what are the hi lights in Venice

in my humble opinion, the best way to maximize your visit is to spend a bit of time just wandering around. put the map away for a few hours and just enjoy what you stumble upon. When you're ready to get back to where you want, find a yellow sign on a building that directs you to San Marco, Rialto, the Train Station, etc. Also, be sure to enjoy one evening in Piazza San Marco - you don't have to sit down at one of the expensive cafes, but just standing around and enjoying the atmosphere is a memory I will have with me forever.

As for transportation, the only way to get around venice is by foot or by boat. the Vaporetti 1 and 82 go up and down the canal and there are passes available. Vaporetto information here. As for glass shops, many of them are on Murano but with only two days I really would not trek out to Murano (a separate island). You can find plenty of great glass shops in Venice itself, from outrageously expensive like Venini (has a shop right by San Marco) and down to places selling all kinds of junk. Just be careful not to buy Chinese imports of those and also the masks.
Finally, I'd get Rick's Venice book and read it first before you go. If you plan out your visit beforehand (and do Rick's lovely walking/boat tours), I think that's the best way to maximize two days. Venice is relatively small and while it takes a long time to really dig deep there, you can see quite a lot in two days :) For eating, the most important thing is to not eat in the touristy areas where the food is bad and expensive. Walking just a couple blocks away from the main touristy avenues was enough for me to get better and significantly cheaper meals. Have a great time! :)

I agree with Debra. The magic of Venice is wandering the back streets and discovering things. I loved Venice at dusk, most of the tourists are gone and the sight of twinking lights is beautiful. Enjoy, soak up the culture and it's people.

Try to work your way to the front of you vapareto (water bus) that you are taking into Venice and soak of the sites as you arrive down the canal. I agree about Venice at night and listening to the music from the cafes. If a gondola ride is not in you budget try to take a traghetto (Gondola's that take people across the Grand Canal in 2 spots. They are about 1/2 a Euro. A short ride but gives the flavor. Walk and get lost among the alleyways.

Gloria - you mentioned that you have 2 nights, but not how many days. Do you have 2 days or 1? If you have 2 days, I would spend a day island hopping (San Michelle, Murano, Burano) and the other wandering, visiting Doge's Palace (Secret Itineraries Tour), Basilica di San Marco, riding the vaporetto at night from the St. Lucia train station to the end (one stop past St. Mark's Square).

One of the things I enjoy is Rick Steves pub crawl of Venice.We have done it a number of times and ended deep into Venice.An inexpensive way to eat,eat where the locals eat and enjoy nontouristy Venice.

A ride up the grand canal from the station to St Marks square is an absolute must. Do it once in the day and then once at night for a totally different perspective. Just beautiful. I also really enjoyed the Doges palace - I hired an audio guide and did it at my own pace. St Marks around luchtime when they illuminate the gold ceiling. Otherwise just wander the streets you never know what you might find around the corner. There are no hop on hop off buses but there are lots of walking tours which are good. Give a good overview.

I'm going to have a short stay in Venice myself.
I've heard from many people including Rick Steves, that the food is pretty bad in Venice, not good like the rest of Italy. Does anyone know of a decent place to go for lunch?

Unfortunately, we also felt the food was bad in Rome.
We have learned since (from another prominent travel writer) that many times, a server would indicate to the kitchen staff whether the food order is for locals or for tourists. If for tourists, they will chintze out on the ingredients, use day-old ingred, or whatever they have to do to cut corners. We had some of the worse pizza ever in Rome- for a 7 inch round, with some basic watery tomato sauce and a few slivers of mushrooms, it cost 7 euros. On our last day, we discovered a "take-out" deli-style restaurant...which turned out to be the best meal we had in 3 days!

I'm going to differ a little bit with some of the above posts and say that I believe you can get a decent meal in Venice, but I agree with the others who say you have to work harder to find them in Venice. And it's also true that if you have a taste and wallet big enough for genuine Michelin star restaurants, Venice has only two, Met and Osteria da Fiore (both one star, Venice has no two or three star Michelin restaurants)--but most of us aren't looking for Michelin star restaurants and their prices. So the good news is that Rick has about 10 pages of Venice eating recommendations in his Italy book--now they can't all be bad, can they? And if you don't like any of those, try these:Alla PatatinaS. TrovasoLa ZuccaAi Frati

One caution about the Traghettos- they don't always go all of the time. The one by the San Toma vaporetto stop had hours only until 13:30 posted. Don't plan on them, but if you come across one when he's working, do take it.

About Venice food: I went on the Rick Steves Venice tour and I have to believe they did as well on food as they could within the budget allowed. Most of it was OK, though there was a lot of fish, and a particular love of sardines..... Our last night's group dinner consisted of chunks of monkfish in a creamy sauce over polenta. And dessert was a blue slushy drink - kind of like what you might get at the 7 Eleven.
But the bar hopping -- drinking prosecco and the chichetti finger foods was good, and we had some great cookies at lunch out on Burano! One specialty of the area is pasta with squid ink sauce, which I did not try, though others on the tour did and loved it. I had some good pizza and pasta at several restaurants that I found on my own, just walking around. If you go for these you will be OK. I was there in late fall and the fresh peach Bellinis were hard to come by but the Limoncello liquer was very big!

Thanks for the suggestions on Venice! Kent, Rick's Italy book is very helpful. I'll save your post for the places you like, and hope to give them a try!
I'm sorry for the people that had bad food in Rome. I had the best pizza in my life in Rome. Argentina Square. I'll be back to that place for sure. I never had a bad meal in Rome. Guess I was lucky.
I've read rave reviews from food experts that the food in Milan is really great. I'm looking forward to that! I just hope I can afford these great places. I'll splurge once in a while on a good place.
It's good to know in advance where to go.

A general comment on food in Italy...just like the US, you can find good food almost anywhere...and likewise you can find bad food almost anywhere...you just have to learn how to sort through the options available...I can second Kent's observation about Rick's list of recommended restaurants in Venice...In our last two trips to Venice covering 9 days, I can honestly say that I had one of my favorite meals in all of Italy on the island of Burano, and I had numerous "good meals" at places that Rick recommended. Your lesson (should you accept this assignment) is to figure out what things each good restaurant has in common that is discernable by merely reading the menu or observing the restaurant in action.

We stayed three nights in Venice...I agree the prepared food was not so great...BUT there was a wonderful bakery near the Realto (sp) vegetable market...they're not opened on the weekends though...and only Italian is tolerated there, not English but the olive bread was FANTASTIC, probably the best food I had the entire stay in Italy altogether!!!..we also took the standup gondola over to the "new" side and ate over there..the food was much better because I think it's not the tourist area.....we also went to a supermarket over there that was GREAT! Why eat food when there's gellato??

Wandering the back streets is the way to spend your days. The daytrippers crowd the main sights - really only Piazza San Marco and the Rialto bridge area. After 5:00 those areas are almost desrted so that is the time to see them. Food in Venice is excellant if you go a bit off the beaten path (say, one block). Find places that have the menu in Italian.