Day 8: Buon Giorno, Venezia!

I woke up again after eight hours of sleep, but I felt rested and mostly recovered from my brief exhaustion.  Ready for another day in Italy (and hopefully pacing myself better). 

While the households were waking, Dad and I had coffee and chatted.  We noshed on some pastries too.  We had a relatively early morning though, so before long it was time to wake our people and get going!

Our first event was a 10am boat tour through the Grand Canal.  Our golf cart tour through Florence was great to orient us and help us understand the city, and this tour was that analogue.  The captain picked us up near our Airbnb (which is on the northern edge of the city), took us north into the open water, west towards the train station, and then south to enter the canal (most of the adults tracked our progress on Google Maps to identify points of interest.  We putt-putt-putted through the whole Grand Canal, passing beautiful buildings & markets, going under the Rialto Bridge, and marveling at all of the boats that have unique functions in Venice (because of course they do).  Ambulance boats? Yep.  Hearse boats?  Yep.  Trash boats? Yep.  FedEx boats?  Yep.

Accordion on a gondola!  What's more italian than that?

San Michele is an island cemetary.

FedEx Boat!

After the taxi returned us to our starting point, R went down for a nap, and S, H, and I went in search of a playground.  H has been a trooper hanging with the grownups this whole time (and R, who is a delight, isn’t really a proper playmate for her yet), so she needed some time to be a kid.  We wandered through backstreets and main drags to get to the park.

Bullet Bill on a boat!

This gull was guarding his steps and fighting any other gull who challenged him.

Beautiful veggies!

Parco Savorgnan is near the train station, one block off the main drag, tucked behind a row of houses, with little to identify it to uncurious tourists.  It had a few play structures, mostly for smaller kids, but they were all wet because of the rains.  H had fun chasing pigeons with two 4-year old twin girls, and then she swung her little heart out.

After the park, we headed back to the Airbnb, passing through Rio Terà S. Leonardo, peeking in the shops.  H picked out a nice pair of earmuffs with special pneumatic features, which she modeled throughout the walk home, including when we stopped in an old church to check out a Getulio Alviani exhibit.

The church near our airbnb is now an event space.

Shooting the picture above.

Home after the gallery for a siesta/nap.  Venice doesn’t really start serving dinner until 7pm, which makes for long days for kiddos.  Siestas are important.  H and I snuggled in bed, and she fell asleep holding my hand.

After we woke for the second half of our day, we headed off in the direction of the restaurant, poking around in shops along the way. One of our goals was the Libreria Acqua Alta, a bookstore that claims to display its books in boats and tubs so that they survive flooding.  In reality, the tubs/boats were more of a gimmick than a functional element, but the shop was cute nonetheless!  We stopped for a few photo ops in the shop, then kept wandering town and making discoveries.

Mysterious canals after dark.

Dinner was at Ostaria Boccadora, a terrific restaurant on a secluded piazza a block or two off the main drag.  We had the earliest reservations of the night, so it was empty when we walked in.  Soon, though, it was packed.  We split two huge appetizers, both of which were mixed seafood.  Boiled octopus, cuttlefish, spider crab, prawns, mantis shrimp, and creamed baccala on one dish.  Langoustines, tuna tartar, and sea bream marinated in honey, pomegranate, strawberries, and chili pepper in the other.  The entrees and desserts were yummy also, including a chocolate mousse, a top-2 tiramisu (according to S), and a rosemary panna cotta with smoked sea salt.  Yum!

R had a small fever, so D & W took him home early for bed.  When the rest of us got back, I put H to bed and then we sipped sambuca until it was time for us to zonk out.  Early morning tomorrow!

More public art: