The area around San Marco is full of interesting nooks and crannies, but visitors stampede down the two obvious exit points from the piazza, one toward the Rialto market and one toward Venice's premier museum, the Accademia. Both these routes are perpetually thronged with crowds, and lined with souvenir and gelato sellers. Masks are a Venetian specialty, made famous through Venice's pre-lenten Carnival. We saw some beautiful masks in a shop and thought they would make a unique souvenir, but didn't want to carry it around so decided to postpone the purchase. Since we then passed one hundred other shops selling the same assortment of masks lining these streets, our interest in the "unique" souvenir cooled considerably. Other photos are of some nearby churches and landmarks. One of the most important landmarks in the area is La Fenice, Venice's worldfamous opera house. Unfortunately, the centuries-old landmark was burned down by workers doing some renovation work, so it's just a huge construction site. I understand it's recently reopened, which is amazing, because the difficulties of doing major construction in waterborne, tightly packed Venice are pretty huge.