SAT - Today, we would visit the historic sites in Venice, right at San Marco.
Bridge of Sigh (viewed from outside, only accessible from Palazzo Ducale)We started our day tour at the Palazzo Ducale (€40 per family), the centre of power of The Republic of Venice back in the 15th and 16th centuries. The older part of the building housed the legislators' and governor's offices, state rooms, etc.
The eastern part of the building was rebuilt in Renaissance style after its old one was burnt down. It housed the rooms for the Doges and could be accessed by a grand marble stairway guarded by Atlas and Hercules.
Leading to the upper rooms of the Palazzo was the Golden Stairways - made of marble, not gold, but decorated with gold-lined arts and carvings. The rooms were majestic, but without many furniture.
The Council's room had 2 clocks - a 24-hours clock with Roman numerals for the time, and a clock that tells the months by the 12 zodiac signs. Ethan was fascinated by the clocks.
The Bridge of Sigh, which is only accessible from inside the Palazzo, led prisoners from the main court in the Palazzo into the prison across the canal.
Prisoners sighed as they crossed the Bridge of Sigh, hence, the name.
Then we went into St Mark's Basillica, the most exquisite and decorated cathedral in Venice where Mark's body was shipped over by two merchants and was buried.
These are the artworks above the main entrance of St Mark's Basillica.
We marvelled at the paintings on the wall and dome, which illustrated many bible stories. Mummy conducted a bible story lesson for the kids - our highlight of the day! This dome showed the story of The Creation...
This dome showed the story of Joseph...
We walked towards Railto after visiting Palazzo Ducale and San Marco. Confusing signs were not confusing anymore.
We had lunch at Osteria "Da Luca", an authentic-Venetian restaurant that served delicious set meals (primi pasta and secondi), and celebrated Aunt Janet's birthday. Happy Birthday Aunt Janet!
After lunch, the ladies did their finale shopping in Venice, the men took the challenge to go up the Campanile (€8 per pax). But it was not as physically challenging than I thought ... we went up via an elevator!
The view up at the Campanile was worth the €8. We could see the entire Venice from Piazza Roma to San Giorgio Maggiore.
East View: Just immediately below us was St Mark's Basillica and Palazzo Ducale. The old wing (fore-front) of the Palazzo and the newer rennaissance-styled new wing (back) were very obvious from up here.
We could see the eastern-most tip of Venice, extending eastward into the sea. 
The view extended southward to the front of San Marco.
South View: To the south is San Giorgio Maggiore
and in the southeast is the beginning of St Mark's Square.
West View: The view of the square was captivating.
We could even see Piazza Roma at the western-tip of Venice where the island joins the mainland (the part that we drove over from mainland into Venice). 
North View: Just below us facing north is the clock tower,
and Rialto is further north from here (Rialto Bridge is obscured by other buildings).
North-to-South, East-to-West, it was breath-taking.
That night, we bought pizzas from the pizzaria at the alley just outside Hotel Castello, and had a feast in our beloved Hotel Castello.
These 2 days here at Venice had been enjoyable and fascinating - the alleys, the canals, Venetian arts, great food, confusing signs and getting lost! We'll miss Venice.
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