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Venice, Italy |
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We took the train to Venice and stayed from Jan 2-6. We stayed an extra day because the weather was so lovely. Venice has no cars, and you get around by boat or foot. When you walk around you have to go over lots of bridges with stairs to get over the canals, so Tom and I got some exercise since we had the double stroller. The first day we were there, the water was high and flooded St Marks Square and part of St Marks, as well as lots of passages, so we got to walk on platforms. St Marks was very impressive, and the canals and buildings were charming. The Palazzos on the Grand Canal were impressive but mostly run down. We didn't ride a Gondola--it was too expensive and the girls wouldn't have liked it particularly anyway. We rode the vaporettos around (boats that are buses). We went to Murano to see glass blowing and we found a fabulous restaurant and ate there two nights running! People waited for it to open and it was friendly to children. |
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Tom and Laura and Sarah in front of St Marks. The water had just gone down, but we saw it while the water was high. The mosaics and the marble interior is spectacular. The square has the world's first cafe where you could get coffee. We looked at it, but decided not to go in when we saw the beautiful antiques and paintings. Not a place for children! |
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Here's a nice photo of one of the many canals that crisscross Venice. Everything is delivered by boat. |
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Here's a nice photo of Laura in her name sweater in front of St Marks. We were checking out the pigeons. Christine was running around after them and laughing. |
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Here's a nice photo of Christiney! |
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Everyone posed on top of a statue of a flying lion, which was a symbol of Venice back when it was one of the richest cities in Europe. There are lots of statues of lions around. |
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Sarah is a great traveller. She takes her naps just like normal no matter what is happening and likes looking around at everything. She is good in restaurants except for being a champion "Grabber Girl". |
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Laura got a carnival hat in St Marks square. She loved it and wore it all the time. It wasn't made in Italy though--made in China! We suspected that when we discovered it only cost 8 Euros ($8). |
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Carnival is a popular holiday and Venice is filled with shops selling Carnival masks. Here is one. The masks are very fancy. There are also lots of stores selling glass items. |
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