So today was our big day to sightsee in Venice. We got off to a bit of a slow start, especially since we have regularly been getting up at 7am. The difference...our hotel room has these little green shutters outside the windows that when closed, keep the whole room very dark, just like our little 'hobbit hole' at home. This time, I slept in till 9am. Knowing that our free hotel breakfast ended at 10 I quickly showered and got ready...Matt stayed in bed! I ate breakfast by myself and looking down at my plate, realized that I will probably weigh 300 lbs when I get home. I had a croissant, nutella, coffee flavoured yoghurt, a little cheese triangle, and a cappuccino! Mmm, but it was so good!

We hit the streets of Venice by 10:30, and Matt stopped for pizza for breakfast...this truly is his dream holiday! We were much better at navigating the streets of Venice today and quickly found our way to St. Mark's Square. It was a pretty impressive sight and we were just starting to head toward the entrance when Matt realized he was not properly attired...he was wearing shorts. Oh dear! We decided not to bother lining up to view the cathedral, because it was pretty likely Matt would be turned away. Instead, we toured the Doge's Palace (the former government buildings and palace of the rulers of the Venetian republic). It was a pretty opulant display, with plenty of gold ornate ceiliings, classical artwork, and government propaganda. It's weird, but my favorite part of the tour was the cafeteria. I guess it was more of restaurant, but it was placed deep within what used to be the prison. We sat for a lunch of paninis, prosciutto and melon, and sparkling water, followed by espressos. The setting was pretty cool, an old brick dungeon, and we were sat next to a giant wooden doorway that opened to the blue green waters of the canals. I was shocked, but we even saw good sized fish in the water! Surprised, because the canal water is generally pretty dingy, filled with algae (I'm guessing due to sewage), and in places smells like perm solution.

After our visit to the Doge's palance we checked out the art museum that was included with our ticket, and then enjoyed the atmosphere of St. Mark's Square (check out the video we posted and you'll get a sense of it!). After this, we wondered the streets of Venice trying to get to the train station to make our reservation for our trip to Florence tomorrow. While walking sounds like a pretty easy thing to do, it's not so easy for us today. Both of us have aching legs and the heat has made our feet swell. We were so happy to come across this drinking fountain in one of the piazza's....we drenched our feet in the cold water, while the locals looked at us like we were crazy.

We were happy to make it back to our hotel for a short siesta before supper. At sunset, we headed out to soak up the atmosphere then found a small hotel to have dinner and enjoy a bottle of wine. We then tried to venture out to find a late night gelateria, but were a bit apprehensive about going to far....getting lost in Venice when the rats come out is not my idea of fun! So, our time in Venice is just about up. We catch a train to Florence at 10:45am. All in all, we are happy to leave here. We're glad to have seen Venice and soak up the atmosphere here, but it kind of feels a bit overcooked. There don't seem to be many people who actually live here. The city seems to exist only to cater to the stereotypical impressions of the tourists...romance, gondolas, glassware, yadda yadda yadda. We are both missing our little village in the Cinque Terre as this is much more the kind of Italy we came to see. We'll see how Florence strikes us....Goodnight.