Pigeons. I hate pigeons.

This tower used to be a lighthouse and we took an elevator (I wanted to climb the stairs, but that wasn't possible) to the top, for more breathtaking views.


The front of the Basilica. The inside was incredible; I barely resisted the temptation to whip out my camera, but didn't want to incur clerical wrath.


More pigeons. Yuck.


Unfortunately, while you could see much of the city from the top of the lighthouse -- you couldn't see a single canal!


A quaint little island.


Another shot from the lighthouse.


We ate lunch at a horrible tourist trap (the food wasn't bad, but the prices - argh!) and were further aggravated by the toilets, apparently designed for dwarfs.


I tried to get a clear photo of the Basilica, but there were too many tourists, pushy maitre d's, construction and peculiar flagpoles in the way.


This Best Western, tucked away on some backcanal, is only accessible by boat - it's impossible to enter by foot.


Venice at sunset.


More fabulous architecture.


Arrivederci, Venezia!


We left Venice around 6pm and headed back to Grenoble, but had to wait an hour on the Italy-France border while the mountain tunnel was "repaired." Having lots of faith in the quality of joint French-Italian construction, we let a couple cars enter ahead of us... just to be courteous. We arrived back in Grenoble at 4:30am... and I left for Cambridge seven hours later.