Venice- Day 1

Last week, our family traveled to Italy. Yes, Italy. Of all the places in the world I have ever wanted to visit, Italy has been #1 on the list. If you read my previous posts, you would have heard that we were supposed to go a month ago, but a certain volcano kept us from flying. How grateful I am that we were able to reschedule our trip... and tack on a few extra days as well.

We spent the better part of our first day traveling to get to Venice. Our flight was about 2 1/2 hours away (not too bad, but it seemed much longer with a screaming 20 month-old!). We picked up our rental car and found ourselves back on the right side of the road (we drive on the left side in the UK). We found our hotel which we chose because it was on the mainland across the causeway to Venice (much cheaper to stay on the mainland), and purchased bus tickets to get into Venice.

Our plan for that first afternoon/evening was to get lost in Venice. We discovered that it wasn't too hard. As you probably already know, Venice is a series of small islands that have been built up in the Venetian Lagoon (117 islands, in fact). The islands are connected by bridges, and people get around on foot, by gondola, private boat, or vaporetto (water taxi). There are no cars or roads in Venice... only canals, bridges, alleys, and campos (open spaces scattered throughout the city).

We were just mesmerized by what we saw. Venice is so charming. There's something about the weathered buildings with their wooden shutters, and the blue-green water running under the small bridges everywhere, that makes you fall in love with the city. We couldn't stop taking pictures... it was just so beautiful.
All we did that first evening was walk around. As I mentioned earlier, it wasn't difficult to get lost. But there was no need to worry... you really can't go anywhere too far. And when it was time to go, the signs were clearly marked to get you back in the direction of the bus station.(Collin split time that first day between a baby-backpack and his monkey harness.)

As we walked around, there were a few things that we began to notice. Every once in a while, we would come upon a well. We learned that years ago, each neighborhood would have their own well as a source of fresh water. Maddie's job during our time in Venice was to spot the wells and count them. Over the course of our day and a half there, she counted 28!We also began to notice that every tourist stand and shop was selling carnival masks. Carnevale is a major event in February in Venice, where the locals and tourists wear fancy masks and costumes. Tim and Maddie each chose a Carenevale mask as their Italy souvenir.For dinner, we came upon Campo Santo Stefano. There were a few restaurants around this open area, complete with plenty of outisde tables and chairs (no highchairs though-- we only had one restaurant with a highchair during our entire time in Italy). We ordered some pizza, pasta, and risotto dishes for dinner. The campo area was a perfect spot to eat, because while we waited for our food, the children ran around with the other local children and climbed on the small monument there.Dinner was followed up shortly by gelato. Gelato is now my most favorite dessert in the whole world! It is like ice cream, but much denser and more flavorful. Gelato shops could be found wherever we went in Italy. It was delicious! Our family theme for the week was "Gelato everyday!!!"We eventually made our way to the Grand Canal, and came upon the Rialto Bridge. The Rialto Bridge is beautiful, and the view is even better! The Bridge itself is lined with shops and of course, tourists!

By this time, we were all exhausted, it was getting dark, and the kids were all tired of walking. Venice suddenly became a labyrinth that was difficult to find your way out of. We were all exhausted by the time we made it back to the hotel. What a full day it had been!