They call you _m'soo_.) Once a meal is ordered it comes rapidly enough, but one has to be very hungry to enjoy it.

For the most part Venetian food is Italian food: that is to say, almost wholly veal and paste; but in the matter of fish Venice has her specialities.

There are, for examples, those little toy octopuses which on my first visit, twenty-five years ago, used to be seen everywhere in baskets at corners, but now have disappeared from the streets.

These are known as calamai or calamaretti, and if one has the courage to take the shuddering first step that counts they will be found to be very good.

But they fail to look nice.