Day fourteen and we took the opportunity to get a bit of a sleep in before heading to Venice. After force feeding ourselves all of the food (2L tub of gelati included), beer and Powerade that we had stocked up on, we set off into town with our packs on.

We arrived at the station about 40 minutes later and found the morning tickets to Venice had all sold out. We purchased one for later in the day and checked our packs in at the station to save walking around with them.

Having a few hours to fill and feeling like we'd done enough site seeing the day before we headed to a park to relax.

Upon getting to the park, Sallie sprang to life, the Sunday market was there! So much for sleeping under a tree.

The market had some pretty dodgy stuff for sale but a few ok items as well. Looked like most of Florence had come down and emptied the contents of their garages on the lawn. From furniture to war memorabilia to some old-school phones/cameras and some useless nick-knacks - there was some serious junk here! Sallie was in heaven. Luckily I found a random dog to play with who only responded to Italian directions and we became the best of buddies - I still have both hands and no fleas too.

After a while we moseyed on into town and back to the station. I'm ashamed to say we stopped for some Italian Maccas and it was ordinary except for the chips.

On board the train Sallie and I were placed diagonally from each other. I was stuck opposite some woman who had walked off the set of 'Devil wears Prada'. She huffed and puffed her whole way to Venice as if everything was an inconvenience to her. I don't think she was impressed by me reading a Lego catalogue and laughing at the Greek characters.

We arrived in Venice and it really is a 'wow' place. In this world of special effects it can sometimes be tricky to remind yourself that what you are looking at is real. But, then an African man tries to sell you a handbag and you know what you're looking at can't be fake.

After realizing the B&B had translated the Italian directions into English with a few errors (before/after) we found our way there pretty easily.

Ca' Fontanea is a cute little place and quite venetian in style. The rooms are really spacious and the staff make a great effort to be helpful even with limited english.

The weather was great so we headed out to explore the canals and walkways. Just as we were about to leave Sallie realized she had left her shoes behind in Florence. Some how this was my fault!

After listening to her constant gloating about my slip in Greece, Sallie in all her hustling slipped down the steps at the B&B and smacked her funny-bone. There wasn't much laughing and after a few tears and a fully qualified examination by yours-truly we ventured out. One all now in the 'Oops!' trophy.

(Sallie here - it really hurt and I have the bruises to show it! Definitely wasn't laughing!)

We made our way to the Rialto Bridge and St Mark's Square and took in a few other sites as well. Mostly we just marveled at the design of the city. By this time the water level had begun to rise and most of the square was flooded, which was a bit strange but great for reflections.

We splurged a bit on dinner and quickly found that Venice has it's own currency - expensive. Parents look away as we both had calzones again.

We strolled back to the B&B as fireworks went off. We assume they were for Eurovision, not for us. Still a lovely introduction to Venice.

Signed Captain and Tennille.