How Portland Became Venice for a Day

We were so excited to spend the day in "Venice" the next morning.
I researched what to wear in Italy. Scarves are in. Check.
Blessed with perfect weather, we parked close to the waterfront.
Our agenda:

~ walk the waterfront loop. What could be more appropriate?  Along the way we chatted with some friendly fisherman along the river wall. No gondolas, but plenty to see on this popular walkway.  Here's a link.

~ choose an Italian restaurant with sidewalk seating for lunch. Piazza Italia. The entrees were great, but the bread was my favorite. Maybe it's because after walking four miles I was so hungry!

We always buy a Street Roots newspaper when we go downtown. It is a responsible way to help people experiencing homelessness, and an interesting read. Hint: tip them a dollar in addition to the price of the paper.

~ visit the Portland Art Museum's "Venice, the Golden Age of Art and Music", a visiting exhibit of paintings, musical instruments and other artifacts from Venice's era of pomp and splendor.
No pictures allowed of course, but it was magnificent.

~ go to a second Italian restaurant for coffee and dessert. Tiramisu absolutely required.
Mama Mia Trattoria was perfect.

~ find a souvenir. Saturday Market was in full swing, and I found a glass vendor who promised her earrings were made with the same process as Venice's famed Murano glass.

~ take photos of anything that looked remotely Venetian.

 Especially pigeons. In honor of the pigeons in Piazza San Marco.

Keep scrolling to find more Venice ideas

An Italian Soundtrack

After much searching, we came up with a mix of music that perfectly created the mood we wanted for our Italian experience. If I want to remember our trip to "Venice", all I have to do is play this mix. *sigh*

And keep scrolling to find a Venetian menu.
Please note: I DO NOT speak Italian! If there are lyrics that are offensive or out of place, I am sublimely ignorant. (Don't spoil it for me?)

All of these are available through Itunes -- some also available as MP3 downloads from Amazon.

Biagio Antonacci

Sognami

Album: Vicky Love or the "Best of" as seen here on Amazon

Here's a link to a full (slightly altered) version on youtube

                

Arisa

Controvento

Album: Se vedo te

 Youtube

Marco Mengoni 

L'essenziale

Album: #Prontoacorrere 

Youtube

Erica Mou

Dove Cadono I Fulmini

Album: Contro le onde

Youtube

Zibba & Almalibre

Senza di te

Album: Senza pensare all'estate

Youtube

Paola Turci
Ti amerò lo stesso 
Album: Stato di calma apparente

Youtube

Jonny Dorelli
Love in portofino
Album: 50 Italian Hits from the 50s
Youtube








Andrea Bocelli
O Sole Mio
Album: Viaggio Italiano
Youtube








Jerry Vale
Summertime In Venice
Album: Jerry Vale Sings the Great Italian Hits
Youtube

Italian Restaurant Music Academy
La Gondola a Venezia
Album: Italian Dinner Party Music
Youtube






Luciano Tajoli
Venezia, la luna e tu
Album: Music from venice - the best italian songs from venezia
Youtube

Keep scrolling to find more Venice ideas

Venetian Dining In

On Friday night it was time to try out some of those recipes at home. I'm not a great cook. My husband's forte is Top Ramen. Somehow we have managed. My husband's mantra is "just cook something so we can eat and get it over with." We rarely eat at the same time, in the same room.

But not this night!

Menu:

Venetian Sole

Mushroom Risotto

Green Salad

Venetian Spritz

Gelato

I set the table with linen and candles. Pandora provided romantic Italian dinner music; we stirred the risotto.

And stirred , and stirred. We had no idea what we were doing, but it was fun! To heat things up a little more, I created a "Spritz Veneziano". I could not find Aperol, so went with Campari. My husband preferred the sparkling wine without the bitter Campari. But it's pretty.

At the same time we made this delicious Venetian Sole. The recipe instructs to make this ahead and eat it at room temperature, but we enjoyed it served immediately. The onion marinade topping is so flavorful.

We talked about what we would do "in Venice" the next day. Tonight, we imagined ourselves to be in an opulent hotel overlooking the Grand Canal. We watched a romantic movie filmed in Venice.

And then I put on our Venice Soundtrack.

Visualizing Venice

We built our first trip around the visiting exhibit from Venice at the Portland Art Museum: "Venice, the Golden Age of Art and Music". It promised to be a rich visual experience, and Portland has no shortage of wonderful Italian restaurants!

Starting three nights before our date in Portland, we watched documentaries, travel shows and movies filmed in Venice, a combination of Netflix offerings and library DVD rentals.

It was an interesting exercise for us, saturating our eyes with a single place. We became comfortable with familiar scenes, developed an expectation of what we would find at the museum, and anticipated ways Portland could become Venice for a day.

Our two favorites:

Bread and Tulips

Bread and Tulips is an Italian film, and has that quirky random quality we love about foreign films. The characters are lovably human.

Jamie Oliver's Food Escapes- Venice

This has classic Venetian scenery, and we enjoyed watching Jamie interact with local people in his charming, down to earth manner. We wanted to try everything he cooked on the show, so we found similar recipes to make at home, and hoped to find other dishes when we went to Portland.

This clam pasta reminded me of the Spaghetti Vongole Jaime Oliver created in his video. It was wonderful!

An Artful Staycation

Oregon has more than its fair share of natural beauty, but part of me has longed to venture a bit further from home!

Then I came up with a crazy, playful, creative way to fulfill all my travel fantasies without stressing the budget or other limitations.

My husband was immediately in love with the idea. He's such a great sport!

A couple days before leaving home we would prepare our senses with:

travel documentaries,

movies filmed on location 

authentic music 

cook an authentic meal including

a beverage from that country

Then we would spend a day or a weekend in a destination carefully chosen for an event or location that could evoke some of the things we might experience in the chosen country, while remaining open to beauty that is unique to our lovely Oregon.

We would hope to find:

A place to walk

A fine restaurant or two in the chosen cuisine

An event to attend in the theme of our travels

A souvenir

We soon realized that because our trips were going to rely on our imaginations, we did not need to be limited by geography. We could choose to travel to the past or the future, or even to literary destinations! We could go to the moon if we wanted. Wherever our spirit of adventure calls, we can go.

And of course, we will

Take Pictures. Look for opportunities to photograph elements of our day that remind us of things we have seen in the movies we watched. These will help us remember what a great time we had on our creative staycation.

The Material of Memories

I once stood on the red rock floor of ancient cliff dwellings and imagined the spirits of past civilizations in the wind through the high desert pines.

I don't think about this moment until a photograph of Mesa Verde flickers across my screen saver, and I am there again, feeling the past in my present.

There's a particular musty smell that can put me right back in my aunt's beach house, and I am 12 years old with a week off from chores: a week of reading books without guilt and aimlessly walking the beach. I feel sleepy and spoiled in this memory, lulled by the sound of the waves and luxurious irresponsibility.

So much of the "why" of travel is to fill our senses with memories of magical experiences. But memory is a malleable thing, a dream can be more vivid in our recall than reality. Some of my dreams are my most beautiful memories.

One night we watched a documentary on the wilds of China, and though we had just intended to watch a few minutes to test out the qualities of our new television, we were soon completely absorbed by the stunning scenery playing out in front of us, this remote part of the world the average tourist could never reach.

When it ended we were briefly speechless to be transported back into our comfortable living room. We had just been to China, but had not suffered jet lag or security check points or lost luggage. We laughed.

Then I wondered: if an intense visual experience could do this, what would happen if we engaged all our senses? An irresistible idea.

It was his fault

Our 30th anniversary was approaching. A weekend getaway was in order, but elderly parents, pets and plants demanded we stay close to home

That's how it is for many of us in the sandwich generation; a real vacation, even a night away from responsibility is often out of the question.

So my romantic husband rented a beautiful Mustang convertible for a day. I bought a big pair of Audrey Hepburn sunglasses and a head scarf.

We wound through back roads and went where we wished. We explored an out of the way Heirloom Rose Garden and wandered through a wine tasting festival. We chose a Cabernet to enjoy later, had a leisurely dinner and returned home, full of peace and laughter.

So many of our vacations have been stress nightmares: worrying about what to bring, where to stay, how to get there, how to pay for it and finding house sitters. And then, so often our worries track us down and ruin the experience altogether.

What made this day so enjoyable? Creativity, freedom and a playful spirit. I got to dress up. He got to drive a dream car.

Oh, and perfect weather. It happens. Even in Oregon!