In Italy, nobody really bothers much about the rules 

Via Forte Marchera - this is a road in the town of Mestre. This town has roads, and cars, and roads and lots of land. 15 mins across a bridge, you reach Venice and the whole landscape changes. Choosing a hotel in Mestre makes a lot of sense, not just because of the huge price difference  

ATTENTION: CANINE FRIEND WILL SHOW NO MERCY IF IT FINDS YOU IN CLOSE QUARTERS 

Boarding a Vaporetto at teh Piazzale Roma bus/Vaporetto stop 

Taking a trip down the Grand canal in a Vaporetto or public boat 

This building had a sculpture of a Skull and something like a scroll under it... Any guesses what this signifies 

Flags = hotel 

The Da Vinci museum in Venice. The Vitruviuan man is located here 

Some houses along the canal. People here have their own motorized boats. The concept of cars dont exist 

Some tourists enjoying a morning ride on a Gondola. There is no fun in taking a gondola ride along the Grand canal. Choose some of the smaller, canals that criss cross the lagoon. They have much more personality and much less tourist hullabaloo 

RIALTO - one of the most famous of venetian landmarks.  

The Rialto, from up close. We hope to be coming here later in the evening today 

A house with orange exteriors and a green shutter. Somehow the colour was standing out 

A arch bridge along the canal 

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Peggy was the neice of Solomon R Guggenheim, whose ultra slick museum in New York houses some of the great treasures of modern art 

A building with an interesting patchwork painting on its wall 

A hotel along the Grand Canal. Wherever you see all these flags, you know its a Hotel. The rooms in most of these places are very small, but the prices are sku high, often hitting 150-200 Euros for a double room ! 

The Salvatore church  

Its shopping time... In venice, there are shops selling all kinds of colourful stuff linig every street and piazza 

An artist passes time reading a book...... The works of some of the people were really good  

Masks for sale in the shops lining the paths leading up to the piazza 

A close-up of one of the Venetian Carnivale Masks. They are available in many different shapes and sizes 

More shops... 

My experiments with variable focus photography 

In the back is the Basilica of Saint Mark (San Marco Basilica) and the courtyard is the Piazza San Marco