I highly recommend staying at Paola's apartment. It is a lovely place in the best location in Venice imo. They were there to greet us at the boat stop and walked us to the apartment, which is mere steps away. Also, it is an easy and beautiful 15 min walk to the train station if you don't want to take the crowded water taxi. I will be visiting Venice again within the year and only hope that Paola's place is available then, and I usually don't like staying in the same place twice due to variety's sake.