Venice Day 2

Another foggy and slow breakfast morning for us today. Today is more of a meander towards Cannaregio since we haven't explored that area yet. Unlike yesterday, we didn't follow the map and simply make our way down the alleys and canals towards the general direction of the neighborhood. It's nice to simply wander, especially this time of the morning while it's still fairly quiet and cool.

The downside of not using maps is finding yourself going in a circle and ending up at a spot you already passed. No wonder everything was looking familiar! After passing the train station in Santa Croce and ending up looping back to it, we stop inside for a quick snack and espresso - a chocolate cream twist pastry for mom and a triple chocolate muffin for me.

It's getting closer to lunch so time to pull out the map to actually make our way to Cannaregio. Once we get to the area, then we meander a little more map-free.

We walk a bit more until our stomachs decide it's time to find the restaurant we had in mind - Oficina Ormesini. We order the cuttlefish squid ink pasta, potato gnocchi with crab and rosemary, and mushroom and cheese ravioli. Absolutely delicious.

Now to walk off the wonderful food and head back to the hotel to rest the feet. At this point we've walked 4 miles non-stop this morning so definitely due for a rest! Dad parts from us and heads back to the hotel while mom and I detour to get gelato from Grom. She gets an affogato and I choose tiramisu gelato. Pretty good and a much better serving size than our overdose the other day.

After some much needed feet rest, we head back out at dusk to get pizza from Majer - Santa Margherita. It's a great time to be walking the city, the tourists have left (at least this area), it's cool without the heat of the sun and it's even quiet from most locals. Granted, we are in a quieter area of the city. The darkening sky gives the neighborhood a leisurely feeling and walking down the darker alleys lends a mysterious atmosphere. Just a great time to be out.

At Majer, we get an arancino - a fried rice ball - and two pizzas with various toppings. And couldn't resist trying a cannolo - this one is orange and chocolate which it said was classic. Not the freshest cannolo so the pastry not crispy, but good flavor and not too sweet which I prefer. The pizza was alright but not as good as it looked. But we'll have plenty more opportunities to try others!

Bellies full, it's time to tuck in and refresh the feet for more walking tomorrow.

Ciao!