Venice

I was enchanted by Venice.  I fell utterly, completely, madly in love at first sight.  The famous canals and bridges were everything that I had dreamed of.  The alleyways and, the nooks and crannies, were ever surprising.  Not knowing where I would end up at my next turn kept me on my toes...It was a dream come true for me to be spending time on these fabled streets.  And my girls felt exactly the same way I did.  More than once, MadHatter asked if this was where we could move next.  More thank once, I wanted to answer yes.  But, as I told her, the magic would fade if we moved here.  You would start to see how hard it is to live in a city that had canals, not cars; that people hung their trash outside each and every morning for all to see; that buying clothes, actually, buying anything, was 3x harder and 5x more expensive, would start to get old after awhile.  She didn't get it...and as I was saying it, I was also wondering if I could get used to it.  The city puts you in a trance.  It lulls you into a sense of belonging.  It makes you forget the outside world.  I have only been gone a couple of weeks and I long walk on its cobble stoned streets again already.

But I have my memories.  And my pictures.  Oh, do I have pictures.  The ones in this post are of the family and the few sights we saw.  Venice is not a city of sights, it is a city of being, and living and walking.  These are the pictures I took of the family, and our experiences.  The next post is the photographer in me...the one that couldn't help but capture the beauty of the city.  I hope you enjoy them both.

I did.

(Warning:  this is a picture heavy post.  If you click on the first picture, it will open up a slide show. It will allow you to see the pictures, one at a time, and fast forward through them.  On the other hand, you can always scroll through them too...)

The view from our hotel balcony.

We just arrived from Salzburg.  Ready to explore and have some dinner!

Italy has public drinking fountains/water stations.  The girls loved them!

Hopscotch in the square.

Gelato!

Our first full day!  Ready to hit the streets (and alleyways, and canals and...)

No pictures were allowed inside but everyone was taking them, with the guard watching.  So I snapped a few.  Very quickly...

Dreaming of a Gondola ride...but heading to a museum...

Someone found a fan...

And someone found arms to carry her...

The view the prisoners saw of the Bridge of Sighs right before execution.

Yep, an actual mail slot.

After dinner, and rainstorm, gelato.  I didn't even notice the Share sticker on the steps until I was looking through pictures...So appropriate.

Puddle jumping after a rainstorm.  Of course.

Our hotel.  As seen in a different light.

These two.  Always exploring.  

Jumping for joy because we still have another full day in Venice.  

As taken by MadHatter.  She was so excited...to take the picture, and the gondola ride.

The Bridge of Sighs.

So sad that it is already over.  

But they were dancing in the streets two minutes later.

So tired of walking...we covered a lot of ground in 3 days.

After our last church, we took the water taxi home.

They had to have masks to take home with us as souveniers.  And I agree, they are the cutest things ever.

Tomorrow, the picture post.  Pictures, pictures and more pictures of the best of Venice...