Venice Day 2

Day 2 in Venice was to be our day to explore, maybe have a gondola ride in the early evening and see the sights. Day 2 in Venice was also absolutely peeing down with rain! We set out to go exploring but even with an umbrella and our hooded jackets, our pants and shoes were soaked within about 15 minutes! We persisted and got to see some pretty sights as it is a beautiful town when it is raining but we didn't have the opportunity to see all the famous sights or have that gondola ride! Ah well!
Dripping wet, we decided to try the great local cafe/bar we'd had a sandwich at yesterday for lunch. When we got there, it looked as if it was closed but we got the door open. Matt asked if they were still doing lunch and the guy said “only drinks” so we started to leave. He must have taken pity on us two little Australian drowned rats because he said “oh no, actually, you can have food if you want!”. FANTASTICO! We went upstairs to a booth and looked through the menu but Matt already new what he was having. The day before, when we'd been there, they had some meat in the display cabinet which Matt liked the look of. The owner had told him that it was the shin of the animal (this was done mostly using sign language and it looked like lamb) and Matt went for it. I went for a pizza and we splurged on a bottle of proseco (Italian sparkling white! So yummo!). OH MY GOD! Yummest meal! The pizza was to die for and I think Matt may now have a permanent smile on his face due to the lamb! Plus the guy who owned the place and his waitress were really lovely and let us stay there for ages while we ate and drank, even after everyone else left. We got to talking to the waitress and it turns out that this is one of the places lots of Venetians go to eat. Therefore they have to thoroughly test all the specials before they offer them for sale so that they know they are good and won't disappoint. She said that was a great part of her job because she always got to eat good stuff that the boss had cooked!
It was a great way to spend a lazy afternoon and we even felt compelled to go for another quick walk in the storm after that.
Then there was dinner at a local restaurant just near a bridge. It was packed and we had to wait awhile for a table but it was worth it! The fish stew with polenta that I had was divine and we shared espresso and tiramisu for dessert! Wonderful!
Whilst we didn't get to do everything we wanted to in Venice and got lost for a good portion of our time time, we still really enjoyed ourselves and were glad we went!
Next stop: Paris!!!!!