Murano and a Two-Gelato Day

First a couple of photos from last night that didn't make it into yesterday's post.

We passed all kinds of interesting shops on the way to dinner, including this spice shop:

and this rubber ducky shop:

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For dinner we ate at Osteria Anice Stellato, which was recommended by a friend of Susan's. The pasta we shared in lieu of an appetizer was amazing (pappardelle ragu alla napoletana):

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We started off today just outside our hotel at the Rialto Market, where I picked up some tasty apricots.

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Next stop was Murano, where we visited countless little shops in search of exactly the right glass things. I found a necklace I liked, and also picked up several pairs of earrings in various price ranges. A lot of the shops had these cool little mosaics on the outside walls. I meant to take a few more photos but got distracted shopping, so here are the three I found in my camera roll:

 

For lunch we stopped at a random restaurant, and I had a very tasty seafood appetizer plate.

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After Murano, we wandered through the city on our way to St. Marks Square.

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Saint Mark's Basilica is just as amazing as the last time I saw it.

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On the way to St. Mark's and afterward, going back to the hotel, we tried the old-fashioned way of navigating around Venice. It's a really different experience with Google Maps in our hands, and it was fun to just try and figure out where to go using the signs and arrows painted on buildings.

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Here's the first gelato of the day. One scoop each of strawberry and passion fruit, in an edible cup. Even the search for gelato is different now than it was fourteen years ago: instead of just happening upon a gelato store around a corner, now I look on Google Maps and find the highest rated one nearby.

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For dinner tonight, we took an Eat Like a Local tour. Our tour guide Sara was fabulous, and all the food was amazing. We started with a little antipasti (the prosciutto and cheeses with baslamic condiment were good, but everyone was raving about the salami). Subsequent courses (each at a different restaurant) included deep-fried mozzarella with ham or fish, deep-fried meat-stuffed olive, fried seafood, pasta, polenta/meatball/roasted potato skewer, coffee (I had a decaf macchiato), an amazing pastry which I've forgotten the name of (sfoglio-something?), capped off with gelato #2 of the day.

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Good night Venezia!