September 3, 2024 - from the itinerary:
9am meet Monica near the Crystal Bridge for a “chocolate tour” around Venice.
2:45 pm arrive on time to see the free view of Venice
7pm dinner at LaZucca
Weather: sunny and 86 degrees - quite humid
No breakfast this morning as we headed over to meet Monica, via the train station to get Ann some cash. Thankfully Monica was early to the meeting point, she was able to help get Ann cash via a good ATM, since Lisa took the last of the cash from the ATM at the train station:)
We started off by visiting one of the best gelato shops in the area. Evidently the difference between gelato and ice cream is that gelato uses milk and ice cream uses the cream portion of the milk, so gelato is more healthful. We learned that really good gelato should not be a high profile mound in the bins, but should be fairly level - e.g. not puffed up. Also the correct color for pistachio anything is a beigy- green. Finally, “home made” in Italy only means the food is prepared on site - nothing about the ingredients being made on premises. So I started the day with a mint affogato - coffee with mint gelato. Very refreshing
From here we entered the first Jewish ghetto in the world, established in the 1500s.
Along the walled walkway there was a very nice antique shop I’d like to be able to spend some time in a bit tomorrow.
Our next stop was a kosher bakery which had some lovely baked goods we purchased and took with us for later.
Along the way to the next bakery we heard a cat meowing and only after the man passed us, did we see the cat in his backpack.
I was finally able to get a cafe latte at the next bakery. I was corrected that it was not a latte, as we would say in the States, unless I just want a glass of milk…We were also told, for the first of many times today, that Venice “invented” sugar and that the US (and ROW) uses too much sugar - only Venice has the best habits. These cakes included a sacher torte (the recipe imported from Vienna several centuries ago), an apple strudel-type of cake, 2 types of beignets, a chocolate bomb, a type of macaroon, and a coconut type of cake.
Our last stop was at Vizio Virtu artisanal chocolate shop which included a chocolate tasting and a very long, rather confusing lecture on cocoa trees, beans, production. The interesting take-away is that chocolate tasting should include 3 steps - smell, snap the chocolate piece into two to hear/feel the intenseness of the snap, and the taste of the chocolate as it melts in the mouth. We had a wonderful cold chocolate drink which, although no sugar was added, was a wonderful blend of chocolate and spice. We also tried chocolate covered nuts and ganache.
One interesting thing I saw on the shelf was a packet of chocolate squares with images from the Karma Sutra - I didn’t buy any because I was sure they would melt by the time we got back…
We were able to reconfirmed our reservation at the restaurant for the evening - this reservation took me 15 minutes and 38 re-dials to make 2 weeks ago and they were not willing to send any sort of email confirmation….
Monica was willing to go a bit of the extra mile for us because I was able to give her a recommendation for a family law professional in the UK to help her recover money due her out of her divorce…good luck to her.
We had a quick rest at the hotel before remembering we had tickets to see the view of Venice, so off we went again in the heat to the top of a shopping mall we were in earlier during the chocolate tour to use the bathroom. The view was pretty amazing.
I realized after taking the selfie that I still had some chocolate on my mouth…
From here we returned to the hotel. Our route took us over the Rialto Bridge and along narrow alleys where we saw several carnival mask shops. They were rather frightening.
We met again for pre-dinner drinks on my balcony and had some of the Australian wine I brought.
Until finally it was time for dinner at LaZucca - for me the main event of the day. This restaurant was recommended by Jen from our Tour du Mont Blanc Trek. Unfortunately, we got there 15 minutes early and were kicked out so we went to a nearby wine bar for a BellinI until it was time. I think i was already feeling the effects of the drink, judging by the clarity of the photo….
Dinner was amazing and we ordered several dishes to share. I had gazpacho which was the best I’ve had in quite awhile.
Other dishes included hummus, zucchini (2 orders because it was so good), anchovies with fresh mozzarella, a sweet pepper dish, duck breast, lamb stew with couscous and pasta.
I couldn’t entice anyone to have a lemoncello or coffee afterwards, so that will have to wait until tomorrow for me.
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