We awoke to a beautiful breezy, sunny Spring morning and we wanted to go!  Laundry in the washing machine and we were off.

Campo San Luca, in San Marco, was our first stop for coffee.  I like the always crowded bar right on the corner of the campo and the coffee did not disappoint.  The Pilates studio is there too.  I rang their bell, but noone was there.  I will have to call, but calling, in Italian, is difficult.

Since it didn’t seem to be too crowded, we decided to go to Piazza San Marco.  No sooner did we commit to the route than we were walking against a steady stream of American cruisers, probably headed for Rialto.  So we turned off and were rewarded with these views, albeit on a dead end calle:

We stuck with it and ended up coming into Piazza San Marco from the west, walking through the small park with all the art and souvenier sellers, along the Grand Canal.  Yes, there were a lot of people but not crushing like I’ve seen it before.  We found a nice place to stand and contemplate this side of the Basilica:

You could spend a year studying just this side wall!   And we hung for a few minutes gazing at one of the mosaics on the front.  On the other side of the basilica we checked out the Venini glass shop window and made our way to Campo Santa Maria Formosa (aka Pat’s campo because my sister and her husband, Bob, stayed there one year) and to the Brodo e Brace butcher shop.  Loaded up with proteins, we headed towards home.

We had some salad with the rotisserie chicken and hung up the laundry.  Ken really wanted gelato but first we wanted to check out the new supermarket, Despar, in the old theater on Strada Nova, almost to the train station.  Although it is cool that it’s in a historic building with frescoes and such, the shopping was nothing special.  Granted it is a big store, but I don’t think we’ll be back.  Heading back on Strada Nova we hit the Ca d’Oro gelato shop.  I had a fabulous cone of lemon-basil sorbet.  Oh man it just hit the spot.  So refreshing!

Home again and amazingly, the laudry was mostly dry.  Ken really wanted to go out one more time before dinner so we walked along Fondamenta Nuove and up for a bit stopping in Campo Gesuitti to find Amy and Larry’s secret spot at the back of the We Crociferi, upscale hostel.  Great drinks (spritz for Ken and Negroni for me) and being on the canal is lovely.  So satisfied, we happily toasted Amy and Larry.

For dinner I fried up the veal cotolette from the butcher and made some zucchini in the microwave.  The cooked spinach we had bought at the Despar was bad–YUCK!

I think we had enough indugences for one day.