We headed to St. Mark’s this morning, via a vaporetto (water taxi) which is much cheaper than a gondola. The gondola is 80euro for 30 minutes. That would be about $45 each for me and Karen and we’d both rather buy Murano glass.

It’s nice to see the city from the Grand Canal. One thing that you really notice is how much the water affects the buildings. It is wet, wood gets rotten, there is mold and moss. That is part of what makes Venice look the way it does, but maintaining these structures must be nearly impossible.

We are here in the off season. It is cold and damp, but I like the light crowds. Shops are open, as are restaurants, and there are some deals to be had. I keep forgetting to take pictures of my purchases (maybe I’m trying to not think about that too much?) but here’s a thing I didn’t buy:

I collect Santas but not clowns so he’s not coming home with me. Although now that I look again, I kind of like him.

We went to St. Mark’s. The square was not crowded at all.

Photos are not allowed inside, but I climbed up to the dome and was able to take some photos there:

I kind of hate to be a selfie taking tourist, but everyone up there was doing it so I thought I’d join in.

We walked and shopped and ate our way back to the hotel. It was a nice day.

PS: Last night after I wrote my blog post I got to feeling queasy. And then it got worse. I suspect food poisoning from some bagged salad I ate to go with soup we had picked up. It was a rough hour or so but I am so lucky that the nausea medicine I travel with worked. I woke up feeling OK.

It’s going to be a while before salad looks good to me.