Venice - October 14-16, 2022

Venice is different from just about any other city we have visited. In any other city, arriving by train, the main station is usually in the city center and you walk out of the station to chaos, streets full of buses, taxi's, and cars. Walk out of the Venice train station and you are confronted by the Grand Canal, full of boats of all sizes and shapes. There are no cars, buses, or taxi's in sight. Cole and Kelsey were amazed and enthralled. We had directions from our host as to which stop to get off the water bus and Lynda had google mapped walking directions to our apartment. Unfortunately, Lynda could not bring up the map so we weren't sure where to go. Fortunately, we again found a local who was willing to help us. He even went so far as to call our host. The host was not happy with us as our email from earlier in the day indicating our arrival time in Venice did not make it to her inbox. Our apartment was just off a piazza which fortunately had several restaurants so we sat down for much need nourishment while waiting for the host's arrival. Despite her rather "snippy" attitude the apartment was very nice. Of course, it was in an old building, but a designer had done an exceptional job in giving the apartment modern updates while leaving evidence of the apartments origins. The only problem was the apartment was spread over three floors with no elevator. Tim's soon to be replaced arthritic right knee complainted constantly. After a week of travel we were all runnning on fumes so we spent a lot of time Friday afternoon relaxing and napping. We headed out for San Marco Square shortly before dusk. San Marco Square is a large piazza where San Marco Cathedral is located as well as the Doge Palace. In earlier times the Doge was the ruler of Venice. It is architecturally one of the most beautiful piazzas we have visited. It was another gorgeous evening in Italy to wander about the Piazza and the many small streets back to our apartment. The plan for Saturday was to visit Murano and Burano, two islands located very close to Venice. Venice is actually a group of islands that include Murano and Burano. Murano is famous for its many glass blowing furnaces/studios. We have visited Murano many times and have a favorite studio we always visit. Unfortunately the furnace was not operating so we were unable to watch the glass blowing artists at work. Later we did watch a fairly lame 5 minute demonstration of glass blowing. Burano is famous for its lace making. We were all very tired so Tim suggested to Lynda we call it a day and head back to the apartment. Lynda was adament that Kelsey and Heather should see the women on Burano making lace so went got on the boat to Burano. We stopped at the first shop we came to that had a woman making lace. Kelsey and Heather seemed less then enthusiastic about the demonstartion. Tim suggested we find gelato and head home. This suggestion was met with more enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the boat ride back to Venice was an arduous two hour trip. Saturday night we offered to take Cole and Kelsey to dinner so that Jeff and Heather could enjoy a romantic dinner by themselves, an offer they gladly accepted. Sunday was our last day in Venice but because we were all dead on our feet the only item on the itinerary was to visit the San Marco Cathedral. It is not as large as the Duomos in Florence and Siena but the interior in particular is stunning. It is filled with gold mosaics that left us all in awe. While Tim and Lynda went back to the apartment, Jeff, Heather and Kelsey went on a gondola ride. Cole was holed up in the apartment not feeling well. They were very excited when they returned from the ride. Sunday night we found a lovely little restaurant where we had a wonderful final meal in Italy. We spent much time talking about our favorite parts of the trip while enjoying sumptuous pasta and excellent wine. The plane ride home was rather bittersweet for us because we realized this was probably the last time we would take either Jilayne or Jeffry and their families on trip such as this. In the past we have taken Jil, Rob and the girls to England and France. Jeff's family has joined us in England and now Italy. As Heather would say, "We have created many precious family memories".