When I used to go out with my tripod-mounted 16x70 binocs, I would, when it was possible, view Venus in the daytime. It's actually naked eye visible in the daytime at times, if you know precisely where to look, and of course have good enough vision. In fact, Venus' crescent phases can only be seen during the daytime. Otherwise, the planet is ordinarily too glaringly bright.
I can't recall if I've ever tried it, but it well may be possible to see Venus as a crescent at night under hazy sky conditions, where the clouds act as a filter of sorts.
Quick story: One day I had the binocs set up in New York's Central Park, providing the public free views of Venus as a crescent, and a guy walks up to me with a bewildered look on his face wondering what the heck I was looking in the bright blue clear 'empty' sky. I answered, the planet Venus, and invited him to take a look. He was amazed at the sight. Although I never let on that I knew who the guy was, he was comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Anyway, he hung around for about an hour talking as I showed other passerbys the view.
About a week or so later I read that he had been going around the city that week looking for material for some upcoming routine or project that he was working on. He basically was out looking for 'oddball' characters for ideas and inspiration. I don't know if he ever used anything from that day in any of his routines.
I had to search on it. The only things I found were a joke about “If aliens are looking at us from a telescope, I bet they thing the DOGS are the master - we pick up their poop, feed them,....”
And - in the Seinfeld writing room he had images from the Hubble up on the wall - to keep him humble, and that what he said or did - it really didn’t matter that much!
Ya never know - maybe you were the inspiration for either or both of those! (Don’t check the years, and just assume that you were!!)
I didn’t know that about seeing the phases of Venus. I know that the one and only time I looked through a telescope up at the local school when my kids were little, and saw the rings of Saturn with my very own eyes - WOW! Not very large mind you - but there they were!