Italy Part II: Venice

We drove from Florence to Mestre and took the train for the final hop to Venice. Here we are at the station.





When we arrived in Venice it was evening and our plan was to take the Vaporetto (water bus) all the way to San Marco Square. We figured we would read our self guided tour of the Grand Canal as we journeyed toward our hotel and check that off our list right at the beginning. Unfortunately we caught the bus in the wrong direction and ended up taking a long route around Venice instead of through. Here we are on the water bus wondering why we're heading out to sea.





We made it to our hotel, which was fantastic. They had forgotten to set up a crib for Isla so she and Brennan shared a bed the first night. By some miracle that worked out fine. We dropped off our bags and headed out for dinner in town.





Our view of the Basilica di San Marco and the Campanile, both in San Marco Square.



Our hotel.





We stopped here for breakfast. It was very fast paced in there as most of the Italians pull up to the bar, knock back an espresso, slap down some cash and leave, all in about 20 seconds. We bought some amazing spinach quiches and assorted sweet baked goods.



I thought Venice was absolutely beautiful and I don't think our pictures do it justice.







Rialto Bridge







We did a ton of walking. Here we are buying some fruit at the market.













Brennan wasn't as into the walking so we had to stop at this bakery to refuel him.



Chocolate, stat!

















This mercenary made a deal with the city that in exchange for leaving his fortune to Venice, his statue would stand in front of San Marco. The city did erect the statue but placed it in front of the Scuolo Grand San Marco rather than in the main square.







We couldn't resist this cute hat with the giant pom! The sales lady went nuts over Isla, so that helped cement the sale, but it's really a fabulous hat and she wears it well.



After doing a ton of walking we were happy to have a late lunch in a quiet corner of a very busy restaurant.





After a short siesta we headed out for a late dinner. It was a rainy night and we found a cozy restaurant with tasty pasta. Afterward we braved the elements to hunt down some gelato. According to Patrick it's never to cold to eat gelato.





The next morning we toured the Doge's Palace. It was amazing. Dark wood, enormous paintings, just gorgeous. It conveyed a sense of power and wealth without being gaudy in the least. Unfortunately photography was not allowed.





We stopped at a funky little place for lunch.



We got the "special toast". It was special, and very very good. Sadly we were totally overcharged. At least the food was good.







Newlyweds!



Family photo in front of the Basilica.



We decided to try our Vaporetto self guided tour one more time on the way out of town. We caught a bus going in the right direction, but somehow we caught an express bus so we had to do a lot of speed reading.



Practice shot....



Hudocks with Ponte Rialto in the background.





On the road again.



From Mestre we headed to Ferarra to spend a night before our flight home. At one point last year Patrick stayed at this agritourismo for a little over a month and he was excited to finally introduce his hosts and his family. I only took two random food photos, but it was so nice to finally meet Andrea and Barbara and it was fun for Brennan to see where Daddy had been staying.



Say cheese!





It was a great trip but we did have one small hitch on the way back. Just as our plane started to board I realized that we didn't have our camera with us. I knew we'd had it in the car, so Patrick had to call back to the rental car company and ask them to run down to the garage and check. Of course they could find no record of us, then they couldn't find the car, then the car was being cleaned. Eventually one of the men located the car and our camera (I had left it but it was dark in that garage and I couldn't see!) and Patrick ran to meet him at security then raced back in the nick of time to make our flight. Stressful! We've had these sort of last minute snafus before but this one was totally my fault. Overall it was a great trip, and thankfully we have the pictures to remember it by.