Day 4: Venice!

August 28th, 2015

Venice!  What a unique, spectacular, fun, and exhausting city!  We had so much fun on our first full day in Venice, where we continued our crazy pace of non-stop tourist action, and despite the 90 degree heat, we loved it! 

Pretty much every canal bridge is a perfect photo opportunity!  (But it seemed like we rarely passed one up.)

My mom and I started our morning with a nice trip to the local produce market near our apartment.

Out on the terrazza of St. Mark's Basilica.  What an incredible structure!  We were blown away by the size and the era it was built.

Panoramica di terrazza!  St. Mark's Square down below.

Cheerfully doing her best to stay cool.

Boston had the time of his life chasing pigeons around St. Mark's Square.  He was inexhaustible and basically never stopped running.  He would catch a good fat pigeon in his sight and run full blast at it.  As soon as the pigeon ran away, he would quickly spin around, acquire another bird in sight, and run after that one.  It was so fun just to watch him with that motor.

The water front along St. Mark's Square - a classic Venice spot!

Leaving behind the craziness of St. Mark's Square and the bustling walkways of central Venice, we ventured out to the quieter waterfront area called the Zattere.  It had a much calmer, more residential feel, and it was really fun to experience the peaceful side of Venice.  We walked along the water, ate delicious gelato at a 50+ year old gelateria, Gelato Nico, and gaped as a giant cruise ship slowly glided right past us. 

Can't pass up random bridge photos!

I love this photo opp.

One of the most incredible things about Venice is that it is absolutely saturated with stunning, amazing buildings.  In any other city, each building would be like the coolest architectural design around, but in Venice, each and every building is gorgeous.  This one is the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute.

While on our way back from the Zattere, we were all too tired to make the long walk back.  So we hopped on the Vaporetto, which is basically a water bus, to take us back to the apartment.  But we hopped on going the wrong direction, so instead of a quick 15 minute ride to the apartment, we got an hour long evening boat tour in Venice!  An accidental, inexpensive, and fun way to see the city!

This is the last known picture of this pacifier.  Boston was pretty attached to it through the trip up to this point, but after a moment, he was empty-mouthed and reaching out toward the water, saying "Oh no!  Pacifier!  Help!"  Us: "Boston, did you throw your pacifier in the water?!"  Boston: "Yes."

So, now Boston's pacifier lies at the bottom of a Venetian lagoon.

Family boat tour!

Day 3: From the Shores of Lake Como to the City on Water

August 27th, 2015

Our last day on Lake Como.  We were already so sad to leave - Adam kept repeating that it might have been his favorite place he had ever been - but we were so excited because Venice was right around the corner!

We started the day at the "beach", a rocky little lakeshore spot right next to the grand old Hotel Victoria.  The water wasn't too cold, and it was a perfect spot for Boston to engage in his favorite activity, throwing rocks in water, and for CheyAnn and Solana to collect sea glass!  (Or I guess I should say, lake glass.)

Solana getting in on the rock throwing action.

Lake glass collection.

Boston, at home on the private dock.

Gail, whipping up a delicious Italian snack for the road!

One last look at our awesome view before hitting the road.

The drive from Varenna to Venice was pretty long - felt like around 4 hours - so by the time Solana spotted and yelled "Ikea!", we were all ready for a break.

Something comforting and familiar about Ikea.

So since it was Adam's and Gail's first time in Venice, we decided to spurge a little bit and rent a water taxi to make our grand entrance into the city, just like the movies.  It was so worth it!  On the same day where we felt like Lake Como was the coolest place we had been, we had the same feeling while cruising down the Grand Canal for the first time!

Kids chose to chill inside the water taxi. 

Welcome to Venice!

We were all so excited to be there!

Perfect!  A gelateria right outside of the apartment where we stayed!  The apartment where we stayed was steps off of the Grand Canal.  I wish we had gotten a good picture of the route we had to walk to it, but the narrow passage-way was so skinny that if I had stopped to take a picture, it would have caused a huge traffic jam as pedestrians flowed through single-file.

As always, happiest with gelato.

Well, we often heard the advice that you just have to allow yourself to get lost wandering through Venice.  Check.  Got pretty turned around trying to find a particular restaurant, and walking times take 3 times longer than expected with this wiggly crew!  But it was a really fun night in such an incredibly unique city!