which was absolutely beautiful, with no other tourists around, we got a quick cappuccino and cornetto (like a croissant) and got on the train to Venice. We arrived in the city around 1:30, and took a bus to Marghera, a neighborhood on the other side of the canal to save some money. After wandering aimlessly around trying to find the hostel, we found it, the Nuovo Locanda Belvedere. It wasn't much, but it was relatively clean, and had doors with locks, so we dropped our bags off and headed back to Venice. We went around the alleyways, following the signs leading to San Marco and the Rialto Bridge, all the while stopping in various artists' glass galleries and purchasing Murano glass pendants, which all look like miniature rose windows. We eventually made our way into the massive Piazza San Marco, with hundreds of other tourists making their rounds around the Murano shops lining the piazza. We got into the relatively short line for the church, and saw some of the prettiest mosiacs and Cosmati floors. The Cosmati were a Roman family who made some of the most detailed geometric patterned floors throughout churches all over Italy. While leaving, we had to walk over scaffolds, because the water levels were so high outside the church, which is sinking slowly. After leaving, I ran into a friend by accident who had been in Padova that day, and we all met up and went to dinner, followed by a Vivaldi concert in San Vidal Church. It was a beautiful concert, and I had front row seats! My friend that I sat with is a violinist, so it was interesting getting her perspective on the concert. Afterwards, we all made the trek back to the piazza, went behind the bell tower, and bought gelato, all the while enjoying a lovely classical music performance in front of the gelateria. When we finished our gelato, (I had pistachio and chocolate), we took a water taxi back to the bus station, which ended up being a gorgeous tour of Venice at night. We took the bus back to our hostel, and left in the morning for Verona.
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