Gondola ride!

You can't come to Venice and not take a Gondola ride, right?! We set off on a 45 minute tour through the city and somethings we've observed: it is extremely quiet (no cars, no sirens, no barking dogs), the architecture is very characteristically old school European, Venetians are very nice and helpful, the pigeons look a lot more clean than the NYC rats with wings, and the touristy shopping area is very similar to Canal street.