Florence to Venice 26 May

We had a lovely dinner with Sue and Graeme last night, it was good to see familiar faces and have a good natter.  After dinner we wandered through the streets, it was a beautiful warm night, and Sue bought herself an ice cream.  The rest of us were so full from dinner we couldn't fit one in.  Sabine and I thought Florence was a very nice city, full of style and character.  My friend Peter Hornidge summed it up as having a casual Italian atmosphere with its broken paving, broken kerbs, pick pocketers, parking in squares or wherever you like, outdoor cafes with no regulations, general lack of maintenance, great leather market, great architecture and paintings and sculpture. He was spot on. I thought the women in Florence were gorgeous (Sam speaking!), way nicer than Paris. This morning caught the train to Venice, a lovely train, probably the best we have been on this trip.  Our hotel was not too far from the station but we had to cross a couple of bridges so we were quite hot by the time we got here.  Luckily our room was ready even though it was only about mid-day.  After a bit of a breather and a rest for Sabine's ankle (which is still very swollen and very painful) we headed off to see the sights including the Rialto Bridge and St Mark's Square.  On Graeme's advice we bought a ticket to cover several museums in St Mark's Square and started off with the Doges Palace which is the former seat of government of Venice.  The whole place was fantastic and took your breath away. We will do the other museums tomorrow.  The weather is very warm and knocks you out a bit.  Sabine and I will now head off for a bite to eat.