Reluctantly we left Venice yesterday and caught the train to Verona. It was hot in Venice when we left and even hotter on arrival in Verona. A little travel weary we found the apartment and rang Gesine to let us in. After a 20 minute wait a 70 odd year old Gesine arrived on her Mary Poppins bike. There now occurred one of those events in life that you just have to go along with. Gesine, with as much English as we have Italian, prepared nibbles and wine that we ...

Our last day in Venice, the highlight a visit to the Basilica in St Marks Square. You can still get access to the balcony overlooking the square, the views are spectacular. We have buzzed around on the local bus/boat the Vaporetti, getting to know the Grand Canal like Haddon Road. Sad to leave today but Verona calling.

We toured the Doges Palace yesterday morning and saw all the splendour, all those art masterpieces and gold leaf images. The building itself is a wonder, it was a pleasure to do it. In truth Venice has so many treasures that can be discovered with maps and guide books, but also gems can be found by wandering the bewildering allies and canals. We had a lovely afternoon walk, away from the crowds enjoying it just as much as the star must-see sights. One more day ...

Fantastic day yesterday in busy and surprisingly hot Venice. We hit all the tourist buttons, got lost (tick), all those bridges walked over (tick), fed up with all those (ahem other) tourists (tick). But Venice is an amazing City that rewards you for any efforts made. And due to the wonders of wi Fi I kept in twitter touch with that other City winning again, Wembley time, woooohoooo.

Wow, what a perfect first day in Venice. Flight, transfer by sea, apartment all first class. But Venice is the main bonus, what a wonderful city, so much to see and do, we made a great start on day zero.