About Venice -- my wife Diane couldn't have said it better (although I will add a little more later):

Venice was cold (we actually had snow, which they haven't seen in 50 years), full of students on Easter break, and not like anywhere I've ever been. I thought it would be more like Amsterdam--canals and roads--but nope, only water. ... It's wild. You catch a vaporetto, or canal boat, to get around; they're all numbered, like buses (the #82 to Piazza San Marco!), and it really is cool to sail everywhere.

The city is beautiful in that Italian-distressed way that they always try to copy in design magazines. We saw lots of cherub-genre art, some modern art at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, a bunch of churches, and a lot of cool neighborhoods. We ate pretty well (got addicted to Venetian cookies, which we have nothing like in London) and loved the atmosphere of the restaurants and cafes. If you want to know what Italy smells like in the morning, stick your head in a bag of Stella d'Oro and inhale--that hit of sugar and anise! I also shopped more than I should have, but prices were good and everything's so beautiful.