Venice!

 10/16: We packed up and left San Vito for Venice (under a 2 hr drive). We checked into our Airbnb in Mestre, and Bob returned our super car that we loved (BMW hybrid wagon).

The kids got set up to do schoolwork while I figured out another new stovetop and washing machine. The apartment was clean and had plenty of space for us to spread out. The interesting piece that was new for us was the shower:

We all had a good laugh that one of us may need to hold the shower head while the other bathes (as it turned out, we all got along just fine on our own - Bob and I agreed it was very utilitarian).

Bob and I took a short walk around our new neighborhood, and scoped out two restaurants that we might try. We did our usual grocery run to the huge Interspar across the street, and tried to find the kids dinner request: shrimp. However, they only had whole shrimp with the heads and tails on - not the peeled and deveined that I’m used to, and I wasn’t up for that extra work. We were growing tired of translating and shopping, so Bob suggested we get some prepared food from the deli. That turned out to be a fabulous idea. We got chicken schnitzel (basically breaded chicken cutlets), sausages, and ribs. We loved all of it!

10/17: The weather forecast for our next three days showed rain. Today looked like the least amount of rain, so we took the bus to explore Venice. Bob had tried for hours in vain to figure out how to buy bus tickets (incredibly frustrating given that so many other cities have made it so easy). We decided to just get on the bus and ask the driver. This seemed to work great - he told us we just use our credit card to tap in when we get on, and tap out when we get off. Perfect! We had a great day exploring, and met a couple from MN on their 50th wedding anniversary trip.

Pizza by the slice - yum

Steps right into the water

Charcot enjoying Venice

We love our lunch spots!

We planned on taking a gondola ride, but the potential gondoliers that we spoke with were quite rude, so we passed.

Beautiful mask shops!

We had just finished our delicious gelato (that lady was super friendly!) when we came upon another spot with more amazing flavors. We wanted more!

We saw this same grafitti a few different places on the island.

We took the extremely crowded bus back to Mestre (15 minutes), and the driver became very upset with us when we were tapping out. Huh? We were confused. Other than the friendly lady that dished up our ice cream earlier, we have found Italians to be fairly rude. Having seen the island of Venice, all of us were glad we chose our Airbnb in Mestre off the island (large apartment for us to be comfortable, with a grocery across the street) instead of staying in Venice (smaller apartment with almost no common space). Bob and I deliberated for a long time on which accommodation we should choose (Mestre or Venice) and we definitely chose the best one for our family. As soon as we reached our apartment for the evening it started raining for the first time - we got so lucky!

10/18: The weather today looked better than tomorrow, so we took the bus to Venice, and then a water taxi to Murano (we tapped in and out for all these rides). No rain yet! Bob found a glass blowing workshop off the main route that was awesome - we were the only ones there!

He made this horse in about 4 minutes

He let the kids pick out these glass souvenirs!

We wanted to buy a few glasses but they wouldn’t ship them (the woman was not too friendly). We walked a back way to the Main Street and stumbled on another glass blowing factory from the backside. When he saw the kids watching, he gave each of them a small glass through the open window. How cool!

We found a locals spot for a nibble

Bob does a great job playing around with the color filters

Sunshine! Never thought I’d be taking off my layers today!

We took the water taxi back to Venice

Bob spotted this guy driving his motor with his tush.

We took the bus home, and the driver got upset with us again as we were exiting.?? Once again, the rain started just as we got home!

We went to dinner at a highly rated pasta place close by. Our waiter was kind and spoke some English, so I asked him about how we were confused by the bus driver getting upset with us. He told us you can’t tap in/out - even though the first bus driver had told us to do that! Apparently you have to buy tickets at a separate location beforehand - at least we know why the other drivers were getting upset with us! If I could, I would have liked to tell those drivers we were trying to do the right thing!

We loved our meals (delicious shrimp/zucchini risotto!) and the tiramisu.

Quinn had decided to stay at home and take a break while we went to dinner. Bob had the idea to grab McDonalds for Quinn on our way home from the restaurant - he loved it! The menu was interesting enough for Bob to take a picture.

The top left selection seems very Italian!

10/19: Today was a planned down day to do schoolwork and trip planning. Unfortunately, Quinn’s brace strap broke where we had replaced the rivet 😠 I quickly researched bike repair places, and found one 0.6 miles away that was open for another 1.5 hrs (only open til 1230 on Saturday and closed Sunday! I will be so thankful for American grocery and retail hours when we get back!) Bob and I quickly changed gears, and walked to the shop. Thankfully, the men there were friendly. They did not speak much English, but they let us use their tools. Bob was able to put a new rivet in quickly - hopefully this one stays in!

We stopped for M&Ms on the way home for Quinn's science experiment. Bob and I experienced some trip planning frustration trying to figure out our path after Turkey. Which cities should we go to, for how long, how do you get from one to the other (traveling in Armenia/Montenegro/Bosnia does not have the train system that we have loved in other parts of Europe). There are so so many pieces to plan and account for, and when I see Bob frustrated I know that it's a lot, because he handles all these parts incredibly well. I really should upload pictures of his Excel spreadsheets on our Airbnb's, car rentals, city guides, bus/plane/train tickets...it's impressive!

We had planned to go out to the same restaurant as the night before, but it was pouring and it would’ve been a miserable walk. The kids requested the same yummy deli food from the grocery, so we had a cozy night at home for our last night in Italy (more Wonder Years!)

10/20: We packed up to leave, and Bob went to buy legit bus tickets for us to go to airport. Ha! We were worried about the weight limit with our bags on Pegasus Airlines - we had an 80 kg maximum for all of our bags. We had proactively loaded our backpacks with as much heavy stuff as possible, and we did not bring any food with us this time. We made it right at the limit!

Parting thoughts on Venice: We are finding we like smaller towns and natural wonders more than big cities. We struggle with rude locals in high tourist areas. Venice was definitely the most touristy city we’ve visited, and we didn’t appreciate how it felt like vendors could be rude because they knew there would be a steady stream of more tourists willing to spend money. For us, Venice was not our sole vacation spot, unlike most people who travel there for a vacation, so we didn’t feel the need to spend money on an experience if the person was rude.

The kids loved seeing the water for streets and the boats instead of cars. They loved Murano more than Venice and especially the glass blowing demonstration. I will remember the handheld shower experience and making the kids’ toast every morning in a pan on the stovetop (I’ve been doing this since Cortina - toasters are not common I guess!) Simone's highlight was the prepared meat from the grocery store deli. Ha!