The next morning we did the other must-do tourist thing (I mean besides the gondola ride, which is never going to happen), we took the waterbus down the Grand Canal. The Canal winds its way through the city at a leisurely pace (remember the reverse S in the aerial photo?) and cuts the city neatly in half. It's the city's lifeblood, lined by the palaces of the city's leading families, which makes for spectacular scenery as the waterbus sputters by. There are close to two hundred of these palaces on the Canal, many of which are now hotels or museums, and the rest are some of the most prized real estate in Italy.