25th October Venice

Today we travelled through the Austrian Lake District, across the Italian border to the Byzantine city of Venice. I have always found that people either love Venice and say it's one of their favourite places, or that they found it to be a dirty smelly place. Well I now know which side of the fence I sit on...I LOVE VENICE!!!! From the moment we boarded the private water taxi's it has won me over (falling in love had NOTHING to do with the VERY attractive captains either)! We took private water taxi's up the Grand Canal which is lined with more than 170 buildings, most of which date from the 13th-18th century. We sailed under the Rialto Bridge, the oldest bridge across the canal in Venice and which was the dividng line for the districts of San Marco and San Polo. On the way I was able to see Palazzo Venier dei Leoni which belonged to Peggy Guggenheim and now houses her private art collection. After seeing the Guggenheim in Bilbao, and knowing there is one in New York, I was keen to also see this museum and plan to do it during my free time tomorrow. I also saw along the canal the basilica Santa Maria della Salute, which I had seen on the 'Sacred Destinations' website. After we disembarked our private taxi we walked through the streets of Venice which house the designer labels of Lois Vuitton etc and found ourselves at the location of where we were to take the Gondola ride. Five of us boarded our Gondola and headed off through the canals of Venice...drinking champagne! We emerged into the Grand Canal and joined three other boats from our group where we were serenaded by an Italian man...it was soooo much fun. We then headed back to buy our group shot on the Gondola and then we walked through some more streets of Venice and then found ourselves standing in the middle of the very impressive Piazzo San Marco (St Mark's Square), the principal public square of Venice. We looked at St Mark's Basilica and the Campanile (the bell tower of the Basilica), the clock tower and we marvelled at the cafe's and restaurants also in the surrounds. We then walked back past the Doge's Palace, the residence of the Doge of Venice and the supreme authority of the Republic of Venice. We then boarded a taxi and headed across the water to the Lido where out hotel was. This was at a much faster speed and more like 007 racing across the water in Venice. The only thing missing was Daniel Craig!!!