After breakfast we leave Lucerne and drive through the snow capped mountains to the picturesque lakes district of Italy. We skirt Lake Como and the city of Milan before arriving in Venice in the early afternoon. We take a water taxi from Mestre to the island of Venice. We do a quick orientation then watch a glass blowing demonstration, by a traditional artisan at the Murano glass factory. We enjoy an hour of free time to wander (more gelato) and shop before we meet up in Piazza San Marco. Maddie finds a beautiful hand painted mask with lovely musical scrolls around the top and a violin painted on the face. The boys each buy some great souvenir Italian model soldiers. We meet for a gondola ride through the narrow canals which is simply magical. No wait I mean TRULY MAGICAL!!!!!! As a family of 6 we have a gondola to ourselves. We have a bottle of Lambrusco provided for Mark and I, and the kids have a lemonade each. There is one gondola in our group with a gentleman serenading us accompanied by an accordian. We then have a half an hour more free time during which we race around trying get some photographs, buy some gifts for family and try to absorb as much of this pure magic that is Venice in the late afternoon. We meet up again for a private motor launch ride through the Grand Canal to take us back to our transport to the hotel. We pass under the Rialto Bridge and admire the amazing scenery at every turn. Mark and I hadn’t done this last time we were in Venice and it was an absolute HIGHLIGHT this time. Venice is a jewel in the golden afternoon light. An amazing experience. It really is too difficult to describe and the closest I can come , although it sounds incredibly corny, is PURE MAGIC! After we settle in to our hotel rooms we meet up for dinner at a local restaurant, pasta yummmmm. Such a totally amazing day. How can tomorrow possibly beat today?
(even though it is now weeks ago since our return Venice still leaves me breathless)
Our evening ends with, you guessed it, photos, batteries etc…….
An interesting aside, and I don’t mean to bore you with “potty” talk but our wonderful guys encountered something new and wonderful in their hotel rooms tonight…… a bidet! I decided to ask them what is was, Riley answered immediately “Oh, I know, it is a little, itty bitty baby bath” The other kids were less forthcoming. they were trying to seem knowledgable without actually admitting they had no idea , so they were poking fun at Riley's answer without offering any better ideas. Finally we explained its real use, but it was really amusing for a while there.
One last note......I took over 900 (yes, you read that right) photos in our afternoon in Venice. I have shared just a couple of my favourites here.
1 comment:
My dear, if you are out of words to describe your true feelings towards the time in Venice, then just say "I took over 900 pictures in a single afternoon alone, need I say more?" Venice is indeed a magical city of our Planet.
Love
Odila
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