We wake up at about 8 AM, get on the water bus and head to the main island of Venice and head to St. Mark's Square.

St. Mark's SquareBrooke Burney

Our tour guide had scheduled a tour of Doge's Palace or Palazzo Ducale. Here, we met a local tour guide who gave us these devices, in which we would soon become familiar.

Waiting in line to enter Doge's PalaceBrooke Burney

They are radios that have a single headphone. The group wears them while the local guide speaks into a microphone which transmits through the radio so they don't have to yell over the other groups. Almost every other tour group that was there spoke another language, which was really interesting to listen to. But the Doge's Palace has immaculate architecture, incredible art pieces, and lots of history!

EntranceBrooke Burney

Courtyard of Doge's PalaceBrooke Burney

Complaint box Brooke Burney

Upper View of the courtyardBrooke Burney

One of my friends and I actually fell behind the group to take this picture as we wanted to see what was on the other side even though not many groups were going that way. Eventually, we decided that we were gone for too long so we had to run through tunnels and through an underground prison where we found the rest of our group.

After this tour, we walked through Venice, got on a boat and rode for thirty minutes to Murano. Here, we visited a glass shop. We watched a man make a vase and a glass horse while someone was telling us all about the art of glass blowing.

Murano Glass FactoryBrooke Burney

The whole thing took less than 20 minutes which was crazy to me. After the presentation, we perused in their shop. I was openly taking pictures of some of the works until one of the employees told me I couldn't. I don't want to post those pictures so here's a link if you want to look at some of their work.

After this, we went back to Venice where we had about three hours to eat and do whatever we wanted. Our tour guide suggested that we try squid ink pasta and I, adventurous as I am, had to try it.

Squid ink pastaBrooke Burney

It's actually way better than you'd think. It's kind of like chicken Alfredo but with bits of squid instead. After our few hours of leisure, we were to tour the St. Mark's Basilica. We were not allowed to take pictures but the inside of this church had almost, if not every, bible story painted on the walls and ceiling. Plus, the place where they hold mass is beautiful. It does not matter what religion you associate with, this church is a must-see. It's incredibly stunning.

St. Mark's Basilica Churchhttps://www.venetoinside.com/attraction-tickets-in...

After this tour, we finally got to ride the gondolas! The experience was incredible and completely worthwhile. Even though in the moment it didn't seem too exciting, it was totally worth it and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Gondola dockBrooke Burney

In the canalBrooke Burney

In the canalBrooke Burney

The ride lasted about thirty minutes and the water was maybe three feet throughout the whole canal. Even though the Gondolas were everywhere, our tour guide took us to one of the prettiest routes. When we were finished, we had time to explore, so me and the three girls walked around where we got off the gondola which was about a mile from St. Mark's square. We looped around to a water bus dock which happened to be the one closest to St. Mary's Hospital which was built during the black plague.

St. Mary's HospitalBrooke Burney

When we got back to St. Mark's Square, we shopped around before we found a man who was feeding pigeons. Three out of four of us had gone to France four years prior and we HAD to reenact some pigeon pictures.

France, 2015Debbie Burney

Italy, 2018Karstin Allsup

By this time, it was about 7 pm so we met as a group and went to dinner. Afterwards, we went back to our hotel and our tour guide had told us that there was a beach down the street of our hotel. We had to walk across the island to get there but it was a straight shot. Even though it was dark at this point, we still wanted to put our feet in the water!

And tomorrow, Florence!