Breakfast on the terrace at my hotel, with a rather nice view of the Rialto Bridge.

A pigeon.

The view in the other direction from the hotel's terrace.

...and there's the little terrace seen from the entrance.

Out for a morning stroll in Venice.

Wandered past Florian in San Marco and took a picture through the doorway of one of their grand salons.

Wandering along the front from San Marco down to the Arsenale for the Biennale.

The Arsenale.

Inside the Biennale at the Arsenale. I found a lot of the art very Saatchi-esque.

I'm sure I've seen something similar to this at the Saatchi Gallery.

A stack of drums.

Presumably a kind of twist of a Sisyphus setup.

What's the collective noun for chainsaws?

This installation made use of the impressive columns of the Arsenale.

A broken plate and a side board.

Two pianos, one vertical, one horizontal. The vertical one was playing music by itself.

Maritime.

A pile of cash.

This looked quite Japanese to me somehow.

Something like an Iron Maiden?

Scribbles.

Some exterior parts of the Arsenale.

Some of the per country exhibits.

This was Ireland's exhibit, I rather like the stonemasonry here.

A crane.

China's phoenix.

Lovely old decaying stone carvings.

At the sea entrance to the Arsenale.

The gardens of the Arsenale.

Left the Arsenale now, and decided to take a walk across the bridge to the San Pietro di Castello island.

A dog.

Google Maps marker.

Took a picture of the Vaporetto route map for reference.

On the vaporetto from San Pietro di Castello to San Marco.

Followed behind this cruise ship.

...which looked like it was on a coliision course with the Doge's Palace.

The Doge's Palace and the Campanile seen from the water, with a plane in the background for good measure.

At Mario alla Fava where I went for lunch. A business card from Cyril Golding, a member of the Magic Circle.

Really liked this old photo.

My first course (they impressively had a vegan menu here) was I suppose a sort of vegan version of the popular Venetian dish fritto misto. Really enjoyed this.

Didn't take a picture of my main course (orecchiette in an olive and sun dried tomato sauce) but that was good too.

Back at my hotel, took another picture of the sitting area for some reason.

Got the vaporetto along the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge to head back to see more of the Biennale - this time I wanted to see the Giardini part. En route I snapped some of the palazzo I particularly liked the look of.

At Giardini now, the other main area of the Biennale, where there are permanent pavilions for the major participating countries. Here's Japan.

Inside the Japan pavilion, this was really mesmerising - two rowing boats from which a huge web of threads with dangling keys emanated.

The British Pavilion, wherein the art was just kind of horrible, I'm rather disappointed to report.

France had these wonderfully quirky moving trees which I rather liked.

Korea had an uber-futuristic series of video pieces which were also very good.

After the art, I paused for a Spritz at one of the outdoor cafes in the Giardini, overlooking the water, which was very pleasant.

More of France's moving trees outside their pavilion.

On the way back to San Marco from the Giardini, I rather liked the way the sun glinted off the sea here.

Although a bit apprehensive, suspecting it to be very touristy (and I was right), I thought I had to go to Harry's Bar at least once for the Bellini, so I could say I'd done it.

Outside Harry's Bar. Very subtle signage.

Next, I decided to go back to the bar at Caffe Florian (I'd been for coffee in the morning) and try a couple of their cocktails. First, a Negroni made with the new Martini Riserva, which I'd been chatting to the barman about in the morning.

Then the Florian cocktail - perhaps a cousin of the Negroni, featuring a liqueur I hadn't seen before called Aurum.

Outside Caffe Florian.

Was treated to some rather nice early evening skies as I was walking along the water's edge near San Marco.

Back at my hotel, I poked my nose in at the breakfast room, which they'd mentioned doubles as a bar in the evening. Took a sneaky picture as nobody was around.

The view from my room in the evening.

On my way to dinner.

Dinner at La Vecia Cavana - linguine with mushrooms (I think includng some porcini, I forget now).

After dinner I decided to go for a flutter at the Casino. Not a very profitable endeavour. No photos are allowed inside but I sneakily took a picture of this unoccupied lounge.

Outside the Casino.

My hotel, seen from across the Grand Canal.

Note there was a bit of acqua alte today, the canal was coming over the side of the walkway.