Buon natale! Christmas Eve greetings from Venice

The train from Geneva to Venice is direct but yesterday it was two hours late arriving, partly due to the usual delays around the Swiss Italian border. The journey was lovely and we looked out over snow covered Alpine landscapes as we ate breakfast in the restaurant carriage. Then in Milan irate passengers with tickets for other trains borded and squatted our train leading to a further hour's delay as the police tried to clear the train. An interesting start to the holiday!
The advantage to this delay was that it had stopped raining by the time we arrived in Venice and borded the vaparetto to take us along the Grand Canal to our hotel. It was amazing to be in this extraordinary city for the first time as dusk fell and the Christmas lights came on.
Last night we walked and walked and got lost and drank prosecco and ate pasta. Venice must be one of the few places in the world where coffee is more expensive than in Ferney Voltaire!
So here we are and today we have found the Protestant church and visited the baroque delights of some Venice Catholic churches.
We are reading and sleeping and thinking and laughing and amazed to be here. Such a privilege, so beautiful and a great break. Photos will follow I promise, what's the point of having a blog if you can't bore the everyone with your holiday snaps.