October 14th-17th

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We begin to feel more at home. We have a sense of where we are, even when we are not on the main tourist streets. We have learned how to get train tickets to Asti. We can take short cuts, and we are developing favourite shops. The butcher has gorgeous hand made tortellini stuffed with cheese or radicchio. We've tasted his ham, salami, octopus marinara, and cheese, plus the little seeded brown buns for breakfast. He has given us gifts of pancetta every time, which we've put to good use. It is fun to cook for ourselves, and so we discovered many of the markets. There is a market 5 min away, 1 min past that there is a boat floating on a tiny canal that holds its own market every day. The big market by the Rialto bridge is the best. There is stall after stall of fresh fish and seafood, fruit and vegetables, and mushrooms. The mushrooms are startling, there are so many different kinds. We like porcini the best although it's also the most expensive. We've had tuna and white fish? and last night we peeled scampi. We've found a wine shop that siphons beautiful Cabernet Sauvignon directly into 1 1/2 litre water bottles for 3 Euro. We use the wifi at a restaurant on our street where we have wine in the garden courtyard. It was there that we met Janet and Janet and David and Richard. There is something very warming about meeting friends for wine so far from home. And we have walked....... We walked through Murano, breaking to sit on the steps of a bridge while we ate our lunch listening to an old man from Croatia playing the accordion. We were pulled into a glass blowing and pulling demonstration, then invited to view the private collection. They had to remove the chain barring the stairs to the upstairs of the shop. The glass there had us gasping, uncertain why we had been invited out of all the others for this showing. We experienced rush hour on the water busses heading back to Venice crushed together, giggling with the need to hug each other. We walked back to the Piazza San Marco and then down the long promenade on the water's edge to the public gardens where we basked in the setting sun. We have walked till we ache and fall on our bed with exhaustion still happy with all the incredible sights and sensations of Venice. Good Night and Sweet Dreams.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Venice
Lovely photo

[GillStrange]

Thank you