Aaaah, Venezia!

Ciao Tutti! Aaah, Venezia! There’s just no place like it.

We followed up our Saturday outing to downtown Vicenza with a Sunday outing to Venice. Not a bad weekend.

It was the kids’ first time on a train which they were really excited about. Kids….here we are embarking on an Italian adventure and a day trip to one of the more iconic cities of the world, and they are totally jazzed up about riding on a train. Hey, it’s all good.

One benefit of this first trip into Venice is that Suzanne and I started to get up the learning curve on how it’s all done. By that, I mean that we fumbled and stumbled and bumbled our way through. Actually, once we arrived in Venice, things were fairly smooth sailing. Driving our borrowed minivan to the train station in Vicenza, parking, buying train tickets, and getting on and off the train – at the correct stops….well that was where we had a little learning to do. Despite some hiccups, we actually managed to arrive where and basically when we wanted, and again, it was all good.

Venice in December is very different than Venice in the summer or doing Carnivale (February). There aren’t the same crowds, although there were still a good number of people around – maybe because it was a week before Christmas. There also fewer scam artists and cheesy street vendors. Then again, there we are crossing the Grand Canale with all of its splendor and the kids are totally fixated on the $.50 gooey toys being sold by the vendors up and down the bridge, so those guys are still a presence.

Venice in December is also obviously colder. It’s a pretty decent hike from the train station down to Piazza San Marco, so the walking keeps you warm, especially if you are sometimes carrying 40 and 50 pound children. It was a good bit colder when we got to the main square and walked along the water, but it’s easy enough to find a place to warm up with some Italian coffee or cappuccino.

The kids actually did really, really well considering the amount of walking and the ample opportunities to run out of sight, get distracted by lots of new sights and interesting alleys, and get lost among the crowds of people. They really did well. We were all rewarded by a warm-up stop at a gelaterria (despite the contradiction in purpose).

Josh and Isabel (especially Josh) went absolutely nuts chasing the pigeons all around Piazza San Marco. Again, it’s pretty funny when you are blown away by the architecture/art/history/magnificence and the kids are absorbed with the pigeons.

Both kids (especially Isabel) were also excited to see some of the places that she had read about in one of her “Olivia” books eg. the Bridge of Sighs….ahhhh.

Although we stayed pretty much on the main path between the train station and Piazza San Marco(if there is one), we made a couple of quick stops into some really amazing churches along the way. One of these churches looked almost like an old pile of bricks from the outside, but then you read a sign stating that it was a Russian Orthodox church erected in the 11^th century, and you go inside and it’s simply amazing – not in a grandiose and extravagant way, but in a historically rich and artistically interesting way. I mean, for someone like me who isn’t educated in art or architecture, much less 11^th century European history, I was blown away.

Anyway, now that we’ve broken the seal and gotten the basics figure out on how to get to Venice and back, we are ready to start receiving visitors! Weeell, we have no place to put you yet, as we are in our 3^rd week of hotel room living ourselves, but besides that we’re ready. We have even completed the process of buying a car, so we have our own wheels now. Good times all around.

Love to all of you!

And Merry Christmas!

ct