For 600 lire, you can cross the Grand Canal in a gondola, along with the real Venetians. If you really want to fit in, don't bother to sit down. Kids especially love riding a traghetto . S peaking of youngsters, Venice is probably the best place in Italy to take them. If you keep on walking you'll reach the beautiful entrance to the former shipyards.
Chances are they mark the spot where rival neighborhoods met to fight in days long gone by.
In Italy, I returned 21 Jan 1999 from a trip to northern Italy. Here are some helpful hints if you intend to travel into Marco Polo airport in Venice and then get to the train station at Mestre or S. Lucia. When you get on the bus you must validate your ticket in the machine behind the driver. The trip takes about 20 minutes and the buses run every 35-45 minutes during the day. There is a good hotel right accross the street from the train station at Mestre which I have used several times.