Day 4: Venice...

We finally made it to Venice. We arranged a few things and cut a few cities out of the itinerary, knowing that Venice was something we had to see, especially when we were that close.

It was snowing there, which seemed to be a pretty big surprise to most of the people who lived and worked there. Because of the humidity, it was very cold, but we still had a great time! (If anyone out there has Al Gore's email, please pass it on... I would love to give him a piece of my mind about Global Warming.)

Venice is a fun place to just walk and get lost in all the allyways. There were always signs that pointed you in the direction to St. Mark's, which made it easy to wander around a little.

The shops were filled with masks, venetian glass trinkets, hats and lots of fun holiday dolce (sweets). Janessa loved shopping and bought a very cute hat!


Janessa looked at every shop in Venice until she found the perfect mask for her room.


When we finally got so cold we couldn't stand it anymore, we decided to stop and eat somewhere. Unfortunately for us, that place was pretty fancy & expensive. But, we were freezing cold and tired of the long walks, so we stayed and lived it up!

Janessa always ordered the craziest things to eat out of everyone. It usually involved seafood of some sort. This time she simply told the waiter she loved seafood and was willing to try anything. This is what he brought her! She loved it. The rest of us had boring pasta, but it was super good!

If you have ever seen Mr. Bean's Holiday, this might remind you one of the scenes. If you have not ever seen Mr. Bean's Holiday, come and borrow it from us immediately... one of our famiy favorites!

At the restaurant, I told the kids to save all the crackers and breadsticks for later. Having been to Venice, I had remembered all the pigeons in St. Mark's Square and I was hoping they would be there for the kids to feed.

Luckily, they were. Droves of them. At first the kids were a little scared, but they quickly got over it and loved feeding the pigeons. We have a great video of them, which I will post as soon as I figure out how!




While going through some pictures, I have concluded that I have TONS of pictures of Janessa from this trip. I thought I should explain a little. Janessa likes to have her picture taken. The boys DO NOT like to have their picture taken, especially Andrew & Nathan. It is sometimes like pulling teeth. And, when I do finally get in a photo, they usually will not smile on purpose. Darn boys... at least I have one girl that is willing to model for me! Speaking of photos, this day wasn't my best work. The batery on my fancy camera died the second we got there, so I was using a point and shoot. Not too bad, but not as crystal clear as I like.






Everywhere we went in Italy, the boys would find a dog to play with. This one was outside a shop and they were so worried that it was too cold for it. So, they stayed with it until the owner came out to leave.


We considered a gondola ride, but once we did the math, we decided that we would rather eat the rest of the trip. So, we took a ride on a water taxi around the Grand Canal, which was a gorgeous view. I think the kids loved it just as much and it was about $300 cheaper!




Venice was beautiful. Cold and snowing, but very pretty. The kids had a wonderful experience seeing it. We are just glad we finally made it.