We ditched Tiger for the morning, so he could do some drawing, and had a nice time exploring Venice with Jackie and Nigel. We went up the campanile in Piazza San Marco for a good view of the whole of the city, wandered along the waterfront and checked out churches to cool down.

View of the Basilica San Marco from the Campanile (bell tower)

Maybe I haven’t quite cracked the selfies yet — from the Ponte del Accademia

Gavin tipped us off that the Peggy Guggenheim was well worth a visit, and indeed it was. Tiger joined us for a look round their permanent collection and a temporary show of Jean Arp’s work - a Dadaist. Still not sure about Dadaism, but there are some great works from artists of the last century like Mondrian, Dali and Kandinsky that really stand out. As Gavin said, “It’s an oasis of calm in Venice” - thanks Gavin.

In the courtyard of the Peggy Guggenheim gallery

We had a bit of a gondola ride in the afternoon and a really nice evening meal in a restaurant called “Ai Mercanti” that Nigel found. It really exceeded expectations, with an inventive menu that wasn’t contrived for the sake of being different.

At 11:30 there was a fireworks display that went on so long that, despite missing the first 20 minutes, it was still long enough to think “ok, that’s enough now.”

Ponte di Rialto — jam packed with tourists

…and a nice firework display to round it all off

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Day 223: Rest day in Venice