En route to Venice we stopped at Verona to see Juliet's balcony. The balcony was such a gimmick (shock, horror) but it was cool to see Verona in any case, and the boys got to touch Juliet's boob for 'sexual prosperity' (yeah, any excuse!). Venice was absolutely amazing - as all of Italy has been. After a walking tour of the city, including glass and lace making demonstrations, we went on a gondola ride - yey! As you can see from the photo, we weren't going to let the absence of eligible bachelors stand in the way of a relaxing cruise through the canals! Oh, and just for amusement I'll share the pigeon story with you. In every city there are people who insist on feeding the pigeons and it is really annoying. In Venice they've taken a very proactive approach to this, however. They now sell pigeon feed to tourists for 1 Euro, and they add a contraceptive to it to keep pigeon numbers under control. How good is that! Well, I was amused... The second night in Venice we had a very messy toga party (aren't they always?!) which was great fun. And yes, mum, the toga stayed on ;)