On Monday we left Florence & headed to Venice. On the way we had a good stop at Bologne, not a place I knew much about. A lovely guide called Natalie showed us around town. Was quite an interesting place with a significant history of resistance fighting during WW2. This proved to quite influencing of the outcome of the war for Italy. Bologne also had an amazing array of designer shops. They seem to be everywhere over here! from there onto Venice. Lovely for me to return & Charlie to check out for the first time. Our Hotel was great,directly opposite St Mark's Square, 5 minutes by shuttle boat. It previously had been a Monastry then a young lady's finishing school before being abandoned & subsequently reclaimed & done up by the exclusive Bauer Hotel chain 2 yrs ago. While there we had a number of rides around the canals,did lots of sightseeing eg. Bridge of Sighs, checked out a Murano glass making factory. We also had 2 lovely evening meals by the water, one with our group & the other the 2 of us. Venice is so unique in what it offers we both could have stayed for a week! Unfortunately this couldn't happen but how lucky to have spent time there at all! It's Kate's birthday today so we rang her early this morning before heading to the spa town of Chianciano Terme our base for the next 2 nights.