Day 2, we walked to the Rialto Bridge and took the vaporetto down the Grand Canal for our e-ticket ride to the Academmia Bridge, then sat right on the Grand Canal at Ca' Foscari, had pizza and watched the parade of boats go by for a couple of hours (my husband likes it because it has "real" Lowenbrau).
Last day we went to St. Mark's Basilica first thing before it opened--a must see of dazzling grandeur--what a collection of jewel encrusted religious treasures. I especially loved the mosaics in the floor. We stood in line for about 1/2 hour.
Then we walked and walked, went over the Rialto Bridge, found Cantina do Mori, and wandered that side of the canal which we had not done before, through a very non-touristy area down to the Accademia Bridge, stopping at one point on a little side street to have a drink and use their facilities and again watch the parade of passersby, and then went over the Accademia Bridge and all the way back to St. Mark's--one big loop. We had dinner at Osteria Ae Sconte--terrific fresh seafood--our favorite meal in Venice, they gave us prosecco to start, and as everywhere we had dinner thoughout this trip thay gave us little glasses of Limoncello afterwards. Then we walked over to the Rialto Bridge and took the vaporetto down the Grand Canal after dark--what a ride! That's where we shot the majority of our pictures and it was a great way to end our trip.
Next morning we took another water taxi to Santa Lucia station (and got another scenic ride in the process--the driver encouraged us to stand up front with him so as not to miss a single beautiful thing), and caught our train to Florence. The taxi wasn't cheap, but it bought us peace of mind. We sat on the train next to a couple who said they'd nearly missed the train because the vaporetto they were supposed to take never arrived and they didn't have time to wait for the next one, so they took a water taxi too.
Next report: Siena.