We left Switzerland and spent two and a half days in Venice. Lindsay wished for more, but I'm sure we'll be back there someday. We took the Vaparetto's (water busses)on the Grand Canal wherever we could, but since it is Venice's main form of transportation, you must pack in them like sardines. We arrived at night after a delayed train ride and headed straight for a cafe for some good pasta and vino. Our full first day included trips to San Marco Piazza, San Maria Ferarri, and San Maria Salute. We got to see famous paintings by Bellini and Donatello, and Sculptures by Titian. Although San Marco is probably the most popular tourist attraction in Venice with The Palace Ducale on one side of the plaza and St. Mark's on the other, we decided to escape the droves of people and pigeons and wander some side streets. I can't believe that people actually find it amusing to feed those filthy birds and have them stand on them for pictures. People in NY would be kicking them across the street. I found out that there was a world architecture expo in Venice from Sept. through October. Lindsay went with me to the first exhibit on the first day which sampled 20 large cities from around the world due to their rapid population growth and how they are dealing with susainability issues. Considering that 10% of the people on earth lived in urban areas 100 years ago, and now over 50% of the population lives in urban areas, supposedly increasing to 75% by 2050. I won't bore anyone anymore, but just thought I would share a little something that is near to my heart in my industry and let Carlos know that I'm not just goofing off for two months:) That evening we got a little dressed up probably for the first time on our trip and saw a concert performed in a small performance hall(probably from the 15th century) where we heard a small group perform concerto's from Vivaldi and a couple from Mozart., and of course ate more Italian food!! Our last day included another trip back to the Architectural exhibits of countries, while Lindsay did some shopping and ghelatto hunting. And I finally got suckered into paying for an overpriced touristy Gondola ride through some of the lesser know parts of town. It was nice, but you only get a thirty minute ride for the cost of admission to Disney in the states. We ate one more time on the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge and left on an overnight sleeper train to Vienna.