COUSINS, HAVE YOU AN ADVENTURE TO SHARE?
These pages are meant to relate Mackay cousins' adventures. If you want to entertain us with a true
adventure story, PLEASE join in by mailing it to Elizabeth Mackay Balderston (ten.tsacmoc|notsredlab.e#ten.tsacmoc|notsredlab.e) and I will joyfully include it.
The Highlands Adventure 2015 - Elizabeth Mackay Balderston
Climbing Emei Shan - Elizabeth Mackay Balderston
Adventure During the Summer Solstice, 2014 - Cate Ratcliff Carré
My Encounter with a Giant Pacific Octopus - Ann Mackay Ratcliff Nichols
Salty Sailing Cape Horn - Walter W. Ratcliff
Recollections of an Alaska Bush Pilot - Donald Mackay Ratcliff
LETTER TO ANN NICHOLS ABOUT ITALY 9/3/1997
September 3, 1997
Dear Annie,
The best restaurants in Venice are all part of an association. We didn't even know that they were grouped together until we kept seeing the seal on the front of the restaurants we thought were the best. They have one thing in common. The food is fantastic, and they generously recommend each other. Everybody goes to the Madonna even though it is noisy and you have to stand in line. It's always lively and fun and crowded. Do not allow yourself to be seated in the smaller rooms. Insist on the main dining room and patiently wait for it. It's the place to watch all the different dishes go by so that you can change your mind every three minutes about what to order. The Madonna is much better for lunch than dinner. I don't know why that is but trust me.
The best food is at Osteria De Fiore, and we've never been able to get a reservation for dinner there so maybe your mother should call before she leaves or at least when she arrives. Marcella Hazan's husband once wrote five pages in praise of the risotto com sepia. Charles finished the last rice though it clearly is meant for two. I don't like the black ink sauce but those who do say it's the best there is. They should always make reservations for lunch too. Each of these restaurants requires time.
Al Covo is a dear place but be forewarned that it is run by a young woman from Texas who is charming and knowledgable but who does indeed have a Texas accent even when she speaks Italian. Her husband is the chef, and the food is very good, especially the fish stew, which really isn't a stew, rather the most wonderful fish in the most delicate broth I have ever tasted. There will be a lot of Americans there because of the ease of "having one of our own" there to answer any questions about everything, in English. If you can get past that, the food is wonderful.
Also, you must take the boats to the islands of Murano and Burano and Turcello. Don't hire a private launch to take you. Everyone goes there by the public boats and they run regularly and go everywhere. There is a restaurant in Torcello, not the Cipriani but rather across the road from it that is beyond words. I can't remember the name but it's the only other one there and though I've heard that the Cipriani is fabulous, this one is the one I dream about when I want to lift my spirits. You sit outside and drink white wine from the most beautiful carafes (from Murano) and eat and eat 'til it's almost time for dinner. I was so taken by the beauty of the glass carafes that I asked the waiter where they came from. He disappeared and came back with a card from one of the factories in Murano that is his supplier. We went there the following day, found the factory, managed to make
ourselves understood but were told that they had none of that particular kind left. They usually make some extras in addition to what is ordered but they were all gone. He then showed us some "extras" from someone else's order and they were more beautiful than the ones we came for.
You should go to Burano too not so much for the linens and lace (which are very beautiful) But to see the clean, lovely houses, each painted a more beautiful color than the the last. There is also a great restaurant there. It's called A1 Pescatori, and it's always crowded so you should get there early.
One day we took a boat ride down the Brenta river to see the Palladian Villas. We were the only Americans on board. There were mostly Italians and two English couples. The boat travels very slowly, and it was a clear, beautiful sunny day. The river was full of all kinds of waterfowl. The Villa Malcontents was my favorite, though smaller than the others. After a while it was time for lunch and we stopped at a large restaurant whose parking lot was filled with tour busses. Our hearts fell but it turned out to be one of the best lunches ever. When I returned home and spoke of it to a friend who had lived in Venice, she said she wished she had taken the tour. Everything arrived hot and perfectly cooked — shrimp, risotto, a lovely fish..the wine was delicious, even the dessert was perfect. Charles and the Frenchman were toasting everything and everybody. This restaurant had figured everything out. It could only happen in Italy. They probably don't even have tables for two.
After lunch we boarded a bus to go to the last Villa and then were bussed to the train station, arriving back in Venice in time for dinner. Not far from our hotel (The Flora) was a square where all the fancy shops did business. Off to the side was what looked like a dollhouse. Only it wasn't. It was a handmade house for a cat, probably the oldest cat I've ever seen. She was being taken care of by the shop owner who obviously had known her all the years of her life. It was a uniquely Italian sight to see the manager of the Armani store in his Brioni suit, carrying a carton of milk and some fish to place in front of the cat's little house.
I fell in love with Venice. especially at night. While walking along the canals in the evening, you know that you are in one of the most unique and mystical places in the world.