Food and sightseeing

All right Venice! We hit out a pretty early start and got some of the mozzarella-and-meat sandwiches that proliferate the tourist areas for breakfast (in addition to a few small things from a bakery) which were pretty good. We munched on them as we walked to San Marco square, which was like Plaza Mayor but grander. The line for the basilica was horrendous and it was very hot, though, so we wandered into the nearby museum instead, knowing there would be AC. It ended up being a series of connected museums that was pretty cool but exhaustive.

By the time we finished, the church line was much shorter, so we did that. This is another time the small tshirt in my purse has paid itself off – not because it was cold but because they charged you for little shoulder-blankets if your shoulders weren’t covered. One charge evaded! We did pay to see the treasury and the ‘golden screen’ though (no admission fee, just pay for the sections you feel like seeing) and that was pretty worth it. The church itself is pretty impressive, with lots of gold ceiling tiles and authentically old looking marblework on the floor, but the areas you pay to see are even more luxurious. Both the treasury and the ‘screen’ housed more intricate works of precious metal than we’ve seen in a while on this trip, which is saying something seeing as we’ve been touristing it up. There are some 180 churches in Venice (more than one per every river-surrounded island part, I think) but this one was definitely king.

We then took the waterferry to Murano to check out the island so known for its glassblowing. Since it was so so hot we were told that some of the glassblowing demonstrations would be closed in respect for the workers’ health, but once we learned to tag along with a sufficiently large group of tourists we were still able to see two shows. Vases and horses were popular things to make, which was neat even if it was still hotter in the furnace room. Going out into the AC’d showroom was always a blessed feeling. I think the Corning shows are still better but these were pretty fun. The showrooms were incredible and, in most cases, super expensive, but if you walked farther from a ferry dump-off point you could get better prices. We got a few gifts and some glass hedgehogs because they were so cute. Stumbling upon a very pretty residential square and finding the potable water fountains (Italians giving something away for free!) were also highlights. But damn is it hot here with such humidity…after a ferry back and buying some fruit for tomorrow’s breakfast, we revisited the AC in our hotel room and it is amazing. Good booking choice for sure.

After that it was time for dinner! On a whim we asked the reception for restaurant recommendations, and he directed us to the same area we were in last night. Go us! So we just returned and picked one right next to the one we’d already experienced. The shrimp plate and the pesto pasta bowls were fantastic, and we had a choice between fizzy and flat house white wine – flat yay! And it was pretty good. We tried their chocolate mousse but it was more like really creamy chocolate jello, so we hopped next door again for their mint mousse and tiramisu again. This time with dessert wine, which was a joy to smell even without drinking. Everything was delicious again! A bit splurgy (and a bit mosquito-y) but worth it. I think we’ll come back to this street again tomorrow night…the Jewish quarter knows how to serve food!