Venezia & Murano
Despite the fact that we did not have any itinerary for this trip, neither did we plan to see all of the sights, we've seen quite a lot, I think.1) Campanile di San Giorgio Maggiore
We chose this one (instead of San Marco) because you are only able to buy skip-the-line tickets for the San Marco's bell tower till the end of October. And there were supposed to be crazy queues (as there usually are).
San Giorgio Maggiore is on the island called San Giorgio. To get there, you need to board the vaporetto at San Marco. Easy, breezy, cover girl :D One stop (5 minutes) and you're there. It costs 7,5 EUR per person for a 75-minute ticket which is fine, you don't have to worry you won't have enough time at San Giorgio. On your way back, make sure to get on the right boat as both directions are stopping there and you wouldn't want to take the whole round trip (it's one stop to San Marco, there are another maybe 15 stops if you take the other direction).
There's an elevator up so you do not need to climb almost any stairs (there were three, I think). We arrived a few minutes before 1 o'clock. I saw a couple standing in the lobby and waiting. At first, I did not understand why they were not going up but it hit me a minute later - it said on TA that the sound is too loud and that you would come back almost deaf if there. When I told this to Telchac his immediate answer was - btw can you guess? Of course, it was: Let's go up now! So despite my better judgement we ran to the elevator, waited impatiently and then we were up. A little scared and a little excited (one of us more scared and the other quite excited :D).
Then it happened - one chime. Only one! I hadn't realised there was going to be only one - but of course, it was one o'clock. So I was "saved by the bell" - literally. :D And btw it was not that loud. At least the one I heard, the only one, thankfully.
2) Piazza San Marco
As you know we are not big fans of churches. Therefore the title says only piazza - not basilica. I don't know any other place that is so unmissable. You simply need to pass through, have a look, take a photo, watch people feed pigeons (that flying dirty infected rats :D yup, I don't like them at all. People were letting children hold them - I don't know but I wouldn't do that).
The piazza is impressive, large, beautiful and full of how-it-must-have-been charm. You can't help but imagine that. However, as I said, this is the crowdiest place of all the places in Venice. People from ships are getting off there, people from the city are coming there, only the Venetians are avoiding it :D. Btw there are not fewer people in the evening or at night. Still quite a lot.
3) Vetreria New Gallery
To straighten things out - we did not choose this gallery, it was a complimentary tour of our hotel. As with a majority of these tours, their goal is to sell, obviously. However, I am really glad that we could see at least short "performance" by the glass Maestro and that we could also see all the different types of things they are able to make. I am not really a fan of this type of interior decorations but I must admit there were pretty awesome things there. If you have time, go and see some of the glass factories there are. I would also want to see Murano but not in winter to be honest. I'd much rather see it in spring, it seems happier then.
4) Jewish ghetto
(go and watch the Merchant of Venice right now!) In case you're more of a reading type of person have a look at this article that will tell you more about the ghetto in a lot more sophisticated way than I would have :D. It's a bit dated but still interesting.
5) Ponte di Rialto & Ponte dei Sospiri
Ponte di Rialto is basically a smaller Ponte Vecchio (Florence) - it really reminded us of it. You can cross it, of course, but I guess it's far better to find a viewpoint from further afar to admire its beauty.
Ponte dei Sospiri is something different, the story of the prisoners seeing the world for the last time before their execution has its own special uniqueness about it. It must be wonderful crossing the bridge in their footsteps (btw you can definitely do this - they do the prison tours but I wasn't that impressed with the rest of the tour and I thought there are better things to do than do a long guided tour when you don't really enjoy half of it and you're just there for one thing). The bridge facing Ponte dei Sospiri is always packed with people - brave yourselves if you're going in summer or plan to do "an insta photoshoot" :D - btw why are people undressing at the beginning of December to take a photo? Is there something I missed? Is it "cool" to pose in a top (with your coat off - a friend was usually holding it)? Will you tell people how nice the weather is there in December? Or is your coat ugly? Someone, please, explain!