Day 225, 14 February 2013 - San Valentino Day - Venice, Italy. We coughed up €70 for our 3 day unlimited transport passes and merrily set off on a waterbus up the Grand Canal - Wow! Sun shining, birds singing, it was all happening. We stepped ashore at the Rialto Bridge which was packed with tourists - pretty sure Venice is the most photographed city in the world - because everything is gorgeous. We were fascinated to see a water "ambulanza" picking up a pat...

Day 224, 13 February 2013, Venice, Italy. Had a fabulous breakfast at the glorious Hotel Belle Epoque and ventured out in daylight. (Well, Italian fabulous.... eggs and meat were involved. Also, strangely, a lot of mayonnaise... but they did have muesli and the juice was more than tangentially related to actual fruit!) We walked from our Canareggio end of town through to the Rialto bridge and explored the nearby market. We are still fascinated by the gondola...

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 Venet...

Day 223, 12 February 2013. Florence (and off to Venezia/Venice tonight!) Packing day has come around all too soon, but quickly accomplished and we checked out and headed to the Accademia to visit Michaelangelo's "David". Beautifully displayed under a light filled dome, it was diabolically hard to resist taking photos (today's snap is of a replica in the Piazza della Signorina, just outside the Palazzo Vecchio). We also saw several unfinished works by the great...

Day 222, 11 February 2013, Pisa, Italy. We headed out after breakfast to explore the Mercato Centrale. It was foodie heaven (though awfully early in the day to be thinking of cured meats). The fruit and veges were superb and we think we've discovered the most expensive porcini mushrooms in the world - massive dried and sliced mushrooms for €15 per 100 gms (so an incredible €150 a kg!). We bought some fruit for the train trip to Pisa and also sourced the mo...