. Plus I was laughing... in Verdi's world they call him Macbetto. Just too funny.