Cappuccino & a croissant is my new favorite way to start the day. Wandered through Venice trying to find a non-touristy place to have it. Found some neat little neighborhoods and a lovely little park, but I have no idea where locals get their coffee & pastries because I somehow made a complete circle and ended up settling for just standing up at the touristy place instead of sitting down like tourists do.
Had a delectable lunch, found out scampi are not shrimp, they're a completely different animal, and while they're flipping delicious, I feel like every Italian restaurant I've ever been to in my life has lied to me. I'm going to write them all a strongly-worded letter when I get back.
Got a little buzzed from the house white, which was served in a pitcher so I feel like that wasn't really my fault... Met a couple from Ft. Worth, TX and had a lovely time getting to know them.
Aperitivo beats the hell out of American happy hour, so that's another thing I can never do again when I get home. Had the most delicious polpette I've ever had in my life, but annoyed the waiter, the chef, and possibly every Italian on the peninsula when I asked what kind of meat was in it. The answer (duh) is "mixed". I did not press further because I'm fairly certain that's how mouthy Americans who ask stupid questions end up getting thrown in the lagoon, so I just thanked them and ordered more.
Did a little souvenir shopping before dinner but didn't buy anything cuz the lady in the one shop where I liked something was rude and I don't reward bad behavior.
Heard an American actually utter the phrase "I miss American coffee", so I'm pretty sure she's going to get deported tomorrow.
Stopped in to look at this cute little church without realizing it was ten minutes before mass. They asked if we were Catholic and let us in when we said yes, then the lady who was in charge of keeping tourists out during mass sat behind us the whole time, making sure we stayed, so we accidentally fulfilled our Sunday obligation...
Ate dinner at a little place on the canal. Tried cuttlefish for the first time. It's my favorite sea creature, and it's pretty tasty too, so now I'll have to work out those two competing sentiments in therapy when I get home.
Had mini octopus-the whole thing, not just the tentacles. I'm not sure why we only seem to get tentacles in the States, as I can't recall ever being served anything but. Found out I don't love the head as much as the tentacles, but it's still pretty good, so I don't know if it's a taste thing, or perhaps we've made a deal with the fishing industry, and there's another country somewhere in the world that only gets to serve octopus heads.
On the way back, Frankie got a thing that tasted like an old fashioned donut filled with pistachio cream, and it turns out that's a pretty freaking delicious combination.
I've walked up and down more stairs in the past 2 days than I've done in the total of my life and my knees are presently shopping for divorce lawyers, so we'll see how that goes. I'm the one with the passport though, so my guess is they'll figure it out and calm down before anything gets too out of hand (or leg, as the case may be).
Tomorrow, Firenze e famiglia! I cannot wait!
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