We didn’t post yesterday, not because we didn’t do anything, but because we took no pictures.  We actually had a lovely sunny day yesterday.  Alan ran some early errands and then we had lunch at the apartment and just hung out here.  For dinner we had arranged to meet Ruth and Martin E. and their daughter Sarah,her husband Brian and Ruth and Martin’s son Dan.  One of their favorite restaurants is Al Paradiso and, as usual, Ruth’s recommendation did not disappoint.  It was obvious that Ruth and Martin were well known at the restaurant and we had a spectacular meal and several amazing wines.  With 7 of us at the table there was lots of conversation and the dinner lasted a few hours.  What an enjoyable night and we only wish Ruth and Martin weren’t leaving so soon so we could do it again.

Today was yet another sunny, beautiful day.  I don’t think we have ever had so much sunshine in Venice during any of our stays.  Alan left early and headed out to buy ingredients for our dinner tonight. Alan: I can move pretty fast on my own and so walked to the Rialto market in about 15 minutes including a quick stop at the music store to look for sheet music that I might be interested in buying.  Also, I looked for the mystery butcher shop that we found once and have been unable to find since. I still can’t find it despite working a grid from where we were before going to it.  So I went to Casa di Parmigiano for Burrata cheese and cold cuts and a jar of pesto (since we don’t have a blender).  Then I picked up assorted fruits and vegetables, crossed the Rialto Bridge and went to the pastificio, which was open, and bought some tagliatelle for the dish I was going to make for dinner.  Then I headed home and made it back in 25 minutes from almost at Campo Santi Apostoli.  We had some lunch at home and then went out for a walk about 2:30

We started toward the Accademia bridge thinking we would walk over toward San Marco and if it wasn’t too crowded, revisited the Basilica and the Ducal Palace.  First we thought we would take a picture or two of the vegetable barge we keep talking about.  It really has wonderful fresh produce and very friendly people.

 

We continued on toward Accademia and saw this beautiful reflection.

When we got to the Accademia vaporetto stop, I suddenly decided that since the day was so pretty, we should take the vaporetto out to the Lido.  The Lido is an 8 mile long sandbar which fronts on the ocean and where the beaches for the Venice area are.  We had no maps and no guidebooks and the only thing we knew about it is what we had seen in Visconti’s film version of Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice.  So that’s what we did.  It’s about a 15-20 minute ride from where we were but it is very different from Venice.  To begin with, there are cars and buses and bicycles!  We had to remember to look when we crossed a street.  Luckily, we remembered how to do this.  The beaches are shut down since it is the cooler getting to the cold season but we could walk along and see glimpses of beach and ocean.  We even saw the Hotel des Bains which featured prominently in Mann’s novel.  It’s closed down and seems to be boarded up which is a shame because it really is magnificent.

Here are some other pictures from the Lido.  It was getting toward sundown and so some are not very clear.

We got back here on a VERY crowded vaporetto.  We had to start two stops ahead to make our way to the front so we could get off.  We stopped at Bar ai Artisti for a spritz and Alan ran over to the barge and bought a live basil plant.  It’s the only way we have seen fresh basil here.  when we got home, we started making dinner.

Dinner was a recipe I got on the La Cucina Italiana web site.  It was Tagliatelle with a sauce of cherry tomatoes, burrata cheese, and pesto which we had with some roasted squash, Treviso radicchio and yellow bell pepper.  Quick and delicious.