My husband, our friend and I returned from a short break in Venice last Friday. It was our first visit to this lovely,unique city and it certainly won't be our last! Our visit was enhanced partially due to the exceptionally warm and dry weather for the time of year, but also mainly by the very high standard of our accomodation. When making the booking, our host Cristina Zampieri was most efficient, helpful and accomodating. Her description of the newly refurbished apartment, just a two to three minute walk from the Rialto Bridge, certainly did not disappoint! It was located in the vibrant area of St Polo, which was centrally situated for not only walking to some of the tourist attractions, but also gave a taste of the Venetian way of life. There were many shops of all types close by and it was also very near to a vaporetto (water-bus) station. You were also spoilt for choice when it came to finding places to eat, drink and shop close to the apartment. On arriving in Venice, as previously arranged with Cristina, we were met off the vaporetto by one of her family who turned out to be her lovely daughter, Sandra. She was like a breath of fresh air, so welcoming and helpful. To her great embarassment, she had the wrong set of keys to get into the apartment, so had to phone her grandmother to bring over the correct set. She was so apologetic - we didn't mind at all as these things happen - and kindly offered to buy us a drink, which we gratefully accepted ( a glass of Prosecco each, of course) while we waited for her grandmother, also called Sandra, to arrive with the keys. Sandra, the younger, took advantage of this time to talk to us about the best places to visit, eat and shop in Venice. She also gave us a large map on which she marked all the aforementioned places for us to find easily. Although we had a guide book of our own, we found this personal information and the recommendations of where to eat,etc. from a local resident, extremely helpful and useful. After a short while, Sandra's grandmother, who was also very pleasant and welcoming, arrived with the keys and she took great pleasure, with young Sandra, in showing us around her lovely apartment of which she was obviously ( and justifiably so ) very proud! We feel that both Cristina and Sandra, Snr would be gratified to know what an excellent job young Sandra did of 'meeting and greeting' - she is a real asset to the family business. Well done, Sandra! On entering, it was immediately apparent that the apartment had been newly decorated with bright, white walls throughout and we loved the theme of the old movie stars such as Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, etc. who were the subject of large monochrome prints on the walls of each room. It was indeed very simple, but...