Venice, day 3

Another jam-packed, amazing day. We have gotten so lucky with the weather- it is beyond glorious.

After the morning puke-fest, we all fell back asleep so our first venture out was to lunch. It was fairly mediocre as far as the food went, but nonetheless fun to dress up and be out together. We walked some more, split up for afternoon activities (us: naps/quiet time), found the BEST gelato in the world (truly, Capogiro in Philly and Splendora in Charlottesville were, in our opinion, just ahead of Grom in Florence, for best ever, so we were happy that the crown returned to its homeland): SoSu, just off the Rialto. It was truly artisanal- T and I shared two scoops, one of chocolate gelato with a coffee cream top and the other a pistachio with a gianduja cream. These creams were more like a caramel crossed with dulce de leche- amazingly smooth consistency with a bit of chew. T and I were rendered speechless; in the meantime, O had strawberry and J had a double cone of strawberry and frutti di bosco. We then headed off to meet up with our crew in the Campo Santa Margherita. It is what I envision when I think of traditional Italian squares at dusk: children, parents, nonnas, soccer balls, fountains, eager pigeons, lingering produce stalls and the clang of gates shutting closed stores for the night. We had apertivi -my negroni had as its garnish an orange zest nearly two feet long - let the boys run and romp and then made our way home at dark, stopping for wine and pizza along the way.

Domani, andiamo a Firenze.