I'm on my return flight and wanted to give an update.

We dined for lunch at Alle Testiere on Saturday and lunch at Da Carletto on Sunday. Lunch was our main meal for the day. Given the heat I was glad that we made our main meal a leisurely lunch. By midday we were ready to sit down and get a break.

At Alle Testiere I had squid with black ink and grilled polenta and my boyfriend had cod with grilled polenta. The black ink squid was truly an outstanding dish. I also had a scallop dish as a starter.

My boyfriend and I both liked Da Carletto. It featured all around good dining. Our bill came to around 90 euros. I had 3 dishes, my boyfriend had 2 dishes, we had two very large bottles of water and I had a glass of prosecco. I had a shrimp and zuchini starter, seabass with sliced potato, and grilled vegetables at Da Carletto. I can see how Da Carletto would be a good place to take kids. They also brought us some free lemoncello.

I had our concierge make reservations in advance at both places. Alle Testiere was about 80 percent full at lunch with reservations (I saw his chart) and they had a few walk ins. We were the only reservations at Da Carletto but two other tables came in. I'd never used a concierge before to make reservations but at both places we got the best seat in the house. Both restaurants worked with me on gluten free.

We randomly walked by Da Ignacio. The menu had a lot of choices and the dining room was a lot larger than most in Venice.

We also walked by Harry's. I was thinking it was on St Marks Square but it is actually on the water.

It was hot (and I live in Florida). I'd encourage women traveling to Venice in July and August to pack cotton or linen sundresses or linen outfits. Bring the coolest clothing you own.

I took the boyfriend down to St Marks square at 8:00 pm in the evening and the crowds were not too bad at that time.
We avoided St Marks square during the day and also avoided Rialto bridge during the day to stay clear of the crush of people.

On the tourist menus I noticed the following as I walked around: fake gelato running between 2 and 6 euro a serving, slice of pizza between 3 and 8 euro a slice, plate of pasta with oil on it running 10 euro and included bread. I saw a lot of tourists sitting outside with a giant plate of pasta that had maybe olive oil on it
and nothing else and a plate of bread and these were 10 euro. It looked sad. Better meals can be had in Venice at the same price point.

Accademia Bridge is under construction. This is frustrating as the temporary bridge has really tall plywood sides so you cannot see the canal when you cross the temporary bridge.

Ca Pisani Hotel still has a great breakfast and they brought in gluten free breads for me!

A lot of the AirBnB folks with reservations seemed to have problems finding their units. We encountered a number of couples dripping with sweat, pulling luggage and really struggling to find their AirBnB units.

Thanks to everyone for the help.