Venice, Italy (April 25-April 29)

Over looking St.Marco Square
Venice, Italy
Mark

From Tuscany we drove to Venice, dropped off our car at the entrance, and walked 300 metres to our hotel! How that worked out was all part of our focus on finding the right hotel and the right restaurant, the right toilet, meeting the right people, getting on the right boat plane bus train, etc. We had just booked the place the night before on the Internet. We took it because it was cheap (for Venice), not realizing it was right near the car rental drop-off area.

Lugging bags from hotel to hotel

Caleb in the narrow streets of Venice

We passed by a crowded restaurant on our first night in Venice - always a good sign when a restaurant is crowded, so we stopped. The weather was cool but there was no room inside and I was ecstatic to see that there was actually a table for us outside. "We'll just have to put up with it," I thought. This was definitely the place to eat. We ended up sitting next to some Italians (the place was filled with them, one of our criteria for eating at a restaurant in Italy especially) and we actually ended up carrying on a conversation with them completely in Italian! They had a son about Caleb's age, and he spoke a bit of English, and between the seven of us we were able to converse. We asked them how they liked Venice, and they looked at us with long faces and shrugged, opening their arms wide as if at a loss: "Eh, we're from Rome" they said in Italian. The only word we actually understood was "Rome", but the meaning could not be clearer, and the four of us laughed and understood what they meant: once you're from Rome, everything else is second, and it's true. Rome is the top.

Artemis tries a mask in Venice shop- there are mask shops everywhere

Caleb with Mask

Mark and Caleb snacking

Some rainy days in Venice
We stayed in Venice 4 nights, and then, suddenly, our trip to Italy was over! We had spent nearly a month here, although it seemed like a second. Everything seemed easy in Italy: we took to the language quickly and without effort; finding food was more about finding great food, as opposed to good food, which is everywhere; accommodation was fantastic; the people friendly and happy and fun; the culture rich and interesting.

Typical tourist scene in Venice as everyone gets lost constantly

Having a chat with a retired gondalier-he bought us a glass of wine while we waited for the rain to stop at this cute restaraunt

Flooding in Venice in San Marco square

The gorgeous canels in Venice

Caleb went crazy for Diabolo every chance he got

Mark contemplating at the Jewish memorial in Venice

Sipping Cappaccion in a local cafe

Cocorico makeup poster near hotel

Artemis in front of an outside art piece

Again we say "Gracie gracie mille gracie Italia!" We will be back, and it's comforting to know it will all still be there, just as we left it, si bellisimo.

Mark