The Cake Story

The 11th is my youngest baby's 11th birthday.  What a lucky child to be able to celebrate in Venice! Only, the language barrier comes into play in our day.

 After our morning walking tour with Valentina we jumped into 2 gondolas and headed into the Grand Canal.  We took multiple photos of Grandma in her gondola with 5/6 of her grandchildren. The goldoliers paddled away from the dock a bit and we all sang a round of Happy Birthday to Helen on the ride.  After the ride, we walked over to have lunch together and headed in our own different directions.
 
Mike mentioned to me that he was told we should call the restaurant where we had reservations for dinner and ask them if they could arrange for a cake for Helen's birthday.  Then we headed off to roam around the city without children (since they had taken off with cousins.
 

Without the kids, Mike and I went into the Palaccio Ducale (the Doge's Palace) to check out the architecture and more mosaics.  We walked across the Bridge of Sighs.  This is the bridge people going to the prison crossed over - it was their final view of Venice and the outside world.  On this clear and cloudless day, I tried to put myself in the place of someone on their way to prison.  The sight out of this bridge, I am sure, brought tears to their eyes.

We walked back to the Rialto bridge and crossed into the neighborhood behind.  Had a great time slowly walking through Campo (park/piazza) then through the streets of Venice and stopped for a self portrait on the Ponte Scalzi.  When we finally decided we were done, we walked to the train station to catch the ferry back to our hotel.  Only, we got there and they wanted 7.40E each to ride the boat for 20 minutes.  We decided no

and we walked back.
 
When we finally reached the Grand Canal near our hotel, we stopped and shared a beer at a restaurant facing the water.  We were entertained by people watching and by a cart that was selling chips, drinks, and fresh 

fruit right out front.  The odd thing about this booth was that they had a faucet turned on and there was water dripping down from shelf to shelf until it got to the ground.  A crazy amount of water waste!!!

By the time we got back to the hotel, there was only 30 minutes until we would meet in the lobby to go to dinner.  Someone told me (it might have even been Mike) that my dad had the information on where we were having dinner.  I went down to my parents' room and knocked.  Mom answered.  I asked Dad for the card.  He said he gave it to Mom.  Mom replies, "I handed it to Mike this morning".

Back to the room to find the card sitting beside his wallet, *sigh* I take the card down to the desk to ask for help calling about a cake  The guy behind the counter is NOT Salim, but agrees to help and dials the restaurant.  The person that answers says there is not time to get a cake but we are welcome to bring one.

I hang up and interrogate the desk where I can find a cake.  He gives me directions to a pasticceria just a few blocks from the hotel.  My sister-in-law is headed out to buy more plug adaptors and we go together to the main street a block over from our hotel.  While she's in the store, I browse and run into the birthday candle display... how lucky can I be?  I can't even remember the word

for candle in Spanish!  I buy the two ones and we head off  in the direction of the bakery.

 I find the bakery and settle on a ricotta cake (it looks like a baked cheesecake) and walk out of the bakery.  Literally across the street, I find the restaurant where we are headed to dinner.  Hallelelujah!

Tracy and I walk across the street and hand off the cake to a sweet young lady who agrees reluctantly to take it and NOT eat it until we get there.  As we leave, we pass our table for 12 with a Reservado tag on it.  Tracy and I arrive back at the hotel to find almost all of the rest of the family gathered for dinner.

After a short wait, we were all ready and left for dinner. Hostaria All'Ombra was on the main street with seating outside that faced the lovely park next door.  Across the street was a bar that was packed with people drinking wine and hanging out with their friends and family.  There were several kids kicking a ball around in the wide streets (with no cars on their roads, Venice is an incredibly family friendly place). Later, when the crowds across the street cleared out, there were crying children who were not ready to go home. Kids are the same everywhere. :)

A wonderful Menu del Giorno (2 courses) was ordered.  Spaghetti with mussels and clams with a second of fried fish with a salad.  The fried fish dish kinda freaked me out a bit.  The shrimp were tiny and fried with their heads and shells on... actually delicious but a little scary to put in your mouth the first time. There were also slices of fish that still had all bones in them - they were lightly breaded and you could see they were the whole section of fish - but I was a little grateful for the fading light when the second courses came - it made the whole eating experience a little more enjoyable.

 The woman from the restaurant set up the cake and brought it out.  The candles shone brightly and even though we sang to Helen in English, there were quite a few patrons who sang along with us.  Helen looked the perfect mix of embarrassed and thrilled at the attention.  She got the largest piece and our tiny slices were the perfect ending of a fantastic day.

We are off to Florence tomorrow after a morning tour of St. Marco's Basilica.