Today we slept in late and then spent the day exploring the main island.

I took the vaporetto twice to San Marco – S. Zaccharia trying to make my way to San Lazaro island, but was unsuccessful. San Lazaro is a small island in the Venetian lagoon inhabited by the Armenian Mekhitar monks containing a library, museum and monastery. The first time I tried to get to the island, I was too early. I learned that all the vaporettos to San Lazaro are for non-visitors and that I should only take the 3:10p where I would be met by a monk at the boat upon arrival at San Lazaro and given a tour. The second time I tried to catch the 3:10, but went on the wrong vaporetto which made me miss the shuttle boat to San Lazaro by 5 minutes. As Paul says, it just means we need to return to Venice again some day.

We went to the fish, fruit and vegetable markets near the Rialto Bridge, Damian had fun chasing after the pigeons in Piazza San Marco again, and we went for a drink in the rooftop bar of the Hotel Danieli which Paul and I had visited seven years ago.

Miss M brought her own money on the trip, and was very focused on buying an “I love Venezia” bag that she saw from all the street vendors. The kids bought more licorice to bring home, and we popped in and out of various shops throughout the afternoon.

We ended the day with a gondola ride. Miss M had been begging for a gondola ride since we arrived in Venice, and it was nice and relaxing to glide through the canals and under the Rialto Bridge.

Food report:
As I strolled through Venice to meet up with everyone else at the fish market, I saw marzipan shaped like crustaceans. We went back to the same shop later to buy more licorice. Since I took the pic with the iPhone, it will have to be uploaded at a later date.
Lunch at La Cantina which was a wine bar recommended from a few sources. We had some wine, two salads of arugula, burrata cheese, tomatoes, and julienned pea pods, carrots and cucumbers. Also, a salumi plate with Serrano ham, prosciutto cotto, Brie, mozzarella and more.
Gelato from Venchi which D and Paul had sampled at the Fidenza Village outlet mall earlier in the week. We had dark chocolate, marscapone with caremelized figs, frutti di bosco and yet another type of chocolate…there were so many chocolate options.
On way back to hotel, we ate dinner at Ca’ Dolphin. The kids split an insalate caprese, D and Papa had spaghetti bolognese, and Grandma had a salad. On request, we picked up a fried baccala for Miss M from the same place as yesterday. Paul and I weren’t hungry yet and that turned out to be a great thing. After getting the kids set for bed and a movie, Paul and I went to Osteria Ca D’oro, or Alla Vedova, as it’s known. Alla Vedova is one of Venice’s oldest bacari, or wine bars and it came it came recommended to us from a food writer who is a friend of a friend. More on that meal in the next post.