A Winelover's Wanderings

Day #1 in Venice ended with a mini-GTG with Ruth and Martin at their lovely Dorsoduro apartment overlooking the Grand Canal.

But first we met up with Kevin and Jill from Australia, who will be our companions on the GrapeHops tour beginning on Saturday. Their daughter Megan will be joining up with us tomorrow.

Here is a photo of the view from Ruth and Martin's living room window - pretty spectacular!

And here are Shannon and Ruth, authors of the wonderful "Chow Venice" book that so many Slow Travelers have used to choose great places to eat and drink in Venice.

After enjoying the view (and the company) for awhile, we headed over to Ruth's favorite pizza place for dinner.

I chose an unusual-sounding pizza with arugula (one of my favorite things), raw beef, and balsamico. Sounds strange but very good.

And the wine . . . You knew there would be wine - right? Shannon was thrilled to find this particular wine there - Ottin Pinot Noir. And she was right - it WAS delicious!