Retrospective: Venice: Day 1

We arrived in Venice (flight attendant in Philadelphia pronouced it Venus and we giggled) at 8:30am local time (or 2:30am body-time). We cabbed from the airport to the bridge that leads to the island, then walked for a good distance and got a little lost before finding our lodgings. Here we are letting our parents know, photographically, that we have landed:
We were about 2 hours early for check-in. Our hotel manager/owner, however, was possibly the NICEST MAN EVER. He took our bags from us, told us he'd watch them and to go have some fun. So we bounced out the door and into the city in search of some food. Jim had his first real italian pizza experience. We managed to wander about for a bit before becoming too tired to carry on. Once check-in time arrived, we headed to our temporary home in search of a nap.
Re-energized we venture out for coffee (or espresso to be specific. Coffee doesn't really seem to exist in most european countries). We found a cute cafe beside the Music Hall called Cafe del Doge and had possibly the greatest espresso experience of my life.
Not really knowing what to do with ourselves, we bought Opera tickets for the evening then set to exploring the city. We immediately found Piazza San Marco, named so for the GIANT church (chiesa) devoted to St. Mark. Here is but a small portion of the overly huge Cathedral.
Within the square are also found a clock tower, many little kiosks and shops, restaurants and, my absolute favourite, the zodiac clock.
In fact, throughout the city, interspersed with all the Catholic iconography, is tonnes and piles of pagan idolotry and occult symbology. The tiny island city literally pulses with magic.

We crossed a great number of bridges (pontes) and remarked at the number of stairs and how the entire city is not very handi-capable. Not a ramp to be found. We marvelled at the waterways, the entirely-pedestrian traffic (no cars or bicycles anywhere). We even saw a few gondola traffic jams.
We toyed with the idea of retiring to this tiny village. Imagine this is your back yard:
We danced, we romped, we went to the opera, had fabulous fish for dinner, and went to bed unconscienably late for jet lagged travellers, anxious to start our full day of fun the following morning.