Venice

We took a night train crossing the Alps to Venice. I woke up and saw the train crossing the long bridge to the island city. The place is amazingly beautiful, with wonderfully ornate ancient buildings, churches, squares, canal side walks. We took the water bus to get to San Marco, and visited the San Marco Cathedral. The San Marco square was choked with tourists and pigeons, under the hot sun it's not the best experience to be waiting in one of the long lines. Inside San Marco Cathedral there were stunning mosaic murals and ancient art work. This evidently was the richest medieval city in Europe for over 1000 years. Walking in some of the neighborhoods you can avoid most of the crowds and have the ornate treasures to yourself.