Venice in Words

This week we were off to ... Italy, the land of amore, vino and mounds and mounds of pasta.  The boys have two weeks off for February vacation, so we popped in the car and drove off to Venice. 

A bit more nonchalant than it actually was… Ed had pre-rented the same category of vehicle that we have been using all season long.  It is about 90% mini-van and the rest are regular cars.  Well, for the long trip to Venice, unlike the mini-van that we have been getting all along, we got a sporty Alfa Romeo.  Yup, three boys, shoulder to shoulder.  It worked just fine when we had a movie on.  And when Ed picked up the car on Friday night we realized that it would have to be movies most of the way.  However, those minutes in between the films, and the times in the rest stops were quite the doozies.  At one point Micah even refused to get back into the car.  I can bet that we were one of very few families that has ever had a family meeting in the parking lot of the gas station. 

Many hours later we arrived in Venice.  Because Venice is a city of islands (117 to be exact) there are no roads for cars.  The “roads” are actually the canals and there are boats of every kind.  So we parked at the landing garage, up on the tenth floor, and headed out to find our water bus, line 1, to take us to our hotel. After landing at the proper stop I proceeded to dictate the directions.  Because Venice is so twisty and turny the directions were approximate.  But after a few false turns we found the hotel, only to find out that we would be staying in an affiliated apartment not far from the hotel.  She encouraged us to pay attention so that we could return later on to pay our bill. 

Turning down more alleys than I could count we arrived under a neighbour’s quilts and sheets drying on the line, dripping onto the passageway and the pedestrians below.  The apartment was quite small, but with just enough beds for the five of us.  The kitchen had a little fold-up table that just fit into the length of hall attached.  So Noah ate his breakfasts in the hall, Julian by the sink and Micah by the toaster.  Ed and I, well we hovered like croissant vultures, waiting to scrounge up the remains.  Also, in both Venice and Aosta, the bathrooms were amazingly efficient with space, the Venetian bathroom especially so.  There was a sink, and turning to the right of the sink there was a tiny shower with magnetic sliding doors to maximize the shower’s capacity.  And tucked in, just between the two was the toilet. 

The hotelier had recommended a family-friendly restaurant and, as it was already late, we headed straight over and ordered some wine and some pastas.  The kids ordered milk and were surprised to have it served warm.  The servers were friendly, the service was relatively fast and the food was decent.  Noah was feeling sleepy, so I left early and took him back to bed.  But not without reading the next chapter in Carnival at Candlelight, the Magic Tree House story that takes place in Venice.  It was fun to go to bed after having just recently taken a boat down the Grand Canal, seeing all the buildings lit up with gondolas floating in and out. 

Our first order of business the next morning was to explore.  One of the websites on visiting Venice with children had mentioned keeping a tally of the number of winged lions one saw during the visit.  The winged lion is the symbol of the city of Venice. Micah thought he may have spotted one or two under the cover of darkness from the boat, starting our tally at 3 or 4.  Continuing in the nearby plaza the boys found several more winged lions.  Beginning to wander a bit more, a rain shower came over.  We had our handy-dandy umbrellas ready, but still were glad to find the Vivaldi museum, dedicated to Venice’s famous composer.  There was an exhibition of old musical instruments, and a really cool step-by-step explanation and demonstration of how to make a violin.  Noah got an especially big kick out of the mandolins, which he described as crazy guitars. 

Moving onwards we crossed canals, wandered more alleys until suddenly we popped out onto the Plaza San Marco.  Emptied because of the rain, it was beautiful to be able to see across to the basilica unimpeded by tourists.  After a quick snack we were among the first tourists back in the square.  And yes, we did feed and chase the pigeons.  Micah even got a few to land on his arms and shoulders.  Brave soul.  Noah ran and ran and ran.  And Julian read the map, hunting out our next destination.  After an enormous pizza luncheon, Ed carted the leftovers back to the apartment. Julian had discovered a water bus route that took us to the northern parts of Venice.  Game for anything, we swiped our bus tickets and hopped on. 

Another hint I had seen on the children-in-Venice websites was to notice how many different types of boats there were.  We had already ridden on the water buses, seen the gondolas, but during the trip we added on quite a few more interesting ones: motor boats, laundry boats, delivery boats, construction boats, police boats, ambulance boats, ice cream boats, cruise ships (super-big), party ships, barges.  The list goes on.  Arriving at the northern end of the city at the hospital we started on our way back to our apartment.  Lots of bridges, alleys, turns etc.  And Julian loves his map.  However, Venice does not work so well with a map.  Eventually we were close to home and we all settled in for a bit of a rest.  Dinner was at the same corner restaurant, but the focus of the night was languages.  The server spoke Italian, English, French, Spanish and Romanian.  The gentleman next to us was Russian, but spoke in French.  We had drinks on the house, and a good time was had by all. 

The next morning we were on a mission: the islands of Murano, where they blow glass.  We wandered again until we could catch the ferry boat.  It was a quick 10-minute trip, past the cemetery island, and onto Murano.  Ed had met an artist the night before who was a former glass-blower and she gave us some tips as to where to disembark.  There were beautiful glass sculptures around as public art.  And when we got to the glass-blowing studio the boys were enraptured. 

Hot glass rods going in and out of the 1100 degree oven.  The master sitting, while his apprentices melt the next bits of glass to be attached.  The rods cooled, steaming, so as to be cool enough to handle dexterously.  On this particular day the master was creating buffalos, so we watched as the torso was shaped, legs teased out, shoulders then head attached, tail pieces, leg pieces, etc.  They used several colors of glass.  They attached a rod to one end of the buffalo, then would break it off and attach another rod to work on the other end.  Finally the buffalo was set to cool in a less hot oven. 

Of course the boys all wanted souvenirs, so they each picked out a little sculpted morsel.  Noah calls his “my jewel.” After a more windy way back through the islands of Murano we arrived back at the hospital.  This time we were more sure of our way.  We stopped along the bridge of Rialto, Venice’s largest bridge, and Noah and Micah were especially interested in Carnival masks.  Ed found some shoes, bought some Limoncello for me, and we were done for the day. 

Except for the part where I headed off on a quick trip to see La Fenice, in honour of the mystery I was reading during the trip.  I found the theater without too much difficulty and reveled in its’ grandeur.  And as I turned the corner there was a comic scene.  A gondolier was attempting to maneuver his way through a zig-zag alley.  Normally it would be a tight squeeze, but passable.  However, there was a motorboat moored to the sidewalk, upon which his gondola was now stuck.  The solution: He climbed aboard the motorboat, unmoored it, let out a large amount of slack and refastened the ropes to the mooring.  He then let the motorboat float off to the end of the tether and he slid his gondola by, to the delight of the passengers and onlookers.  I can only imagine what the motorboat owner came to think upon discovering his very loose boat floating not quite as he left it. 

Going to a different restaurant on our last night, we had similar meals in a slightly nicer environment.  The next morning we rose, readied our bags and headed out to the waterbus one last time.  We had a lovely time in Venice and it really fuelled the imagination as to how different life can be.