The weather has cleared up beautifully so the umbrellas and coats got put away and the walking shoes have come out.  This morning we set out early for u (11:15 AM) and took the vaporetto to the Rialto stop.  From there we made our way into Castello to visit a friend of Alan’s.  Riccardo Guaraldi is a violin and other string instrument maker and repairer.  Two years ago, Alan had a problem with his violin and he took it over to him.  From that a friendship blossomed and so we went over to his shop to say ciao!

The poster on the right is a picture of the 1660 Amati violin that Riccardo and another luthier restored.  After giving Riccardo an excuse for not working for an hour, we left.  Since we were very near our old apartment, Alan wanted to go to the Ospedale where there was a cash machine we trusted.  After getting money, we saw a sign that the Medical Museum in the Scuola Grande di San Marco on the 2nd floor of the hospital was open.  Since Susie L had gone last year and recommended it to us, we decided to go up and see it.  It was fascinating and Alan was captivated by everything he saw.

 

We then walked into Castello which is another of the sestieres or neighborhood divisions.  We were looking for a restaurant I had been following on Facebook since it had opened, Ristorante Local.  It is a sleek, modern restaurant and wine bar run by young chefs and owners and the food was great.  For 25 euro we each had a main dish and a dessert.  Alan had ravioli with beet root, a soft white cheese and chanterelles.  I had spaghetti al busaro with canoce (a flat shrimp-like creature), breadcrumbs, mustard, and lemon basil.

Dessert came with the meal so I had a chocolate concoction and Alan had a Venetian cookies with cream and sorbet.

We were hoping to buy some fresh pasta at the store down the street from the restaurant but it was closed until 5 and that wasn’t for another 2 1/2 hours.  We decided to go catch the vaporetto at the San Zacharia stop but on the way got sidetracked by being able to go into Chiesa San Giovanni in Bragora.  Another small, unassuming church with wonderful artwork.

We got down to the Riva degli Schiavoni to catch the vaporetto and found it less crowded with tourists than we thought it would be.  It was still overrun but we could at least move.  This did not happen on the vaporetto where we were so jammed in, we left the boat a stop ahead of ours and walked.

You may be wondering what we have for supper after having a huge lunch like we did.  Alan went over to the Punta Supermercato and picked up octopus salad and fresh sardines in vinegar with onions.  Not something our local Albertson’s Supermarket carries.  To round that off we had fresh Kaiser rolls and, of course, the traditional Italian food, potato chips.