Venice is made up of six districts. Since motor vehicles are banned from the city center, you can awake early to find larger boats delivering a variety of goods to local businesses.
We witnessed a variety of items being delivered from paper products to fresh flowers. But luckily we found more to see in Venice than just delivery boats!
We loved walking down all the little alleyways and wondering what was around the next corner.
Our first big find was the square at St. Mark's Basilica.
It was such a fun place for people watching and just hanging out. The church is beautiful.
While Jason and I admired the architecture, the boys quickly noticed the pigeons and set out to catch them... although, to no avail!
We soon realized you needed bait to actually get within any distance of them. Luckily, we came back later and a sweet lady shared some breadsticks with them!
Jack LOVED it! He would have let them sit on him all day.
But Max... he was a bit of different story. It wasn't nearly as fun as it looked.
We also happened to be in Venice on a night of a high tide and got to see the square begin to flood. We didn't stay to see the entire thing fill up, but even a small puddle excites little boys!
We also got to see the Bridge of Sighs. Its name derives from two possible sources. One- it is said that prisoners crossed over on the their way to prison or execution, and they would sigh as they took one last look at freedom. Or two- it is said that if a couple kisses under the bridge on a gondola ride, they will enjoy eternal love. Therefore, the sighs come from lovers who have been overwhelmed by the romantic feel of Venice. If #2 is correct, my marriage is sure to last through eternity!
And that leads me to my last favorite sight... a gondola ride. Before we ever left India, we agreed to enjoy our trip, but to spend wisely and not to make rash purchases and waste large sums of money. That included already agreeing that we probably wouldn't do a gondola ride. BUT THENWE I SAW THEM!
It's just such a quintessential part of Venice. I couldn't imagine leaving there and not having taken at least one gondola ride. And I don't regret spending that money one bit! As an added bonus, the gondola behind us had paid big bucks to have a band and singer ride with them, so we were serenaded for free on our entire trip!
Here's a quick video of a gondola we watched from a bridge. I do have video of our actual ride, but Jason and the guide are having some in-depth conversation in the background!
Venice- gondola from Sarah Marlin on Vimeo.
I was afraid our boys were too young to appreciate it, but Jack really took in our entire trip and loved it.
Others might still be a few years shy of being able to fully appreciate such experiences!
Don't let him fool you though... he's quite observant. My favorite moment from his entire trip was the day he told me he "was just gonna wash his hands in this little sink!" Never a dull moment with that kid!
We witnessed a variety of items being delivered from paper products to fresh flowers. But luckily we found more to see in Venice than just delivery boats!
We loved walking down all the little alleyways and wondering what was around the next corner.
Our first big find was the square at St. Mark's Basilica.
It was such a fun place for people watching and just hanging out. The church is beautiful.
While Jason and I admired the architecture, the boys quickly noticed the pigeons and set out to catch them... although, to no avail!
We soon realized you needed bait to actually get within any distance of them. Luckily, we came back later and a sweet lady shared some breadsticks with them!
Jack LOVED it! He would have let them sit on him all day.
But Max... he was a bit of different story. It wasn't nearly as fun as it looked.
We also happened to be in Venice on a night of a high tide and got to see the square begin to flood. We didn't stay to see the entire thing fill up, but even a small puddle excites little boys!
We also got to see the Bridge of Sighs. Its name derives from two possible sources. One- it is said that prisoners crossed over on the their way to prison or execution, and they would sigh as they took one last look at freedom. Or two- it is said that if a couple kisses under the bridge on a gondola ride, they will enjoy eternal love. Therefore, the sighs come from lovers who have been overwhelmed by the romantic feel of Venice. If #2 is correct, my marriage is sure to last through eternity!
And that leads me to my last favorite sight... a gondola ride. Before we ever left India, we agreed to enjoy our trip, but to spend wisely and not to make rash purchases and waste large sums of money. That included already agreeing that we probably wouldn't do a gondola ride. BUT THEN
It's just such a quintessential part of Venice. I couldn't imagine leaving there and not having taken at least one gondola ride. And I don't regret spending that money one bit! As an added bonus, the gondola behind us had paid big bucks to have a band and singer ride with them, so we were serenaded for free on our entire trip!
Here's a quick video of a gondola we watched from a bridge. I do have video of our actual ride, but Jason and the guide are having some in-depth conversation in the background!
Venice- gondola from Sarah Marlin on Vimeo.
I was afraid our boys were too young to appreciate it, but Jack really took in our entire trip and loved it.
Others might still be a few years shy of being able to fully appreciate such experiences!
Don't let him fool you though... he's quite observant. My favorite moment from his entire trip was the day he told me he "was just gonna wash his hands in this little sink!" Never a dull moment with that kid!
While he relaxed on the gondola ride, the rest of us took in the beautiful architecture and the stories our guide had to share.
I couldn't take enough pictures of all the beautiful doorways.
Venice is definitely a city of love, and these padlocks could be found on bridges all throughout the city. Evidently the origin is from a novel that talks of lovers writing their names on padlocks and throwing the keys into the canal as a testimony of their love. From what I read, it's not something that they city officials are really thrilled about, but I found it to be romantic. However, I don't have any locks in Venice with my name on them!
As you'll see from my future posts, Jack and Max successfully found dogs at each stop we made that were willing to endure some bottled-up puppy love!
We saw so many places on our trip through the Mediterranean, but Venice... it holds the largest part of my heart. I already made Jason promise he'd bring me back there someday without our kids. We will see if he makes good on his promise. But for now, we say "so long" to Venice, and "we'll see you again soon!"
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