There's Daniele up in the front of the bus, preparing his group for Venice.  First lesson:  "Venice is a fish."

Well, it is.  Look at this:

See?  It's a fish.  It's also about 117 islands, 150 canals and 400 bridges.

Here are Margia, Claudia and Sid getting ready for their first boat ride in Venice.

Off we go in a water taxi.

When was the last time you rode in a mahogany taxi?

The police, patrolling the streets.

One of the 400 bridges.

Negotiating the streets of Venice.

And the boulevards.

We had great weather on this trip.  Hot, but great.

What's that over there?  A bunch of silly tourists on some phony bologna gondola excursion, complete with a singer accompanied by an accordionist?  You won't catch us doing anything like that.  Nosirreee.

Ridiculous.

A Catholic church.  Santa Maria della Salute.

Oh look, a cruise ship.  And that golden globe on the right sits on top of a customs house built 1677.  The globe and the Atlas figures holding it are the work of Bernardo Falcone.  I learned all this on the Internet after I returned home.

We're approaching Piazza San Marco.

Getting closer.

Almost there.

And here it is.  Pigeons and tourists in abundance.  Piazza San Marco.

The heart of Venice.

And here we are in our hotel, just up an alley and around a corner from Piazza San Marco.  Really a fantastic location.  And yes, that's a canal outside the doorway.

They served us something red.  Not sure what it was.