Woke up to lots of fog out over the lagoon and it really never cleared the whole day.

Our friend Jill had left something for us at her husband’s hardware shop in San Marco, so we walked over there. Following her very specific directions, we were able to find it very easily in the back streets.  We walked through Piazza San Marco to see how it looked in the fog and it was a bit eerie.

There were still plenty of people lined up for the basilica and tower and lots of puddles.  It hadn’t rained so it must have flooded a bit.  The water seemed really high everywhere.

We had never been inside the San Zaccharia church to see the famous Bellini painting so we went.

San Zaccharia

The painting really is stunning and really nice to view it just after seeing his other work in the Frari.  There was a small group of German people who kept feeding the little machine coins to keep the light on so we really had a chance to sit and appreciate the vivid colors and faces.

We wandered around that area and finally headed home for a lunch of left overs.

At 4:00, we met Slow Travel friend, Christie, at Cafe del Doge.  She is one of a small bunch of people who often come to Venice for extended stays (3 months) in the fall and winter.  It was very nice to connect with her.

We came home for an hour and booked our train tickets for today, Thursday, to Padova and then went back over the Rialto bridge for our 7:30 dinner reservations at La Zucca. The restaurant held some good memories for me of eating here with my dear friend Kris in 2008.  I had to order the Friulian, Schioppettino wine just like we had that night.

As it often is with memories, the present just doesn’t live up to it and the wine was a bit lacking in flavor.  It was enjoyable but quite light.  La Zucca is known for its vegetable offerings and the non meat dishes we had (a mushroom sformatino or flan, with a very rich, cheese sauce, and mixed greens sauteed in good olive oil with pieces of prunes for sweetness) were the 2 best.  I also had osso bucco with saffron which was better than Ken’s pork with onions.  We enjoyed talking with a couple at the next table who were here from NY.

Walking home through San Giacomo del Orio and Campo San Polo, empty at night, was lovely.  We watched another episode of Black Mirror–the modern day Twilight Zone.