This was the first morning we could see the Dolomite mountains from our window. It was so clear and bright, but the wind was cold! First day I needed my puffy coat.

We had a date to meet our friend Jill for coffee near her house on St. Elena, the very eastern end of Venice. We took the vaporetto from Fondamenta Nuove and had a nice view of Lorenzo Quinn’s Building Bridges hands from the boat.

Jill took us to a new, very lovely place. She told us it had been a shuttered bocce club for years and a young couple revitalized it into a restaurant called Giardin. They have a few rooms and a lovely garden in the back. It was wonderful to see Jill and we were able to sit comfortably and talk for quite a while.

Ken and I walked back through Castello. I looked up this place and it is kind of a performance and social space “antifascist and anti-racist.”

And the side of the building tells it all:

We worked up an appetite so we went into Tiziano for a quick hot lunch. Tables of businessmen, local women, and working types filled up the place right after we got our food. I got a risotto with zucchini and speck and Ken had cavatelli with some kind of pesto–didn’t taste like basil, maybe parsley and garlic.

After a short rest time, we walked down Strada Nova. First stop was the Tagota store for some unscented laundry detergent and then to the bigger Coop for a few things. I am excited that my dear friend from high school is coming from London tomorrow and I wanted to get some of the cooking out of the way before she came. I love that this trip is filled with visits with women friends.

At home I did some cooking and we ate a bunch of leftovers for dinner with the vino sfuso, Cabernet Sauvignon, which cost €2.70. We both agreed it was better than the €30 bottle we bought there before.

We watched the finale of Lincoln Lawyer and started the new HBO show, DTF. I am reserving judgement.

By the way, my body is so sore from the Pilates class!

All around, another wonderful day.