What to do in Venice?

I wasn't really sure what to do in Venice besides walk around and marvel at the canals and the buildings. I checked my bag at the train station and set out for the Piazza San Marco. I guess I have a problem with canal cities, because like Amsterdam I got lost in Venice again. The problem is that Venice has lots of dead end alley ways and streets that end at canals. I finally found the main tourist route again which had painted arrows leading to my destination. I arrived and waited in a short line to get into San Marco. Afterwards I kind of just wandered around the city the rest of the day stopping at things that I found interesting. It was a hot sunny day and it was quite a change from the northern, continental and mountain weather I had seen on most of my trip. It would have been nice to have a tour guide in Venice to point out the important things and keep me from getting lost. I still had an enjoyable time wandering around the city. Venice has a reputation for containing swarms of tourists. I didn't really feel it was all that bad with the exception of the area around San Marco. Most of the city to the North and West felt like it was deserted and that surprised me a bit. Here are a bunch of pictures of Venice which was a very scenic place.

The Piazza San Marco with the Basilica di San Marco, the campanile and the Doge's Palace





The Rialto Bridge


The Grand Canal which snakes through the city







Me up on the North edge of the main part of the city. It was a beautiful day and the waters of the Adriatic looked very inviting.