14. Venice

What a fabulous but rather tiring day in a beautifully warm and sunny Venice. We were up on deck at 7.30 at dawn and all the familiar landmarks were illuminated just as the sun was beginning to rise and as we made our way slowly and majestically up through the city towards our berth. Following breakfast we caught the shuttle boat for the ride down to St Marks Square, and from there headed towards the Rialta Bridge area via the Bridge of Sighs. A number of small souveniers were bought and we wandered through the colourful Rialta market (described in the guide books as arguably the best market in the world, and I'm certainly not going to argue!).
We then had a lunch consisting of pizza and tiramisu at a cafe alongside the Grand Canal and overlooking the Bridge. Batteries recharged we meandered through the narrow thronged streets and over countless bridges and canals and ended up in the Acadamia area. Rather than retrace our steps we took the Gondala crossing back to the other side of the Grand Canal, saving ourselves a twenty minute walk and once again found ourselves back in St Marks Square.
As the queue was very short, we rode the lift to the top of the bell tower in the square and took in the fantastic views of the city and for miles around. Very strangely, when we got out of the lift at the top of the tower the first people we saw were Frances and Christina who unbeknown to us were in the queue just a few minutes ahead of us!
By this time, feet were beginning to ache so all that remained was to treat ourselves to a cooling and refreshing gelato from one of the numerous stalls near the Square. I daresay that we have taken more photographs today than in all the other days of the holiday combined.

Thus we are now back on board the ship and the sad task of packing bags for the homeward journey is almost complete. We do not have to disembark until after lunch tomorrow, so provided I have a few minutes of Internet time left, I will try and post one last bulletin.