Venice

While shopping for tickets to try and match Matt's flight from Sicily to Dubai, I noticed several of the choices were routing through Venice.  That got me thinking.  We couldn't fly through Venice without stopping for at least a day to let the kids see a beautiful city drenched (ha ha) in history.  So we finished packing and boxing our assortment of temporary living supplies Monday (including the warn on that last minute market dash the Friday before!).  Matt drove us to the airport Tuesday morning.  We said good-bye for two days.  We would be flying out of the Marco Polo airport about the same time he would be catching his connecting flight in Milan.  

I made the kids bundle knowing it was going to be cold.  They grumbled and griped about carrying a sweatshirt AND a coat through the little airport.  It was a chilly morning by Sicily standards, but we were all definitely overdressed. They quickly changed their tune once we landed a bit more north.  When we left the airport to find the bus, I was pulling out scarves, hats and gloves.  My phone said it was 27 degrees (negative if you are keeping score in C).  That was about the warmest we saw it for the next 48 hours.  

We drove over the long boring 5K bridge.  That brought back memories.  When we first got off the bus, I thought we could try walking through town over bridges and down alleys--it was only a couple kilometeres away--but after bump, bump, bumping our 5 pieces of rolling luggage and 5 smaller carry-on items up and down a painfully long bridge, we decided to forget that terrible idea and hop on a water bus.  (That's the bad thing about stopping for a little vacation while moving, you have way too much stuff with you!)  We bought 2 day passes and hopped on the next #1, direction Lido.  We made the mistake of sitting up front, outside.  After our 35 minute ride we were so cold.  It doesn't matter how beautiful your surroundings are when you cant feel your fingers or toes.  It was a very short walk to our hotel from the "bus stop", but we never would have found if I hadn't called the guy.  He came out of a hidden passageway to show us around the corner.  We dropped off our bags (lugged them all up a steep staircase) in our lovely and fabulously clean room before heading back out unimpeded.  

We went back to catch the boat to San Marco's Square.  We sat inside and enjoyed the ride much more. It was starting to get dark.  I pointed out a few things including the Doge's Palace, the Basilica, and the tower before heading off to find dinner.  The one we picked did not disappoint.  I had a seafood pasta, the girls split a pizza and Isaac had the quattro stagioni--just like I had described it--it sections.  Everything was hot and delicious.  No one was up for window shopping in the cold, so after we ate, we just went back to the hotel to crank up the heater, take hot showers and chill for a bit.  I taught the kids to play Hearts--big hit.  (Troy taught us all Scum the week before and everyone loves that, but 4 people seemed too small.)

Yes, I took a picture of the bathroom.  Sicily was a great experience for many, many reasons, but not one of us will miss that bathroom.  Ick.  This one was so wonderfully clean, with a fantastic heater and the water pressure was GREAT!  We all really liked the bathroom.  

The next morning after a marvelous breakfast, served in our room piping hot, we bundled up better and set out for a much happier day.  Everyone had on at least two pairs of long socks, extra layers were added on top, and the girls had leggings on under their pants too.  We brought along the old backpack in case anyone got too warm (no one did).  

Leaving the hotel.  

The alleyway where the hotel would accept deliveries. 

The kids are looking out that alley and I'm taking their picture from the nearest bridge.  

Now they are walking around the corner.  

I tried to take plenty of pictures, though not all will be included.

Our boat stop was called Rialto Mercado--The fish market.  It's open every morning and if you love seafood, wow!  It's amazing.  The kids loved looking at all their wares.  There are also fruit and vegetable stands.  

This fish head looks much bigger in person.  There were swordfish heads as decor too, but their noses were too long for the picture. 

Waiting for the boat.  It was foggy.  Bummer, but still beautiful.  

This picture is supposed to be showing the boat turning down the narrow waterway to make a delivery or maybe head home.  

One of the boat drivers on one of our many trips.  There isn't a right/left side for driving.  The boat bus zigzags back and forth according to where the stops are.  Delivery trucks, a few gondolas (too cold for most tourists) garbage trucks. . . . just drive along slowly and watch out for each other.  

Looking back at the market. 

The kids helped me find interesting buildings.  It's fun to see if they have connecting sidewalks or just little islands unto themselves.  Fun fact: Venice is made up of 117 little islands and 177 canals and connected by 409 bridges.

DHL delivery!

We had to yell at Isaac or he couldn't hear us. 

Is this the church in Indiana Jones?  

Drat the fog. 

We are on our way to Murano to go check out the glass makers of renown.  

Messing around keeps you warm.

The kids liked the glass blowing and shaping demos so much that we went in search of another as well.  We saw him make a delicate fancy pitcher and a horse rearing up.

It's hard to see the pitcher without a darker color behind it.  It was textured and the handle wrapped around the neck a few times.  It was so pretty.  

There's the horse.  It's about a foot tall.  The kids were amazed to watch him shape it out of the hot drooping glass, constantly turning it to fight gravity and fighting time while the hot glass hardens.  

He also blew a glass bubble till it was cellophane thin and then exploded.  Every jumped.  

Gas station. 

They started feeding pigeons while waiting for the boat.  

Makenna's warrior face. 

The Bridge of Sighs above and behind them.  This is where the prisoners would cross from the court to the prison, last look at freedom.

The Doge's Palace.  This was the center of control when Venice was a powerhouse in the Mediterranean, a center for trade helping connect east and west.  

The two famous pillars, one topped with the Venetian 

winged lion.  

Every pillar of the palace is carved uniquely. Amazing, beautiful stone work.  And not a bad shot with the misty tower visible off to the left.  

We couldn't go inside the basilica on Wednesday because we had Isaac's backpack.  It's free to go in, but they are strict about luggage.  The purple pillars in front rather look like porphyry.  I wonder if it's part of the Vatican's spreadsheet?

The pigeons were numbered in the hundreds, not thousands, but the kids had a blast regardless.  

Outside of a government building.  The original patron saint of Venice was St. Theodore who is most known for fighting a dragon (looking suspiciously like a crocodile in one statue in town).  But when Venice was coming into its own as a world power in the 800's, they decided they needed to upgrade saints.  They stole the remains of St. Mark from Alexandria, Egypt.  Along with Mark's remains came his symbol, the lion.  There used to be many, many more lions adorning the city, but after Napoleon sacked it in the very late 18th century, he ordered over a thousand lions be removed to humble the residents.  

Taken from the other side of the square.  See the absence of pigeons and cafe tables and chairs.  There was a full orchestra playing two visits ago in high summer.  In another month it will be full of fancy revelers for Carnivale.  

So sweet.  Window shopping. 

We saw amazing glass art, but refrained from photographing most of them.  These fish were calling out though.  

It really is a beauitful church.  You could fill a whole book with pictures of just the floor mosaics.  I would love to have a knowledgable tour guide someday to explain all the pictures on the ceilings and facades.  

Makenna, the winged lion. It's back there, above the walkway but below the arch.  

The most photographed lion with the blue and gold spangled background. 

Not the one she picked as a souvenir--that one has feathers!

Cool, but freaky cat.

The Bridge of Sighs plus 4 others. 

The other side of that same bridge. 

Wow? This is in the lobby of the largest shop in Venice.  Glass, masks, and puppets priced at top dollar.  We treated it more as a warm museum and enjoyed walking through 2 of the three massive floors.  

I broke the no camera rule.  We couldn't resist the temptation of the bat mask with BatJess right there.

Loading the garbage boat.

We stopped in a warm sweet shop and picked a few things to sample.  

I bet there used to be a lion on top of this pillar.  Drat Napoleon. 

Looking under the Rialto Brigde

Okay, it's another glass fish.  The fish skeleton stuck in the ice block was just funny.

Looks like a yummy restaurant, but doesn't have tourist hours.  It's real Italian and doesn't open until 7 for dinner. 

Heading back to the hotel to drop off a few things before dinner.  

The next morning we left all our stuff at the hotel after breakfast so we could visit the inside of the basilica. We fed some more pigeons and I took some videos with my phone.  I'll see if I can post them on youtube.  That's the gist of our brief trip to Venice.  We set off for the airport, driving through snow on the mainland.  We were flying from Venice to Doha and then to Dubai.  We flew Qatar Air and is was possibly the nicest I have ever sampled.  The kids were pampered and loved their private screens with loads of kid choices.   Between the two airports Isaac and Makenna played a whole game of Battleship.