Today's goals were (1) Gondola ride, (2) San Marco's Basilica, (3) Palazzo Dulce, (4) Bridge of Sighs, (5) Bell Tower, and (6) wander the streets of Venice.

For dinner last night we'd eaten at a small local restaurant and had met the owner, a very nice older man. As we were leaving last night he invited us to his restaurant today for cheese at noon. So our day started off by wandering in the general direction of the restaurant. We arrived at his restaurant and he sat the 4 of us at a private table in the back. His first question to us was "white or red?" (He meant wine and it was only 12pm). Having asked for white he brought out a litre of wine. He then proceeded to bring us a cheese platter and a platter full of cured meats. After finally finishing all of the cheese and meat, he asked if we'd like some spaghetti (of course). We got a gnocchi dish and a caprese salad. Between the 4 of us we'd finally finished off the wine as the caprese salad arrived. This is when he brought us another litre of wine!!!! At this point Robyn said "we have too much wine", and we pointed out it's free wine and if this is the worst of our problems, we're doing just fine.

Not being able to finish all the wine we popped it in our water bottle (yes I know, classy), left him a 20 Euro bill (that's only 5 Euro per person for a fabulous lunch, which he kept refusing to take) and headed out to Venice at 2pm. We decided to start our to-do list by wandering the streets. We popped in and out of little stores, acquiring a few items along the way. We came across a cute store with Audrey Hepburn type dresses in the display (including gloves, pearls and all). Of course being 4 girls we headed in. I found a cute pink dress (which cost 450 Euro) and was convinced by the girls to try it on. I felt like a little dress up doll as the sales lady brough me shoes, jackets and other accessories to wear. At one point I was wearing a 450 Euro dress, a 950 Euro jacket, expensive black shoes (price unknown) and a 100 Euro belt. Needless to say my conscience got the better of me and I left empty handed.

At 4:30pm we'd finally arrived at the Piazzo de San Marco, where we explored the basilica and the palace. By the time we left the palace (Paluzzo Dulce) it was already 6:30pm, so we set off to take a few photos of the Bridge of Sighs and grab a gondola. We travelled through the canals of Venice, seeing the houses of Marco Polo and Casanova

Having checked off 5 of the 6 items on our list we headed to the Bell Tower. Fully expecting to have to climb the tower we were pleasantly surprised that we could take the elevator up, just in time to see the sunset over Venice.

Having completed out to-do list we got ready for a nice Venetian dinner by the canal, including a squid dish Venetian style (in a black ink sauce).

We finished the night drinking a few glasses of wine at the apartment and sharing stories. Another fabulous day on a fabulous trip. Tomorrow we travel to Cinque Terre.....