We woke up very early Saturday morning, and headed back into the city. It was supposed to be the start of Carnival, but an important citizen of the city died the night before, and the actual start was postponed until the following day. However, thousands and thousands of people were still in the Carnival spirit. In the Piazza San Marco, a large stage had been set up. The square was full of people in full costume, including the famous Carnival masks. After lunch and a boat ride around a few of the islands, we headed towards the crowds of people and found an amusement park, as well as some markets. We walked through a few flea markets, and then found a fish market where a man was filleting dogfish. We watched for a few minutes, before continuing on and seeing the famous gondolas, the Rialto Bridge, San Giorgio Maggiore, the Grand Canal, Doge’s Palace, the Basilica di San Marco, the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, the Accademia Bridge, the Ponte degli Scalzi Bridge, St. Mark’s Clocktower, and the Bridge of Sighs. We found a nice restaurant for supper, and continued to walk the many footroads of the city. Before it got too dark, we each bought a Carnival mask, which were being sold nearly everywhere we looked. Finally, we found another small pub to stop into for a couple of drinks before catching the midnight bus home. This time, we knew what bus to take. However, we ended up missing our stop, and we got dropped off in the middle of nowhere. We thought we might have to wait until 4:00 am for the buses to start back up again, but we got lucky. I had the number of our hotel, and gave them a call. They had one shuttle van left for the night, and it was there within 10 minutes to pick us up. As soon as we got back, we headed straight for bed, knowing that we had Pisa to look forward to in the morning.
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