Another rousing breakfast of juice, coffee, and croissants. Christian makes the coffee strooong, just the way Mark likes it. Our B&B mates are a Canadian mother and daughter, Chantel and Chloe. We traded stories and Mark provided the college-aged daughter, Chloe, with some career counseling. Does he ever stop?

Back over the Accademia Bridge to tour the Gallerie Dell Accademia. Lots more art. Huge pieces or art, covering a 40-foot wall. Shades of Florence. Amazing and beautiful. After an hour, though, we were ready to see more of the city.

We rode the vaparetto up the grand canal toward St. Mark’s Square (Piazza San Marco) and took in the sights. As we approached it on the grand canal, the Campanile towered over the landscape. On the other side of the vaparetto was the dome-shaped Santa Maria dell Salute, a very beautiful church that we’d tour later.

The entrance to St Mark’s was just the way Mark remembered it in several movies, the Campanile looked down upon us, and St Mark’s Basilica was stunning. The actual piazza was gargantuan and here is a wider shot with St Mark’s Basilica in the background.

St Mark… er… rather… just Mark had fun feeding the pigeons from both hands, while Dora shuttered in disgust. Fun afternoon!

After a late lunch and siesta, we cleaned up and headed several stops down the canal to a more residential area in search of the Scoula Grande de San Giovani Evangelista (Grand School of St John the Baptist), a music conservatory and site of this evenings chamber music concerto. Along the way, we passed over many bridges down a few sparsely-traveled streets, and saw some beautiful architecture.

We couldn’t find a decent restauranti, so we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. It was interesting to hear Chinese speaking Italian. We were afraid our chow mein might be covered in marinara sauce, but the meal was good.

The concerto was excellent, Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Music filled the art-covered walls, of what resembled a palace concert room. We had a front row seat and got a picture of the Renaissance dancers who performed two minuets. What a wonderful evening of music and beauty.

Back to the B&B and to bed after another staggering day.