After an incredibly quick flight we arrived at Venice airport yesterday and ventured out before Pip and Dave arrived. We are staying at a fabulous hotel which is next to where the public bus arrives from the airport, a tidy 8 Euro each it was a relatively painless experience to get to our hotel. The AC Hotel Venezia is one I would highly recommend, it has a really cool Italian vibe that I could easily see George or Brad ( Clooney /Pitt) sitting across when I have my morning espresso ( well really cappuccino)..

But I digress..we have an awesome it’s to explore.

Wandering through the windy streets of this fabulous city is a joy, particularly as thousands of people had converged for St. Marks Day and the opening of the Thanksgiving Bridge. An easy ride up to the top of St Marks Bell Tower gave us an awesome view of the city.

And gave us an opportunity to see the storm that was looming. This followed by a simple dinner of pasta and pizza accompanied by a local rose gives you a glow that says hey isn’t it great to be alive and the chance to see a fireworks display over the great canal you know it doesn’t get much better than this.

An early start, given that this was our first full day in Venice we made our way to St. Marks. Today we visited the Musei Di Piazza San Marco, St. Marcos Basilica and Doges Palace.. wow ! In between visits to Europe you kind of forget how entirely fantastic and completely over the top these buildings are, and I love it! A tip for those who haven’t been to Venice before when you book your tour to St. Marcos (loved Roberta our very patient tour guide) it included entry to the Musei and will save you 20 euros…

They sure know how to do a great ceiling!

As another day draws to close with a very disappointing 18,000 steps today (yesterday was 25,000).. the tricky decision of where to get our fill of fine pasta. Just down the road from our wonderful hotel are a bevie of restaurants where we can drink the “it” drink of this summer as well as try local(ish) cuisine, tonight I had spaghetti with lobster ..yum. Venice is a great destination to spend with great friends and we all agree that we could have had another full day here at least as we are heading to Florence just after lunch.. yep it’s tough!