We had a nice lazy morning until the promise of caffeine called. Slowing our pace, we headed to Santa Maria Nova. The bar was packed with people enjoying the sun, but I managed to grab a quick coffee “al Banco” which, by the way, is costing €1.50 most places.

From there we headed to the Giovanni e Paolo Campo. We enjoyed watching the kids playing soccer and drawing with chalk. I developed a great rapport with this particular lion and his digs:

I spent a good while watching the Venetian flag until I finally got a shot of it unfurled in the wind:

I always think of my uncle Leonard when we see this statue. He is a great lover of Venice and owns a replica of it.

Since the church was not open until noon, we strolled around Castello a bit and had a brief sit in Campo San Lorenzo.

Back to Giovanni e Paolo. I get a specific, deep in my lungs, sensation entering one of these grand spiritual spaces. I am able to ignore the inequities they represent and just soak in the love of god (whatever god) for a while. It’s nice.

Of course we had to visit the shrine for Santa Catarina, one of the patron saints of Italy and the namesake of our daughter.

We spent a long time in the basilica appreciating the religious art, the floors, the marble works. It’s well worth the €3.50 to get in.

Lunch was soup from Elisa and then a nice rest time.

I was pretty aware all day of missing the Oscars night. It started here at midnight. I think I could have watched and stayed awake but I just didn’t want to feel wiped out the next day.

In the afternoon we headed over to San Marco. Lots of people are out and about. I don’t know if they’re weekenders or the honeymoon is over for Venice. Anyway, we made a wrong turn and never made it to Piazza San Marco, but we did have a decent walk. Yes, we still get lost sometimes. We stopped into the Coop for a few things.

For dinner, I made us pasta (the mezze maniche shape is our current favorite) with a simple tomato sauce and some zucchini.

*Ken said I should call the blog today LKFD–for low key fab day, and I did and it was.