Trafalgar Day 6 - Venice

A full day in Venezia! Bus across to the island, then in to the 'boat port' on a 'motoscafi' - somewhat similar to chartered bus but on water. Tania did some map orientation in St Mark's Square, then took us to a glass blowing demonstration at Murano Glass - 5 minutes of glass blowing (which actually looks like it would take some incredible skill for the difficult pieces) then 20 minutes of sales pitch! We hightailed it out of the expensive glass place before they forced us to part with our money! We spent most of the day shopping - mainly window, but Meredith added to her shoe collection. We thought Venice would be impossible to navigate with all the little streets, but on most corners there are signs that give directions to the closest landmark, e.g. 'Per San Marco' for St Mark's Square, or 'Per Rialto' for the Rialto bridge.
Stopped for lunch - choice are semi-limited, generally pizza or pasta! Pizza it was - Hawaiian for Meredith, Al Pollo (chicken) for Will. Then gelati, and a leisurely stroll to our Gondola Serenade! Our group had 2 gondolas, 6 in one, 4 in the other with an accordian player & singer. We went for a 35 minute ride, first under the Bridge of Sighs, then along some bigger then smaller canals, ending up back where we started. It was quite nice, and we even stole a quick kiss while the others were distracted!
After the gondolas, we had a bit of a better look at St Mark's Cathedral (from the outside) which has some quite ornate sculptures, carvings and mosaics as part of the main facade. More shopping & a cup of fresh fruit each from a market stall, then we had a few more hours to kill as the others had gone on a dinner cruise. We had our dinner at a restaurant not far from the lunch one, where we sat outside and watched the world go by. Will had an awesome gnocchi arabiatta (not on the menu, had to ask for it!) & Meredith grilled chicken and grilled vegetables. Meredith had been looking for the Ferrari store all afternoon but was afraid to ask - so Will practised his limited Italian & asked the waiter - it was right around the corner! We zipped in to have a look - there was some very very expensive things! A real F1 steering wheel mounted on wood for €4800. They also had the actual car Michael Schumacher drove in the 2002 F1 series in the store!
With our mission over, we sat in a cafe, shared a fruit salad sundae, had a coffee / hot chocolate whilst watching the black market bag/purse/belt/art sellers try and flog their wares to the unsuspecting tourists. Eventually our boat to the bus stop came back, a short ride then time to turn in for the night.