Shopping Rich and Katja Style (We generally don't do "shopping")

Mozzies had pestered us more or less in Catania at night until we had found a bottle of Autan in the bathroom (Look it up, it's like the next best thing to Smidge in the whole world!).
Now we thought we'd be clear of them in Venice. We weren't. I can sort of ignore new bites and just put my ear plugs in to not hear their high pitched buzz. Rich can't . A single mozzy can basically ruin his night as he simply can't sleep.

Well, he didn't sleep much last night. I got up around 7am, chilled in the lounge, read a bit, then went out to get some bread rolls from a Jewish bakery. 

Woke up Rich at 9, had brekkie, then eventually headed out to get some food at Rialto market for dinner. 

Walked past the Bata shop and decided to have a quick look, if they had the right size for a certain pair of shoes Rich couldn't get in the Catania shop. Turned out they did! Yay. To make good use for the 20% off a second pair I thought of replacing my waning Nikes. The single trainer they had on display fit perfectly so I asked them for the other shoe which resulted in up to three shop assistants turning the whole shop upside down for the next half an hour or so in order to find it. Well, they didn't so Rich bought a very nice faux leather jacket which he had tried on out of boredom whilst we'd been waiting and it fitted him like a glove! Single last one of that colour, style and size. Fate!

New jacket, new shoes in the bag. Cool!

We were quite late now for the market at noon with fishmongers already packing in. Still bought some veg at least and walked our shopping home, having some gelato on the way and stumbling upon a nice Osteria with reasonable prices. Marked down for dinner!

Chiesa di San Stae

Snooze back home, then tea and a thorough sift of the Lonely Planet for sights and food for the remainder of the week. Booked tickets for Leonardo Museum, Basilica and Campanile online so we won't have to queue. Ha!

Out again around 17:30 we stopped around the corner at Timon bar for the typical aperitivo. Cichetti and wine/beer. Really enjoyed the small bites and booze sitting by the waterfront watching the world go by.

Don't call 'em tapas!

Just after 7pm we walked the 20 minutes with lots of twists and turns and bridges to our earlier chosen Osteria and sure enough no more than five minutes after being seated every table in this place was taken. Phew, had come here in the nick of time.

Got a bottle of Manzoni after having had less than mediocre house wine on two occasions before. We both opted for black spaghetti with shrimps and baby tomato sauce. Panna cotta and tiramisu for deserts. Again we had a stunning meal and the atmosphere was rather nice! Despite being completely booked it wasn't too loud and the interior was slightly stylish but cosy. Perfect.

Back through all those backstreets I guided us back from memory, only had to look at the map once briefly when I had already known that we had veered off course a little bit. Tell you what, navigating in British mountains is a lot easier!

Just a chill at home again and looking forward to some proper sight seeing in the next few days.