Friday morning, we went through the usual routine of packing our ever-expanding suitcases and planning our day out over breakfast. That morning we were heading to Venice - which was only an hour and half from our hotel.

We drove to Venice, and crossed the long bridge and parked our car on the west side of the city. Venice is a city of canals - no roads - so everything is adapted for life on the water… instead of having city buses for public transport, they have boats! We bought tickets for the boat and headed to the main tourist area of piazza san Marco. The ride was about 45 min in a hot, crowded bus - did I mention it was 37 degrees in Venice that day?

We arrived in piazza st marco, and admired the beautiful church covered in detailed mosaics. Still in the square, we stayed to watch the astrological clock change hours and see the statues on top ring the bell. Seeing as I had been to Venice before, I took on the role as guide and brought the group to the famous rialto bridge over the grand canal. We opted to stay in the area for lunch and enjoyed a view of the water as we ate.

Of course, the most important icon of the city, and most obligatory experience in Venice is a gondola ride. We found a nice gondolier who took us on a leisurely ride through the canals. He also gave us some history of the islands and pointed out landmarks along the way (such as Marco Polo's house). The history of the gondola is that when Venice was first made, there were no bridges, so every family had a gondola to get around. We noticed that there are many, many churches in Venice, this is also linked to the original lack of bridges - every little island needed its own church.

After our gondola ride, we decided to escape the heat of the crowded city and head back to the main land. We stayed at a lovely hotel just 30 minutes outside Venice, in a little town called Padova. I think I got too much sun because I went to bed very early and slept all the way through until morning.