Venice

We flew into Venice and had a bit of a challenge finding Italian SIM cards and connecting with our Airbnb host.  We never got the address from our host and without SIM cards we could not connect with him. By the time we did it was late and then he proceeded to charge us a late fee. Of course all of that was overshadowed by the sun setting over the canal and the beauty of it along with the colorful buildings.  Once everything was sorted out we headed down the street to eat Italian, something we'd all been looking forward to for quite some time!

Arriving in Venice

Typical Venice street

Mom and Dad have been to Venice before, so had some idea of what to expect and how our time would be spent.  However, realizing that it had been 19 years since they were last in Italy made them both feel very old!  We headed out that morning in search of SIM cards and while Dad dealt with that, the boys became fascinated with fountain pens, homemade marbled papers, leather journals, and wax seals - all things Venice is known for in abundance!  Once a few souvenirs were purchased, we were on our way to tour St. Mark's Basilica.

The brilliance of mosaics inside St. Mark's Basilica are breath-taking and we walked around in awe.  The most astounding art work, which needed to be viewed way too quickly in our opinion, due to the line of people, was the Pala d'Oro.  This altarpiece consists of 2000 emeralds, amethysts, sapphires, rubies, pearls, and other gemstones placed among silver and gold images of St. Mark's life and Biblical stories.  This is near the area housing the tomb of St. Mark, whose body was supposedly smuggled out of Egypt in a barrel of pork fat during the 9th century!

St. Marks Basilica - the Quadriga is a reproduction and gallops off the balcony.  The original was captured by Constantinople and later taken by Napoleon to Paris.

Tomb of St. Mark

Pictures don't do it justice, looking out across the interior of St. Mark's at the incredible gold mosaics

View from St. Mark's Basilica balcony

In the afternoon we surprised the kids and booked gondola lessons.  We had two boats and were instructed on how to paddle in the front position as well as the rear position as we made our way through some of the canals of Venice.  This was a unique experience and as always, we appreciated the chance to be on the water!

Oldest son rowing while SJ dips her hand in to feel the water

Oldest working under a bridge

Middle son powering the boat

All smiles as he learns a new skill

SJ rowing (sort of)

Learning to move the gondola

Mom working the gondola

One of the many picturesque Venice bridges

Who's behind that mask getting all the love?

Much to our dismay, the rain from France followed us, and that evening and all of the following day it rained.  We'd hoped to take a boat to visit Murano, the famous glass-blowing island, and explore the city a bit more, but we were staying about a 20 minute walk from all of the activity and by the time we arrived at the heart of it in the rain gear we had with us, we were soaked and a boat ride just didn't sound that much fun!  There weren't many options for indoor entertainment and the kids were museum-ed out, so we holed up in our apartment, did school, planned a few details of our future Italian travels, read, and watched movies.  Needless to say, after a nice walk around a nearby park the next morning, we were more than happy to be heading towards Florence and becoming a bit desperate for some sunshine!