View of Venice from the lagoon as we approached St Mark's place from the parking island.

We went during the mask carnival and so we saw a lot of small shops selling these beautiful,colorful masks.

Even in this black and white version you can see the richness of the costumes.

Family together with the kid.

A friend from the tour.

A view of the pier for the gondolas.

The largest glass sculpture in the world!

Sag with another bridghtly dressed lady.

You can clearly see the paladin style of architecture of these churches in Venezia.

We didn't know and paid for this photo while the rest of the pictures were with people who were happy to pose for us.

The church in St Mark's square is done in a different style than most roman churches and even venetian churches.

Sag and Sravan in the gondola ride with the musicians in the background.

The gondoliers took all four of the gondolas in unison through the grand canal.

St Mark's Basilica

A few more party goers. They went into a restaurant where only people in costume were allowed.

There was a costume competition in the middle of St Mark's square. They also had rock music going on in the breaks between the competitions.

Closeup of the costume

View of a church from our ferry in laguna veneta.

We saw a lot of ladies wearing beautiful costumes of the medieval Venice and strolling along the grand canal and St Mark's square.

The lady in the costume curtsied really well.

You can see our friends from the tour in the other gondolas.

Gondolier in action

Sag with the bridge of sighs in the far background.

Look at the variety of costumes. Sag is so happy with all the shopping!

Me with another beautiful lady.

The masks are of different types and were popularized in dramas in the medieval times.

I liked how the facade is such bright white stone.

This bridge is called the "Bridge of Sighs". It is between the palace on the left and the prison on the right. Prisoners used to be taken through this bridge after their final hearing and the grill you see on the bridge was the last view of the sky before they were imprisoned forever underground.

Even the older ladies took part in the festivities in character.

The gondolier was very experienced and kept the boat steady as a rock through the water.

The musicians in our gondola singing "Ciao venezia, ciao venezia, ciao venezia, ciao ciao ciao"

A closer view of another gondola going under a bridge conneting two islands of venice.

Fresco (Painting done on fresh plaster on the wall before it dries.) on St Mark's Square

This photo evokes a sense of grace in times past.

Palace of venice.

Look at how intricate the work on their clothes is. Even the men we saw were so heavily dressed up!

The four muskateers? No they were lounging around!

View of the Rialto bridge from our gondola.

A view of the smaller canals that crisscross venice.

The glass blower made this horse in front of eyes within a couple of minutes.

Sag in St Mark's Square

We in front of St Marks basilica.

This lady had lights in her costume. Not medieval for sure, but it was drawing a large number of onlookers.