We had been in Venice for a few hours and had worked (walked) our way from the hotel to the Rialto, and to San Marcos.  It was time for sustenance.

Sustenance in San Marcos is Caffe Florian.  A little caffe that has been around since 1720.  yes… 1720.  There was a small band playing, the waiters were all in white coats and ties, food was brought on silver trays.  I feel at this point it is unnecessary to say the caffe was expensive.

I decided to go for it and ordered an €18,00 ice cream sundae.  Chocolate and coffee ice creams, amaretto, crushed amaretti cookies, a couple of other cookies, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream.  Thankfully, there was not a cherry on top.  Victor naturally went for a fruit and ice cream with another liqueur drizzled on.

2 ice cream sundaes – with entertainment charge – was a mere €48,50.  Sometimes ya just have to do the outrageous.  It was fun.  it was delicious.  It was worth it.

More walking around town and then we regrouped at the hotel.  It was Megan’s birthday.  Her only request was a dinner by the water.  Easy enough in a city built on water, but… it was hot in the sun – and the sun wasn’t going down for a long time.  We looked, we walked, we went up side streets and alleys.  Seats abounded – in direct sun.

Seven people trekking through Venice were starting to get cranky.  We finally saw one place and made a mad dash.  We were seated – and then looked at the menu. It seemed that the vast majority of the items were not available for just one person – you had to have two people order them.  And the other things on the menu just weren’t worth the outrageous prices.  We were beginning to see why the place was practically empty.

We got up and left.

That was exactly what we needed to do.  It broke the cranky spell and we started laughing and joking again and within seconds, were at the Ponte Rialdo and a great little place right on the water.

We had fun waiters and a really good meal.

We started off with a Beef Carpaccio

and a Tuna Carpaccio.

The beef was topped with shredded parmesan cheese.  The tuna with a really mild mustard sauce.  Both were excellent.

And then the plates started arriving.

Light as a cloud potato gnocci with a gorgonzola sauce.  It was unbelievably good.

A huge bisteca alla Milanese.  Fork-tender delicious.

A Lobster Spaghetti that was to die for.  The sauce had a rich lobster flavor and the half-lobster was perfectly cooked.

A simple steak…

I missed a couple of entrees, but I didn’t miss dessert.

It was a great presentation! A fork was placed on the plate and cocoa powder dusted over it – and then the vanilla creme pudding was placed on top – along with a decadent chocolate sauce and cookies…

The perfect end to the perfect meal along the water.