I had a date to meet Daniela (Slow Travel friend from Treviso) at 9:30 at the train station.
This gave me the opportunity to do one of my favorite things: walk fast in Venice. I pretend I really live here and have somewhere to go–like I am walking to work. To get to the train station I have to cross the newest bridge, the Ponte Calatrava. It’s been controversial here; I don’t know the details but I think it’s beautiful and certainly does the job of connecting the Piazzale Roma (bus terminal and car park) with the train station. The morning was very bright with a swift cool breeze. The water was sparking. Venice at its best! I stopped at the top of the bridge to look out to the north and could clearly see the snowy tops of the Dolomiti Mountains. Glorious!
I met Daniela and we walked to Cafe del Doge which we agreed had the best coffee in Venice. We had a terrific visit–talked and talked in 2 languages. Daniela has a language school in Treviso, to learn Italian in am immersion program and it sounds wonderful.
We asked a nice Austrian man to take our picture:

I walked, very quickly this time because I didn’t want Kenny to worry about me and the time had flown, back to our place. We had an exciting afternoon planned. Our good friends Mark and Missy and their family was coming to town with way too much luggage. We knew which train they would be on so we could meet them and help out. Their little 15 month old, grandson Sammy is a heart stealer! We got a water taxi which dropped us off at Sant Angelo. And making the obligatory wrong turn over an extra bridge, we finally found their hotel. We hung out there for a while to help them get settled. Mostly I watched Sammy play in the bidet–the kid is going to be a plumber when he grows up.
We went to lunch with them all in Campo San Stefano. I was thrilled to be sitting there with Missy!
After lunch we could tell a storm was coming. It got dark, cold and windy. We took them to the top of the Accademia bridge for the view and to see the locks and we headed home. We did get caught in the rain but not too bad.
Forced by the thunderstorm to stay in and read, go on the computer and play cards wasn’t so bad. As soon as it stopped, around 8:00 we went to get some dinner but both places in Campo San Barnaba we wanted to go to were fully booked. so we tried Pane e Vino; I think it’s a chain actually. Not bad. I had a plate with veggies and a roasted pork shank. Ken had pasta with mushrooms he thought was pretty mediocre. I was frustrated about “wasting” a night out in Venice but all of our cooking plans were foiled by our unwillingness to get soaked in the rain to shop. Oh well.
On the way home we stopped at Grom for pistacchio and dark chocolate gelato.
A great ending to our day.