Today was an over full day of activities in Venice, with clear blue skies....what a treat, making it easy to take far too many scenic pics of the city, canals and people (mostly quite touristy, traditional pis that many of you already have, so forgive me if you find this just a little ho hum, but as a first time Venice visitor I am sure you will understand me for getting caught up in the city's delights, sights and sounds) as we ventured out on a journey of discovery. 
After an adequate breakfast in our room provided in-house, we set out for San Marco, retracing our weary footsteps of last night. Apart from being continually disoriented here and often setting off in the wrong direction, my map also often gave me the wrong impression of distances - often what I thought was a 15-20 minute walk, turned out to be only 5 mins away. Thank goodness for helpful locals in shops and cafes who patiently pointed me in the right direction a few times, and thanks to JJ for her patience when I arrived late at our agreed meeting point after getting lost! 
Our first point of call was (as we have done in other cities) the local Information Center to check out 'must see' sights and sites, and to see what bargains could be had with either a city or museum / church pass - ie either discounted tickets or free entry to selected venues. Not unexpectedly (after yesterday's train fiasco) the main info centre marked on my map was closed, so we went on to the other 'I' not on my map and found it in the corner of San Marco. Despite our previous experience of dismissive (and clearly overworked staff in some info centres) this time our contact was a very patient and helpful young lady who listened carefully to what each of us wanted to see (some slight differences), and when we made our purchase of church / museum entry packages, she made thoughtful recommendations - and we were off to explore.
But first a quick aside, when we arrived at the info centre a gentleman (or man anyway) was in a very animated discussion with the other young lady behind the counter and our girl seemed to be helping her to sort out an issue...it apparently didn't go the man's way because half way through our discussions, he interrupted our conversation and got even more animated at our contact person. They the exchanged a lot of hand waving, voice raised retorts and eventually he stormed out of the office. 'Our girl' was very calm and apologised to us for the demanding nature of the man, who had had kept other tourists waiting - noting that Italians don't like being told no or that this info centre could not help with some things... Regardless, I found the incident quite entertaining and throughout our time in Italy have very much enjoyed observing 'the Italian way' of expression.
And another quick aside on the crowds. At the end of several weeks travel during which we have been very lucky re the lack of crowds, except for part of our day at Plitvicke, and in recognition of the impact on my emotional resilience when faced with crowds and not much personal space, I chose for much of my wandering time in Venice to stay well away from the major attractions full of tour groups, and take roads that took me in the opposite direction, then sit and observe less touristy areas, including a lot of everyday activities, including a lot of people with dogs (making me realise how much I miss the puppies at home).
My first stop was the triple museum option accessed from one end of San Paulo - the Royal Palace (an interesting serious of rooms that were elaborately decorated, showing the private and public rooms of various members of Italian royalty such as the 1838 ballroom, reception rooms etc), the Archeological Museum (displaying various artefacts from Roman and other times - I think, this did not capture my attention so much) and Biblioteca National (some interesting sketch-to model presentations, information about the city's arts and crafts - in particular the history of the city's guilds set up in the 14th century, 14th century paintings, costumes from 15th century, an exhibition recognising the 500th anniversary of the death of Giovani Bellini, the impact of Greek arts in the 16th and 17th century .... And so it went on).
But with an overdose of culture, I needed some sunshine so after a short walk around the exhibits I headed for the Rialto Bridge and had a few hours for some serious freeform wandering. The Rialto Bridge is under repair / reconstruction (with a lot of work being done at night as we discovered on our way back to our accommodation after dinner one night), and was covered which is fine, but I was disappointed to see a large advert on the outside - see pic! Clearly there is a fine line line between the preservation of history and commercial reality!
My next several hours included some shopping for those at home (can't resist some Morano glass jewellery and silver work and other Italian designed offerings), taking in several churches (which is actually the end of my interest in European churches and their various integrations) including the Church of Santa Maria Giovani and another one dating from 9th century with a conversion to a more gothic style in 14th and 15th centuries, then another remake in the early 1800's! This last one was quite beautiful with its simplicity, and was great for a break and contemplation of its long history and those who had gone before.
I then got lost but eventually made my way back to meet JJ late, but importantly had spotted a supermarket to which we returned later to stock up on provisions!
After a short touring break fuelled by a refreshment or two, we set out to meet up with a Free Walking Tour. A big thanks to JJ for introducing me to these - I won't go into it here but our Guide for the 3 hour tour was absolutely fantastic, and with no set format or commercial expectations to meet he (Adam) shared his passion for and interest in the city with us, and gave us plenty of opportunities to ask questions and quiz him about things that interested each of us. 
So what was different to what we would hear on a commercial tour? Essentially Adam left out the stuff that you can read in a tour guide or read in wickipaedia, injected his passion for sharing his knowledge and gave a lot of insights into life in the city, what to do and what not to do, where to eat etc....but he started at the start and I was interested in pretty much everything he said. I took comprehensive notes and have just made a list of his most interesting bits which taught me facts I didn't really know or understand very well - as always, I am happy to elaborate over red wine!
Venice was established on muddy, sandy islands in the middle of a large lagoon, by 5th century Roman peasants. Today Venice is made up of 120 islands connected by 400 bridges. Pretty much each island has a church and square (previously a grassy area for cattle to graze on), and is constructed with wooden pylons rammed into the sand, brick walls and layers of stone.
The nature of the sandy base, aligned with rising sea levels and that water in the bricks makes them deteriorate when salt gets into them and expands, means that Venice is sinking, for some islands more than others. High tides coupled with the river flooding results in winter water depths of calf-high water in some streets (called Aqua alta) so gum boots are essential and lots of places have movable barriers in the doorways to keep the water out. Also, a major project 'project Moses' will attempt to inhibit the high times but as it will reduce the flow of fresh water into the lagoon that Venice is in the middle of - which will in turn impact on the local ecology, so it is only a short term solution. 
In quite a few squares (piazza) there are stone wells that collect the runoff from the surface of each island and the drains - but today most of Venice's water is pumped in from the Dolomites.
There were no sculptures in Venice until the 18th century, so they are all 'quite modern'.
Adam briefly went into the history of Venice and I won't pretend to be able to accurately summarise what he said, but key points include Venice's place on the Silk Road and so was important with Europe's trade with the East; as it was settled by Roman peasants there was originally no aristocracy, which emerged over time to be the richest families; in the absence of a ruling family the Doge was appointed to rule; a major impact of the plague; decline of Venice's importance in the 15th - 18th centuries (called the Golden Autumn); the end of the Venetian republic when it was given to Napoleons in 1797; then he traded it to Austria for Belgium.
Various rules exist to preserve authentic buildings of particular ages (as there are some fakes of older times) including a pretty unattractive 1970's building (the main bank) but as it is representative of its era it is maintained. Note too that a very modern hospital was built behind the preserved facade of a much older building. 
A ride on one of the famous gondolas costs E80 before 7.00pm and E100 after then. Adam recommended taking a ride in one of the less public canals, and to interview prospective gondoliers to make sure you get one who will be an informative guide (not just one his mobile as we saw a few). Also, all but 2 gondoliers are men and they have to complete 5yrs training and pass a comprehensive exam to qualify.
While our tour mostly stayed away from the main touristy areas, we did spend a bit of time looking at the Basilica Di San Marco and heard about the bits and pieces that make up the front facade - I refer you to a guide book or wicki for accurate details. Then to the Palazzo Ducale (the Doge's Palace); how the Doge decided the fate of criminals, pleasing the crowds with various sentencings; the horrific conditions in the 3 tiers of prison (including the bottom one where prisoners were shackled in tiny cells that flooded twice daily when the tide came in); the relevance and meaning of the Bridge of Sighs; and the impossible to walk around a column that prisoners were given one last chance on before being executed (if you don't know about this I can tell you - it is interesting).
Also to one side of the square is the large Astrological Clock, which chimes on the hour, which sits on a large tower - one of many in the city. I did not give the various towers much attention, except of the one that is noticeably leaning (see pic) because of the sinking and moving island structures. With more time I would have loved to climb several of the towers, but time did not permit and the thought odd doing it in a crowd was not appealing.
Across the Grand Canal there are two very large churches - San Giorgio Maggiore (the outside of which apparently changes colour in different light because of the way that the finish to the Istrian stone that makes it up refracts light, inside the light does interesting things too and is a structure similar to that of the Parthenon - but a smaller proportion) and the Santa Maria della Salute. Both are imposing but weren't on my list to visit this time. 
Food and drink - Adam gave a brief run down on how to find good, Venetian food and drink at the right price which is essentially to avoid restaurants with long, comprehensive menus and go for ones which have short menus that reflect the day's purchases at the markets. He also recommended eating in restaurants called bacaros (a bit like tapas bars) which offer small dishes and you stand at the bar or high tables.
We went to a used book shop - the Aqua Alta Bookstore - ranked as one of the top 10 in the world. Most books are stores in containers such as bathtubs, a gondola, tubs etc, so they aren't damaged in the floods.
And lots of other interesting tit bits such as the metal barriers in the corner of some streets to stop guy a from urinating in the dark corners. 
With the fabulous tour behind us we found a comfortable restaurant for dinner, and after a very full on day enjoyed tucking up in bed.