Venice Day 3

Naively thinking they'd be less tourists being a Monday we headed for the Basilica to view the bronze horses and golden frescos. It was the best value yet for entry if you wanted to be bombarded with images of saints, popes, god, Jesus, angels, St. Mark's droopy mouthed lion and all things holy. The downstairs part was shut to the public due to some military memorial so watched the traditional Catholic service from above. The view from the roof was excellent seeing the crowds dicing with the pigeons and we were able to get closer to the infamous bronze horses. Shame I took the 'no cameras and bags' rule seriously and only used my phone to get some shots.

Around the corner is the Doge's Palace for a king's ransom entry at €12. We had to wait for 3 huge groups about 50 deep before being let in. The palace is impressive though with each room outdoing the other with grandness of ceiling frescos getting larger, grander and golder. Another highlight for me was seeing the map room with its mini-empire of trading posts and Marco Polo's travels. There was a map I couldn't work out at all until I looked upside down to realise it was South East Asia the wrong way round.

We shuffled round admiring the OTT ceilings and headed towards the prisons across the Bridge of Sighs or perhaps it should have been 'I've been stitched up gov! It wasn't me really, it was that gondolier fellow' bridge as we saw a postbox outside where Venetians could grass on each other for crimes. The cells were icy cold with draughty passageways spotting some really old graffiti etched into the brickwork. Back over the Doge's Palace was another personal highlight, the Armory with every sword, gun and suit going. This Doge was seriously tooled up.

After lunch I convinced Kerry to join me in the bell tower for some grand Venetian views then returned downstairs to go find an internet cafe so we could look into bringing forward our flights. Boredom was setting in plus we were missing the cat. All i-cafes now ask for your passport before letting you on - all to do with terrorist precautions. BA wanted another £150 more so settled for our 7:50pm flight.

Another long walk around Venice exploring the North discovered very little except for some very ugly coloured bathrobes then eventually reaching the train station. We jumped onto the ferry and headed back down south stopping at one of the bigger churches for a quick look. Nothing compared to the Basilica and about twice as cold as outside inside!

We'd previous booked a restaurant called Centrale under the advise of the hotel for 8pm but first Kerry wanted to experience 'Harry's Bar'. Famous for creating the Bellini cocktail, this place was trapped in a post-war time-warp. Shame the prices were based in the future of extreme inflation! A shot of vodka cost €13 plus there was a cover charge of about 15%!

Centrale was very modern and arty and the food started off really well. Shame the main course was quite bland and over-cooked though maybe our request to wait a bit longer between courses did that.