The day arrived with beautiful sunshine in Levanto, Cinque Terre for our departure. We went for a quick trip to the beach but decided against a swim as the morning was a little fresh and time was getting away. In hindsight we should have had one as we got caught up in a fun run and sat stationary just outside the beach carpark for about 25mins. Oh well. We watched runners of all speeds and abilities head towards the finish line. Off to Venice we go. A long 450km, 4 hour drive along the autostrade ahead of us. The countryside was beautiful as we drove from the Cinque Terre. Unfortunately the ocean still not the colour we know it can be. DB is doing so well with the driving and it is amazing how quickly the km’s tick over when you travel at 130kmh. Sometimes cars still go past us like we are standing still. The trains also go past us like lightning. We arrive in Venice at about 3.30pm after a truckies lunch on the freeway. We get ourselves packed into two day backpacks and make our way to the ferry stop. We parked thecar at Tronchetto car park (4000 spaces for Venice tourists). Everything we do everyday takes time to learn, on your 2^nd trip to Europe things would be so much easier. DB embraces all these new things with excitement and I get nervous and a bit anxious, but excited all the same. We bought 24hr ferry ticket which you can use throughout Venice, hop on hop off style and boarded the ferry to our hotel which was right near the main San Marco Piazza. Venice is really cool. The trip on the ferry was great. Once we landed on Venice we had a very short walk to our hotel that was right in the centre of town. It was a very nice hotel. After a little rest for DB as the driving is very draining we headed out for dinner. We enjoyed another lovely meal thanks to tripadvisor, starting with a shared seafood tasting plate – calamari, fish, anchovies (which I didn’t think I liked, but was wrong), cuttlefish, octopus (which was the best). Then DB fish lasagne (nicest meal yet) and me spaghetti with crab (also very nice) plus dessert. Oh I am sure hard training and dieting is on the agenda on my return. We then headed out for a night walk/tour. We walked straight to San Marco Piazza to see the Doges Palace in San Marco Square, San Marco Cathedral and Baptistry. This looked fantastic under lights. There were a couple 5 piece orchestras playing in the plaza and we listened to a few songs from the Sound of Music. This was a good warm up for DB as we might take a Sound of Music Tour in Austria. We then took two ferry rides on the Grande Canal that were really enjoyable. Exhausted again we headed back to our hotel via the gelato shop. Thank goodness for small sizes otherwise I would have outgrown all my clothes.