I got up early to watch the sun rise over the lagoon:

We did some laundry and around 10:30 walked to Rialto with Shannon, Marcia and David. First stop was the Puppa bar. Our old friend Masood was there and we had a nice chat with him about the changes he has made to his place. There was no charge for our coffee. He has always been so wonderful to us!

It was very crowded and the walk was challenging, cutting through the crowds. Nan messaged me that there were an all time high number of people on Venice: 140,000! Easter weekend. We shopped around; I found the shop where I usually buy Nesti Dante Soap and heard the oft repeated story about how they are closing soon and how difficult life has been here–so I bought two bars instead of one.

The perennial favorite, La Merca, was the meeting spot. And there were spritzes but not for me.

Ken and I walked back to meet up at Vini da Gigio. Marcia and David took the vap. I love how when you walk in there is a shelf full of beautiful bottles of grappa:

Our great friend Nan met us there and it was wonderful to see her. Paolo, the wine person at da Gigio, has a soft spot for her, I think. He brought us our wine covered in a black sleeve with a hot pink question mark on it so we could try to guess what kind of wine it was. Nobody was even close and I should have been. It was a Pecorino wine from Abruzzo, right near where we had been.

We all shared the appetizers which were scallops in the shell, fried moeche (little soft shell crabs) and mussels. These to me are what Venetian cuisine is all about–the taste of the sea with very little other seasoning. I loved it!

Then we had a smoked tuna carbonara– what a great combination of flavors:

And we followed with a simple baked brozino. We drank a really special wine with it, a Malvasia called Agapito, from Istria. Couldn’t take another bite!

Came home to rest and then met up at Sbarlefo for a glass of wine before Marcia, David and Shannon had 7:00 dinner reservations.

I saw the the little cheese and salumi shop was open so I stepped in there. We got a warm greeting from the owner and talked with him about how lucky we are to be healthy. Both he and Masood talked about how in some ways, the effects of the 2019 flood was harder for them than the pandemic.

We had a nice light supper of the minestrone Elisa had made for us and watched the world go by out the windows.