We celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary in Venice. Jonathon had not been there before and it was a long time (20 years or so) since I'd been so time to go again.

The flight out was quite eventful because one of the passengers sitting in front of us fainted and was decidedly unhealthy. Her twin sister went into shock and one of the crew spent the whole trip making sure they were OK (I'm pleased to say that there was nothing seriously wrong when the paramedics checked them out).

When we arrived in Venice we were met (as planned) by a driver who took us to a water taxi who delivered us safe and sound to our hotel, Luna Hotel Baglioni. As we were staying for a few days they'd kindly upgraded us to a suite which was lovely.

Obviously our sleeping area!

Hall / foyer into our suite

Sitting area (chairs were pretty comfy)

The hotel had a very luxurious feel to it and the staff were great with plenty of recommendations etc. The first of their suggestions was dinner on the day of our arrival (we arrived late afternoon).

Thankfully, the concierge had warned us that it was down a dark alley and we amazed ourselves by finding it at all using a map with hardly any street names!

You want me to go down there ... really??

Despite the dark location, the food was delicious and the service very friendly and professional.

It was an interesting walk with plenty of pretty sights to photograph (albeit in the dark).

We were only out for a short while but managed to cross a few bridges on our walk. We had crossed a lot more by the end of the weekend.

Venice (in the St. Mark's area) was eye-wateringly expensive but we treated ourselves to breakfast in the hotel. Very good with plenty of choice and we tried not to think how much it cost! Having said that, we didn't find anywhere we'd prefer to go for breakfast on our walkabout.

The view on the left was what we saw when we walked out of the hotel but Jonathon just couldn't resist taking a few more photos of the beautiful hotel before we set off.

Breakfast was in the Marco Polo room - very impressive Tiepolo ceiling.

We had to walk through St. Mark's Square to get pretty much anywhere so we took advantage of the dry, clear weather to take a few snaps.

The cathedral was beautiful from the outside. It was far too nice a day to go inside - we saved that in case it rained later.

If we looked closely we could see some things that were probably overlooked by most tourists.

We saw a couple of interesting 24 hour clocks whilst wandering around.

I can't even begin to imagine how often this part of Venice has been used in films etc.

The Ducal Palace is a beautiful structure.

Next stop was The Bridge of Sighs (just around the corner from the square). The bridge joins the palace to the prison.

Final stop of the well known tourist route (Rialto Bridge) for Thursday before we started on our own wanderings

The photo on the right is a view from the bridge, typically Venice I think. Time for drinkings as well at this point (and to check the photos so far and the map).

Our route took us to the north of the island and the Canareggio area. Fewer tourists and therefore much quieter. The people in the shops and restaurants were very helpful and the prices far more reasonable. It also felt more "real" somehow.

Still plenty of photo opportunities though (either taking them for ourselves or doing someone a favour).

As you can see, some of the canals were pretty busy.

He gets into some strange places to take photos.

This was one of four door knobs on a building just down from MQ10.

This seemed to be some kind of housing estate, perhaps where real Venetians live.

I wondered how much longer some of the bridges were likely to last - this one was more vegetation than brick.

Day 3 - Friday - and it was time to go on the water. Having armed ourselves with an all day ticket, we enjoyed an interesting journey. You certainly see a variety of different Venices once you venture further afield.

A familiar view

A somewhat more industrial scene

I didn't expect to see scrubland in Venice!

Our first port of call was Punta Sabbione. We had to change boats there so took advantage and had a quick stroll around before the next boat arrived. Three shocks on this island - trees, cars and bikes! We'd got used to Venice being a pedestrian only area.

From there we went to Treporti. Again, we had to change boats so, again, we had a quick stroll around and a drink. This sculpture caught our eye - Ginger e Fred by Gianmaria Potenza.

Back to our trip and on to Burano. I spotted this on a wall and it seemed to sum it up really well.

The range of colours of the houses is amazing. Jonathon said it reminded him of an explosion in a paint factory. It's certainly bright and colourful (and attracts tourists like us!)

I love the way the mop (blue house) is colour co-ordinated.

Some of the colours were subtle, others not so much. There was a lot of washing hanging out to dry - hardly surprising on such a lovely day.

Lunch was at Ristorante al Vecio Pipa, very tasty it was too.

After lunch it was time to make tracks so off we went to Murano. The boat dropped us off near the lighthouse and we walked through to the other end of the island, admiring the glass work as we went.

We even bought a little, glass cat from F. & M. Ballarin to add to the other cat ornaments I have.

We spotted these two on the way home but it looks far too much like hard work for me!

We arrived back in Venice just as the sun was just going down so a quick shot and back to the hotel.

Our final place for a visit was later that evening when we popped round to Florian in St. Mark's Square for apple tart and a drink. You can see why it's survived for c.300 years. The food was delicious, the surroundings beautiful and the service very professional.

Saturday brought us another beautiful sunny day and we decided to wander east. There were some gardens I wanted to visit and it would get us away from the tourist area so give us some peace and quiet (it was very busy in the St. Mark's area that day).

Seems it might get a bit flooded now and then!

A few photos along the way just to keep us going.

The building below is home to the Institute of Marine Biology amongst others and had a distinctly nautical theme around the door frame.

We strolled through a small public park. There were some nice chimney pots on the houses along one side.

Coffee was called for when we arrived at the Greenhouse part of the gardens. They sold plants here - very tempting but too hard to get them home so I resisted.

Built in 1894, "the greenhouse is the largest permanent structure from the whole system of the Biennale. It was restored in 2010 and the greenhouse and its gardens are now dedicated to nature and cultural activities". There is an art festival in the summer of odd numbered years but we were a few months too early for that.

The saltmarsh tank "represents the continuation of the initiative of Villa Frankenstein at the British Pavillion where a piece of the Venice Lagoon will be able to live on in the gardens of the Serra".

Not too many flowers in the gardens but a nice, calm, green space. I think we would probably describe it was a park rather than a garden.

Who would have thought you'd have come across a path like this in Venice? It was about as far east as you could get without falling into the sea but very different from everything else we'd seen.

The photo on the immediate left reminds me of Regent's Canal in London.

As you can see, there was a lot more in the way of trees and green space in this part of Venice compared to the centre. The housing was a mix of very posh looking and very ordinary looking. Apparently there'd been a protest whilst we'd been in Burano because the local authority is trying to move locals from the centre of the city into this part of town and they're not too impressed.

Still lots of colour in this part of the city.

We called into a small cafe for very tasty strudel (made by the barman's girlfriend's mother!) and a drink.

We wandered on. We'd seen the square tower on our way east earlier in the day but, other than photograph it, hadn't given it much thought. We found ourselves visiting it by accident later that afternoon.

To give you an idea of scale, JC posed at the side of one of the lions. They were pretty big!

It was the Campo de L'Arsenal. There were quite a few military areas in the east end of the city that were clearly not for public visitors.

Dinner was at Assassini. Shame we didn't know in advance that Saturday was a fish night (oops!) but they were very kind and made Jonathon some tasty veggie pasta. My sea bass was yummy. We'll know to ask next time.

Sunday, a bit cooler but still dry and we thought we'd make the most of our last half day in Venice by heading west. When we'd managed to get completely lost, we called into a cafe for a drink and to ask where we were! No idea how we got to there but we were soon on the right track again.

It's easy to forget how many of the great artist were Italian, not least Venetian.

This wonderful creature was the centre piece of the exhibition. All sorts of strange noises were coming out of it, courtesy of mini tablets hidden inside it.

The light below was my favourtie.