Wonderful day in Venice

Saturday 10-10-15  
Today we set off on the tram around 9.15 am for a day in Venice. Ben took us on a 2 hour walk around Venice and its beautiful canals. We had so many highligts it's difficult to remember them all. We visited St Marks Basilica, Rialto Bridge, Basilica  San Giorgio Maggiore and explored the canals and shopping areas, down the tiny narrow streets. Our group met up again at 12 midday to go on a fantastic gondola ride through some of the canals. There were six of us on our gondola and we were the more senior group and may have been the more weightier group too.....so I don’t think our gondalier was too happy. We had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves but the gondalier didn't say a word so no tip for him. By the time we had finished this we were ready for some lunch. We were really keen to find the great pizza place Ben took us to last night as we were so happy with the €5 meal deal. Well if you know anything about Venice, every canal and lane-way looks the same but we were determined. After about 40 minutes of walking and back-tracking and a bit of shopping, we rejoiced when we found our pizza man. Once again a huge slice of delicious pizza, a drink and 2 scoops of gelati was consumed with smiles on our face. The owner thought we'd done a great job finding our way back to his shop. 
After lunch we decided to by a 24 water-bus pass to see more of the area around Venice. Our first stop was the island of Murano, famous for  the elegant glass-blown products. Well the women in the group went mad with excitement at the beautiful glass. More shopping! We took the water bus back to the main part of Venice and spent the rest of the late afternoon walking and shopping.  After a late, light dinner we walked back to the tram terminal to head back to the hotel. It was an amazing and beautiful day and one we won't forget.