The view from our room...
The guys at the front desk were all very nice. When we asked to stow our stuff and he saw that one of the items was a backpack he told me that he would put it under the front desk for added safety. We checked out and began wandering the streets of Venice! We took only one stroller today even though there would be a lot of walking because we could go at our own pace and figured with all the bridges it would be hard with 2 strollers.
For the first part of the day we got completely lost in the back streets of Venice. It was so cool to see how people lived and to be in less traveled parts of the town. One could easily get lost in all the little passage ways, but we didn't care. Water everywhere, cute bridges, boats, gondolas, it was awesome!
Daniel thought it would be fun to see where this path led. I envisioned 1 or more of us falling in.
It didn't lead anywhere and we had to turn back around. But the kids had fun and no one fell in.
Random statues everywhere...
The way they get boats into the shop for repair! Daniel thought it was pretty neat!
My divas:
We spent a good few hours just wandering around. Then I figured it was time to go in search of the Rialto Bridge and the Grand Canal. Man, was that a mission to find. We got lost so many times. The poor kids' feets were getting tired. I just kept throwing snacks at them, but I, myself, was starting to hurt. My back was starting to hurt and I just wanted to find it and sit down and eat lunch. I was getting annoyed at Daniel because he's more of the directions guy and he was being pretty useless. Sure, its easy to get lost in Venice, but geez, can you ask a person for directions? Nope!
Things were getting a little tense because I decided the LEAST Daniel could do was find the damn Rialto bridge with the map he had because I DID plan the ENTIRE trip.
Then when we needed it the most, I saw a sign. And we both started cracking up...
I don't know who graffiti'd that sign, but since we had nothing else to go by, we took a chance. We actually did end up finding the bridge pretty soon after seeing that sign.
And soon after that we found a really cool place to eat and use the restroom so all was well again.
The Grand Canal!
The Rialto bridge was under construction. What was really cool and unique was that they had a tarp that had the picture of the bridge to scale. So, you really could imagine what it looked like all complete. I didn't take a picture but found one on the internet so you know what I am talking about. If you look closely, you will see that the left side is actually a picture on the tarp and the other side doesn't have a picture and is the real bridge. Cool right?
The girls had been seeing cool masks all over Venice. They are a tradition from festival. They were all very cool and both girls asked for one. I said no, well, because I say no a lot, but also because they were expensive and because the kids would probably either break them before we got back home or not use them once we got them home in one piece. Then I saw them for 2E passing by a store and I was sold... too good an offer to pass up. A chance to make the girls happy and give them something extra special. They were so happy and wore them most of the day.
Veena enjoyed walking the streets of Venice too! Only problem was that once she was out of the stroller, it was soooo hard to convince her to go back in!
Veena gives Venice a thumbs up!
So, while we were sitting down at a cafe feeding Veena, we meet a family that moved to Italy within the last few months from the States. We were talking about how we wanted to go a Gondola ride. She didn't seem to be too impressed with Gondolas. She told us that while they seem fun, they are pretty rickety and not really a fun ride. She then told us that there are things called "Traghettos" which are basically Gondolas that give you a lift from one side of the Grand Canal to the other, sort of like a taxi. She said they are cheap, fast and use real Gondolas so you can get the experience of the ride without breaking the bank and without spending a long time on the boat. I had actually read about these in Rick Steve's book but figured we didn't need to do this since we were going on the actual Gondola ride.
For some reason, Daniel was sold on this idea. He's usually the big spender who scolds me for being too cheap! And this time I was the one that secretly wanted to do the actual Gondola ride. But the practical me kicked in and I figured, hey at least we would get the experience and save the money. The kids would be stoked either way right?! Anyways, she told us where one stop was and the walk there was nice and somehow we found it without much difficulty.
And it was a pretty fun 1-2 minute ride. I of course took great pics...
I kept asking Daniel to take a pic of me on the Gondola. He kept saying no. He felt unsafe on the Gondola holding the baby. Since its a taxi there were other people on there, some of whom were standing up. Anyways, Im thinking this is our only Gondola ride and wanted a pic! He finally conceded, but this was the best picture he got...oh well!
The ride was quick. When it was over, Priyana was like, "But thats not a FANCY gondola. Thats a plain one. I wanted to go on a FANCY one. The one with the red seats!" Apparently, the kid knew what she wanted. And since I secretly wanted it too and felt I got robbed of a grand experience with our 1 minute Traghetto ride, I said to Daniel, "Looks like the girls want a real Gondola ride. We are in Venice after all!" Daniel of course was easily persuaded and off we went to find a real Gondola ride.
It was about 6pm at this time, and the fares go up about 20E after 7, so it was perfect timing! We found that fancy Gondola with the red seats and had an awesome time!
I had read that some Gondoliers just want your money and sometimes brought you back early or barely interacted with you. We were so lucky ours wasn't like that at all!! He loved the kids, he talked to us about different sites on the tour, and he even sang songs to us! It was so cool!!! Oh and the ride was supposed to last like 35 minutes, but ours was 45 (I made Daniel time it)!
The Gondola ride was definitely worth the 80E. I mean, how can you go to Venice and NOT go on a Gondola ride? It was an experience of a lifetime for sure.
After the ride we did more walking! We decided to walk in the direction of our hotel since it was already about 7pm by now.
This is a glass bridge! Its beautiful and pretty cool to walk across.
We picked up our bags, it was probably about 8pm and actually met the owner of the hotel!
He was also very, very nice!
We walked down the block to a cool looking restaurant and were seated right away. I think before we even had a chance to order, Priyana fell asleep! We ended up eating and then hanging out here for a couple hours because the train station was a few feet away and we didn't want to get there too early! We probably left the restaurant about 1030pm and headed over to the train station.
At the train station, we met some young adults that were traveling together. We sat and chatted with them for awhile. It helped pass the time and they were also traveling on the same train so there was some comfort in that. The train platform number only came on the board about 15 minutes before the scheduled departure of 12:08am. We boarded the train and the excitement began! Well, for some of us. Sariah, on the other hand, had been knocked out since we arrived at the train station.
Veena thinks kissing people wakes them up. Whenever Daniel brings her in the bed in the morning, I pretend I am sleeping. When she kisses me, I wake up immediately. Its a little game we play. So, now she thinks kissing wakes people up. She tried to kiss Sariah, but Sariah was soooo passed out!
Priyana thought this was the coolest thing ever. Not only did she get to sleep on a bunk bed, which she has been wanting to do, but she got to do it on the train!
I thought Priyana and Sariah would sleep on the bottom bunk together, but Priyana was adamant that she wanted to sleep on the top bunk. So then we thought Daniel would sleep with Priyana. But she REALLY wanted to sleep by herself. Even though she has never fallen off a bed, I was worried she would. I wasn't having it, until we realized that there were belts to make sure people didn't fall off the bed.
Daniel even tested it out. He said, if it could hold him, it could definitely hold her. So, knowing it was safe, we let her. She was so excited. We also strapped our backpacks on her bunk for extra precautions.
When I posted on a travel forum that I wanted to get the most of our time in Venice and take the night train back to Rome with three kids in tow, people literally thought I was crazy. When I mentioned that I have really good kids that travel well and told them about the road trip we took over the summer and how they all did great they laughed. Some even got upset asking why the heck I would do this... I told them I thought it would be such a neat experience for the kids. They responded with, yeah maybe for the first few minutes. After that, they said, I would be left with three kids that couldn't sleep and who would be cranky the entire next day. They also said that we wouldn't get any sleep either and would be miserable the next day. I was bummed out after reading the comments and started debating whether it would be a good idea or not. But I know my kids, and I know my family. And I am so glad we did it. It really was one of the highlights for Priyana, and what a freaking cool experience for my kids to go on an overnight bunk bed train through Italy! And for ALL the Naysayers, I present...
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