Ciao, Venice

For spring break, we decided to spend the week in Italy, a country neither J nor I have ever visited.  Venice has always been at the top of my "places to visit" list, so I was super excited.  Upon our arrival (just a 2 hr flight from London!), we made our way to the taxi stand - which in Venice means the water taxi stand.  

I was crazy nervous about the kids getting on/off the boat and just generally being surrounded by so much water.  Luckily I got more comfortable with the idea during our stay, since boats are the only mode of transportation besides walking and water is everywhere.

K in particular loved the boat ride

And even through the rain, the views were amazing.  For me, Venice was definitely love at first sight.  

The taxi made it's way through the grand canal and then turned off on to a few smaller canals in search of our Hotel.  The way the captains navigate is quite impressive given how narrow some of the canals are.  Our hotel was just off one of the smaller canals in the San Marco district and the taxi boat pulled up to steps just in front of the entrance.

Our room was on the third floor, overlooking the canal.  The rain did not deter folks from taking Gondola rides and we could see and hear them from our room.  Ah, Venice!
The room was a good size, especially by European standards, with a four-post bed for J & I and a daybed with a trundle bed for the kids. After settling in to our room, we headed out for dinner.

We had a forgettable dinner at Al Vaporetto restaurant (nothing like the amazing fresh italian food we had imagined we'd be eating in Italy), but a stop for some gelato afterwards made up for it.

Venice can be a bit intimidating, especially walking around at night since getting lost is nearly inevitable.  Granted, getting lost is also part of the fun, but we thought it would be best to save that for the daytime.