Day 223, 12 February 2013, Venice! Venezia! Gondolas and bridges, canals and islands, masks and magic and major glass art! Can't help it, have to do another entry for today. We arrived into Venice / Venezia at about 8 pm and were happily stunned to find our hotel less than five minutes walk from the train station. Just because it says that when you book it, doesn't mean it always happens. We're booked at the Hotel Belle Epoque and were blown away at the Venetian elegance in the lobby. Which carried right through to one of the prettiest rooms we've had on the trip so far. And certainly the first room that's been upholstered - golden silk lines the walls and the lights are all Murano glass. Wow. To think we simply grabbed this hotel because it actually had a vacancy for the last night of Carnevale... the hotel fairy godmother was smiling. We literally dropped the bags, locked the door and headed out to get in amongst the crazy exhilaration of Carnevale. Venice is officially our favourite city in Italy - just walking along the narrow lanes, seeing the canals around every corner and having gorgeous glass art glinting from every window is incredible fun. We even timed the weather - yesterday it snowed, this morning it rained and though we are a block from the canal, the floods were apparently lapping at the hotel's front door. (All courtesy of another guest who had heard the flood alarms beeping in the morning and went for a look.) We had a map, but it was completely unnecessary in terms of walking to Piazza San Marco, the main square. We just followed the masked merry makers and as we got closer, the rock music emanating from the massive free concert. Favourite song was the No Doubt classic, "I'm just a girl". Actually the first time either of us had been to a concert where all the announcements were in a foreign language. With our breath freezing in clouds around us, we eventually wandered back to the hotel, peering in shop windows, photographing costumed party goers and looking at the stunning views around every corner. Can only imagine how much fun it will be in daylight....