A good train trip from Florence to Venice and the scenery was amazing even travelling at speed, we were on a Euro Star train. On arrival in Venice we quickly secured a water taxi to take us to our hotel. This was the quickest and easiest way to get to hotel and gave us time to sort out how the water buses worked. Our hotel was situated just off the grand canal and only a short walk from where the taxi set us down. After a few minutes to check in and dump the bags we headed for the S Marco square which was about 20 minute walk away. The shops were brimming with very beautiful things and it was hard to resist. After walking around the square dodging the guys selling seed for pigeons (who wants to feed pigeons) we set off along the grand canal to check out some of the back streets, Sharpie was convinced he would never see the hotel again but my sense of direction didn’t let us down. We stopped along the way for lunch in a great restaurant , we sat right beside the canal. The pizza was great ….I have eaten more pizza in a week that in the last 2 years. We then headed back to check out the Rialto bridge in drizzling rain. There are so many shops in every little alley way is more shops and more restaurants. Food, shopping and gondola rides were the three main things to do in Venice. It was amazing to watch people walking everywhere and I was really interested in how they do their deliveries, collect garage and get things around generally. We headed back to the hotel for a rest before heading out for dinner on the waterfront at night, unfortunately it was still raining so we didn’t venture too far along but it was very pleasant sitting by the water to eat. We slept well. No over weight people in Venice….they all have to walk everywhere.