I took the gondola ride at night, and it was a very intimate, very special (kind of spooky) and very memorable experience. The calls the gondoliers make (to avoid crashing into each other) come bouncing across the water through the streets and alleyways, and there’s something interesting about looking up into the lit windows from the dark water. Also, the turn out into the loud, brilliantly lit Grand Canal from the dark, narrow alleys is something burned upon my brain until the day I die.