My real question for the PS world travelers, if you only had one day, or only party of a day in Venice... what would you do... where would you go... what would you eat... what would you see?

You can get a better, more practical, more authentic and more economical experience on the vaporettos (water taxis). And better romance in a spontaneous, non-contrived moment than you ever will on a fucking gondola.

Venice is great because it's low on sites and high on ambience. My ideal day in Venice, for someone who's never been:

1) Start at St. Mark's square and go up in campanile. That's the first thing to be done in any city -- go to the highest place, look out, enjoy the view and get your bearings and the lay of the land.

2) Tour St. Mark's church

3) Tour the palace of the doges (which is my favorite building there). Walk over the Bridge of Sighs and think of all the people who marched to their death there.

All the above three can be done in a couple of hours.

4) Catch a water taxi from the plaza to the Rialto bridge around the other side of island. It's a quick walk, but the water taxi is more fun. See the bridge, look at the trinkets.

There are a couple of other sites, like St. George's Cathedral (?) and the Peggy Gugenheim Museum, not to mention the other islands like Murano and Borano or whatever, but I'd save those for another trip if you only have one day.

5) Spend the rest of the day walking. When you cross the Rialto, just wander on that side for a while. Get lost. Duck into tiny piazzas where everyday people live and colorful laundry hangs and old ladies tend their flower boxes and old men play bacci ball. Cross back to the main island and go out the bridges to the other islands. Walk some more.

To eat, try any place off the beaten path where the tourists aren't. Venice isn't about the food. Just eat simply and well. Linger at the table over wine or beer.

That's it. One perfect day in Venice.

Oh, and Rule #2: get far away from the loud ugly Americans from Jersey.

As I mentioned on the reality forum, if you want to go shopping for Murano glass, go to Murano. Don't waste your time in Venice. The mark-ups are insane. Something we bought for 5 Euros on Murano went for 60 Euros in Venice.

If I had just a day in Venice, I'd just walk around. It's an amazing atmosphere there. There are streets that are the size of small, small alleys and it's easy to lose yourself just walking around. For food, we didn't have one bad meal on Venice itself. We ended up finding this one restaurant that written up in Food & Wine as the best undiscovered restaurant in Venice. Overall, everything on Venice was delicious. And eating a lot of gelato would be a must.

I would skip the water taxis and go on what we called the bus boats instead. The water taxis are super expensive so they do end up being really touristy. The water buses are used more by the locals so you will get a much better feel for Venice on the buses. You can buy a day pass for the buses (or if you're feeling lucky, just get on..we were there for 5 days and only once did we get asked for proof of purchase of the water bus passes). We ended up meeting a college professor on there who told us so much great local information, how Venice has changed over the years, etc.

If you are staying there more than a day, don't stay on Venice, stay on Lido. That was where we stayed and it was awesome. Lido is where a lot of people who work in Venice live and where Italians stay when they vacation in Venice. It's a much slower pace and at night it was relatively quiet. Plus hotels there are at least 50% cheaper than in Venice and places are easier to find just in terms of navigation. The only drawback to Lido is that the food is not as good as in Venice. I'd say on Lido we were split between good and eh restaurants. We ate at one of the best restaurants on our trip there and a little further down on the same street, one of the worst restaurants on our trip.

ETA some pics.

Venice was unbelievable. I'd love to go back again someday.

Here are a few pics. Just call me GB junior.

ETA 2..I think someone would be nuts to only spend a day in Venice. We were there for 4 nights and I wish it was longer.

Don't listen to GB! If you want to take a Gondola ride, take one. We were unsure about it for the reasons GB mentioned, but decided to do it anyway. We had a great gondolier who took us to some interesting places and talked extensively about the history of the city. We asked questions and he was great at answering them.

We also did some walks suggested in one of our guide books and wandered around for the better part of a day. Livvey is correct in that the water buses are better than the taxis.

GB top suggestions would be my top suggestions.

We had one great meal, one OK meal. I probably have the name of the restaurant of the great meal if you are interested.

Here's my suggestion: eat gelato...always eat gelato!

I really dig the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.