Venice, Venice Venice - What An Amazement!

Walking out of the train station, we stood there in amazement. Wow, wow, wow.

We took the train from Florence to Venice and spent two nights and three days walking and touring. It was the right amount of time for us, and the entire time was a thrilling ride.

(How many of you remember the "E" ticket from the Disneyland ticket booklet?)

The highlight was a four-hour morning tour with Elisabetta on WithLocals.com. We covered so many highlights with her skip-the-line passes and her experience. I worked with Elisabetta before our trip, and together, we customized a tour.

Elisabetta picked us up at our Airbnb near Saint Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco). We entered the Basilica of Saint Mark right when it opened and learned a ton.

Next, we explored Doges Palace (with priority entry) and witnessed terrific views of Venice from the top.

Finally, Elisabetta shared stories, myths, and the history of Venice during a one-hour private water taxi. We toured the Grand Canal (at a much higher speed than a gondola) with a custom drop-off at the Jewish Ghetto. The entire tour was 4 hours.

The morning of our departure, we set the alarm for 5:45 am to see the Venice sunrise. It was nice to have no tourist mob scenes and see the calmness of the water.

Just in case you didn't get enough of Venice, here are more photos!