I had Pilates this morning so we got out of the house at 10:30. Ken walked over there with me because someone was coming to clean the apartment. It’s nice–she changes the sheets and gives us fresh towels, etc.
So I went to the killer Pilates class. During the class (which is so much brain stuff, learning the new Italian vocabulary and following the exercises) I am thinking how much I love Pilates. It is just a brilliant system. My body felt infinitely better when I finished.
Ken met me with the big news that he had located the Contarini del Bovolo–one of the sights that’s on everyone’s Top 10 list and we’d never seen it. It is right around the corner from Formamentis, the Pilates studio. Thanks to Yvonne for reminding us about it.

We had a lunch date with Jerry and Paul, Canadian friends we know form the Slow Travel community. We got very lost walking to the restaurant (and we had been there the day before!) and even walked right by it once thinking it was on the other side of the street.
It was great to see our friends and Jerry and I realized that the last time we had seen each other was here in Venice. Vecio Fritolin: I chose it because I really wanted “Frittura” and after researching I read a Mark Bitman blog that said it was the best place.

(Those rectangles sticking out from the seafood are white polenta.)
And it has good air conditioning and it’s highly rated on plenty of foodie sites. We loved it! Ken and I shared a primo of green gnocchi with mussels and a very light tomato sauce. Jerry’s prawn carpaccio with baby artichokes was a beautiful plate. With some menu confusion, I ordered the big plate of mixed fried seafood and Ken the small. I ended up giving away a bunch of mine but the three guys were willing to help me out. Everything is house made there–even the bread and the desserts. Ken had a coffee, cardamom creme brulee which was fantastic. With coffee, we were served a little plate of delicious assorted cookies. And complimentary grappa or limoncello followed. We stayed there talking, for almost 3 hours. Great service, great wine (chosen by Jerry) great lunch all around.

Here is an interesting wall I saw, before I realized we were lost, on the way to lunch:

and this weird “sculpture” on a balcony nearby:

The grappa really knocked me out so we came home for nap time. We are thinking this is the last of the really bad heat days so maybe we will be a little more active in the afternoons. But then there is the lovely rain in the forecast. One of the great things about being here a whole month is that we aren’t in a rush to get things seen or done.
With no desire for dinner, we had to pick up a couple of things at the Coop–just really water and cereal. So, we sent back to the San Stae gelato place and that was our meal. I tried a new flavor: sesame, ricotta and honey.
We sat for a good while out on the bench in Campo San Polo. It got windy like it was about to storm but it just blew by–and cooled things off. We really loved watching all the dogs and missed Louie.