A Georgia Girl in Germany

The weekend before the kids started back to school, I took them to Venice on an Express trip with the USO. We left shortly before midnight, slept on the bus, spent the day exploring the "Queen of the Adriatic," then slept on the return trip at the end of the day. That made for three nights in a row that I didn’t sleep in my own bed since I had camped out with MacKenzie the night before we left for Venice.

We arrived in Venice (after getting off the bus and taking a waterbus to San Marco Square) later than expected, so we missed our guided tour. I was disappointed in that. But, a small group of us toured the Doge’s Palace and apartments. The doge was the chief magistrate of the city from about 700 until 1797, similar to a medieval lord. The golden staircases inside the palace were absolutely gorgeous, and my photos hardly do them justice!

The highlight of our day was our hour-long gondola ride. I had always dreamed of riding a gondola, and had a grin on my face the entire time as I basked in the warm sun riding along the serene canals. It was absolutely beautiful and peaceful, and I was sad to when we docked back.

We had very specific instructions as to where we had to sit to make sure the gondola would remain balanced during our ride. Fortunately, Benjamin’s 30 pounds didn’t alter the weight distribution too much when he meandered from one side of the gondola to the other. He wanted to make sure he didn’t miss anything during his ride...from either side.

Max was our gondolier. There are only about 415 gondoliers working for one of five companies in the entire city. It really takes talent to wield the gondolas through the waterways, especially when passing another gondola headed the opposite direction while going under a bridge in one of the smaller canals (which naturally are not as deep as the Grand Canal). Max had to duck a few times when we went under the bridges.

This is the most famous bridge in Venice: the Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge) over the Grand Canal.

Benjamin enjoyed all the tunnels, and pointed many of them out to us as we floated underneath them.
I wasn’t the only one who relished in the ride. Doesn’t MacKenzie look relaxed as she sits back in the gondola while traveling on the Grand Canal? It doesn't get much better than that!

Our gondola ride took us through the San Marco district, and past an 18th century church, Mozart’s house, City Hall, Marco Polo’s house, the Justice Building, the building Napoleon used during his occupation, the home of 18th century Venetian composer Alberti Domenico and the Basilica Santa Maria della Salute.

Even Benjamin settled down after a while and cuddled with me toward the end of our ride.

The gondolas are so narrow that the only way to get a photo of all four of us together in one was to wait until we docked.

I liked this shot of the kids wandering the Venetian streets after our ride. It was one of the few photos, outside of Saint Mark’s Square, that didn’t show a canal.
As we walked through the city streets and over the canals, we came across a sidewalk musician playing Für Elise with wine glasses. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a unique rendition of Beethoven's masterpiece before, but it sounded very elegant. He was a master with his instruments!

After our ride, we meandered through the city taking in the beautiful waterways from bridge overpasses and side streets. There was a new canal to discover at every turn.

As always, we had to stop for ice cream. MacKenzie absolutely loved it (as is evident by her chocolate mustache), and she believes Italy has the best gelato around! Unfortunately for Benjamin, he fell asleep in the stroller so didn’t get to partake.

Before calling it a day, we headed to Piazzetta San Marco (Saint Mark’s Square) to feed the pigeons. I brought along a bag of old popcorn kernels so we’d have ample bait for the birds (baiting for the photos, not for hunting!) without shelling out too much cash for the miniscule bags the venders had available. MacKenzie really enjoyed feeding the pigeons and trying to get them to land in her hand. Zachary tried, but he didn’t seem to have the same finesse touch that MacKenzie did.

The building flanking the square, the Procuratie Vecchie, is absolutely huge. It was originally built in the 12th century and was rebuilt in the 16th century after a fire. It, the Procuratie Nuove and the Napoleonic Wing all connect to surround the square. The square was a nice place to sit and relax while Benjamin awoke from his nap, allow the kids to chase more than a few birds and do a little souvenir shopping before it was time to take the waterbus back out of the city.

Labels: Benjamin, Italy, MacKenzie, Travel, Zachary