Our family had a wonderful time in Venice. The key for us was the location of Barbara's apartment which was out of the way of the usual Rialto/San Marco tourist stampede that tends to be so annoying for repeat visitors. In this neighborhood, one feels like a real local Venetian...you see children on their way to school, the local folks doing their day-to-day shopping and chatting. Artists are everywhere. The icing on the cake was the apartment itself - full of character - what a library of books ! It was super clean, not fancy but very functional and it had everything we could ever need for our short stay. With the shops nearby, we even had the opportunity to get ingredients we needed to cook meals at the apartment. The small garden was a nice touch too.
Both Barbara and her local associate Natasha were SUPER helpful in getting us acclimated quickly.
My only regret is that we couldn't stay longer.