After we finished the demo castle we had a day free for a trip to Venice. The fourth competitor - Sylvia Von Beusekom from The Hague, Holland had arrived late the night before and decided to join us.

Sylvia has a quick smile, dry sense of humor and she speaks English like a native. I liked her immeditately.

We drove about 20 minutes to reach the boat bus dock at Punto Sabbioni, bought our tickets for the whole day and were ready for a 40 minute ride to the heart of San Marcos Square.

Right: Rich, Leonardo and Azzurra on the boat

Leo already looks bored, doesn't he?

Below: Venice from the boat

We went into the square - there is so much architecture and sculpture to look at it is almost overwhelming and you just don't know what you should point your camera at.

Above: the famous gondeliers and next to that, a house that was inhabited by Mozart when he was 15 -- defaced by graffitti which seemed to be everywhere.

Right:our guides

We were lucky to haave two native Italians with us. Azzurra and Leonardo were our guides as we went in search of the Rialto.

Below: the group

we came across a square that was sufficiently deserted for me to leave my camera on a pedestal in self-timer mode.

Left: Me at the Bridge of Sighs

Below: Russell chills on the Island of Murano

Lunch at a cafe on the Rialto was a welcome respite from hoofing it all over Venice.

We then waited what seemed ages for a boat bus tour of the canals and the glass blowing factories of Murano. Fianlly, Azaurra rousted us to go to the next stop where we had to sprint to make the boat.

Sexy Italian men in their fast boats were everywhere...

One of the highlights of our trip was a tour of a special showroom of glass sculpure in Murano. I didn't shoot any picutres because I thought it might be rude and anyway I was too astounded by what I was seeing to think to bring out the camera.

All I cn say is if you ever get to Murano ask the English speaking blond guy there if you can see the "other" showroom and don't be scared to ask about prices - this is a factory outlet and they will ship and insure for much less then you might imagine.

Russell polishes his panhandling skills...

Below: waiting for the bus home

We were all pretty pooped as you may be able to tell from these pictures