Spritz withdrawal and other signs that I'm not in Venice

Evening view from Nora's roof sort of looking toward San Marco, ultimately.

Evening view from Nora's rooftop looking toward the lagoon. The bridge to the mainland is in the left corner.

Evening view from Nora's rooftop overlooking the canal. The lagoon is to the right.

After a very long and boring flight from Zurich to JFK, during which I tried to play Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (the UK version, apparently) and could never get past the first question, I found myself being met at the airport by Geof and Tim. Erin was still at work, at Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (the US version).

I was not prepared for the strange feeling of riding in a car after two weeks of virtually nothing but boats.

At some point, on the drive to Erin's apartment in Astoria, or once we were there, it was decided that we would have dinner that night at a Venetian restaurant. After a little searching, we decided on Le Zie, a Venetian restaurant on 7th Avenue. We arranged to meet Erin and Jimmy there, so Tim, Geof and I headed out after a little relaxing, dispensing of Venetian gifts (sans dessert-grade balsamic . . . ) and a shower for me who felt totally disgusting after spending the last million hours traveling in the same clothes.

We had a great meal at Le Zie, including cichetti, spritzes for those over 21, various main courses and dessert.

We did not have the "meats of death" platter, although Nora would have appreciated the speck and mortadella.

I did have to tell the waiter what a spritz was, and so I didn't have much hope that it would taste very authentic. Authentic, by the way, is the way they make spritzes at Pontini. Because Nora is quite picky about her spritz, I figured I learned from the best. However, the spritzes were quite good, although on the more citrusy side. Geof, Erin and Jimmy each enjoyed theirs, too.

After an excellent dinner, we headed home. At midnight I pointed out that since I had now been awake for 24 hours, I was going to bed. And so I crashed, finally, on the pull-out couch, to sleep very soundly for the next eight hours.

Food was apparently quite important on this trip, since I seem to have taken lots of pictures of food and beverages. I now submit several pictures from establishments that Nora and I visited during my stay.

Ristorantechinatown always made us laugh. We sat outside here the night of the Redentore fireworks, ate Chinese-Italian food and watched the decorated boats go by. This restaurant is on the Canale di Cannaregio, right by Nora's apartment.

The wine menu from the enoteca Timon, where we often had a spritz or prosecco and once, cichetti.

This is where, after spending time on the beach, we decided to have dinner and beer. Although we had sworn not to have pizza while I was visiting, pizza is pretty much all this place served. The Adriatic is just beyond the beer glasses.

We never ate at the Ristorante Gam Gam, a kosher restaurant that hosted long tables full of orthodox Jews each Saturday who sang during their meal. This, too, is on the Canale di Cannaregio.