San Giorgio Maggiore

We've had a great day today, starting with breakfast which was like afternoon tea at the Ritz! We were brought a three tier cake stand (see my extras) with fresh fruit, yoghurts and cake, a basket full of croissants and bread rolls, individual pots of jam and then we could choose our 'main course'. I had scrambled eggs with sausages.

Because we had such a feast, we didn't need lunch so it actually saved us quite a lot of money!

The weather this morning was quite pleasant so we decided to walk to St Marks Square, crossing the Rialto Bridge instead of getting the water taxi. We're at the 'Dorsoduro' area, close to the bus/train station so it's quite a distance to Piazza San Marco but we're both glad we decided to walk as we went down some interesting side streets and saw a lot that we'd have missed. And believe it or not, we actually bumped into the French people from yesterday! Not only once, but time and time again - it's quite amazing considering we're not staying in the same hotel.

We kept having a chat each time we crossed paths, and Serge, one of the guys was a comedian and kept joking, but it's quite difficult for me to understand French jokes lol! They're really lovely people and when I told them we were here for mum's birthday, they took it in turn to kiss her and wish her a happy birthday (their photo is also in my extras).

We finally made it to St Mark's Square, by which time it was raining quite heavily, so we went in a cafe within the arches around the square, and had a drink. We were also entertained by their resident band playing traditional Italian songs.

Mum suggested we go inside the Church, so we queued up but it was worth it, it was very impressive. We then went to find our gondola for tonight as I didn't want to be rushing, and then headed back (by water taxi) to the hotel to put our feet up for an hour and to get changed.

At 5pm we caught the boat back to St Mark's Square and then had our gondola ride which was wonderful, followed by dinner in a canal side restaurant. Then our return journey was as the sun was setting hence the fabulous light on San Giorgio Maggiore which is a little island just off Venice. I was also able to get some night shots during our journey along the Grand Canal which had made it difficult to choose my blip tonight.

It's been really fabulous, despite the rain!

We have an early start tomorrow - we're going island hopping to Murano and Burano
So I'll say good night - hope you have a good weekend!