Venice

July 11-12, 2014

My mother-in-law Janis has dreamed of taking her kids to Italy for decades. When she was in college, she took a life-changing backpacking trip across Europe and has wanted to provide some taste of that experience to her offspring ever since. Italy was her ultimate destination, so when Joe and I started talking about moving to London, Janis decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to fulfill her own dream by meeting us at the end of our adventure.

Since this is my fourth trip to Italy and Janis would rather not deal with the complications of organizing a two-week vacation for 6 people, I did the majority of the planning (in consultation with my mom, who is also on her fourth Italian escape). I chose to start the tour in Venice because a) it's a stunning introduction to Italy (since my SIL Julia and her bestie Val have never been) and b) it was the closest to Croatia/Slovenia, where Joe and I were already planning to be.

Since Joe and I weren't dealing with a time difference and only had to take a three-hour bus to get to Venice, you'd think I'd go easy on our four jet-lagged travel companions upon their arrival, but you'd be wrong. (See the Moms' trip to London) We did organize a meet-and-greet airport pickup that included a dedicated greeter and door-to-door service by private water taxi, so that was nicer than what Joe and I did (dragged our heavy bags up and down several staircased bridges in direct sun at noon).

On our first evening together in Venice, they got about an hour to settle in and clean up at the gorgeous Carnival Palace Hotel before we set out on a 40-minute trek across town to dinner. Not only did I want everyone to get a taste of Venice right away, but I also wanted to surprise them with two Venice-only experiences: St. Mark's Square at twilight and the much-requested gondola ride.

Dinner was at Al Chianti near the square and was just the simple, traditional meal we wanted for this first outing.

Afterwards was the big reveal of the impressive St. Mark's Square, but with a bit of a twist I was not expecting: flooding! I knew that Venice could flood (because water), but I'd never actually seen it. I don't know why I was so shocked since I knew it had been raining for a week straight just 3 hours away in Ljubljana, but I just wasn't connecting that with Venice.

Our gondola was waiting, though, so we left the pretty square for the canals. (Venetian gondolas have standardized pricing. 80 euro for 40 minutes before 7 pm, 100 euro after. Gondolas fit 6 people and have relatively standard routes, too, but this can be negotiated a bit.) What I was expecting: everyone to be impressed by the sparkly lights of Venice by gondola in the evening. What I was not expecting: my own abject terror at being in open water with my expensive camera and inability to swim properly.

Val

Joanne/Mom

Janis/Mom-in-Law

The return to St. Mark's revealed a water level twice that we'd seen before our ride. It was no longer possible to cross the piazza without getting soaked, which was an exciting and memorable experience beyond the initial problem of shoes and maxi dresses. I don't think I could have created a better first-night for Julie if I had ordered the flooding of the square myself.

trash bags for your shoes

Okay, so this is happening.

Val & Julie

The next morning we had a tour planned but didn't realize how long the vaparetto (water bus) would take to get to St. Mark's from our hotel (45 minutes) and didn't factor in the wait time between boats (20+ minutes, nothing like my 6-7 minute bus waits in London), so we missed our group and had to deal with the line into the basilica.

on the vaparetto before we realized we'd miss our tour

St. Mark's Basilica gets a lot of play from the outside, but far too many people skip actually going inside to see the church, which is marble and gold mosaics and totally lives up to the facade (unlike the Duomo in Florence, btw).

the line to get inside included a ramp over the residual flooding; Venice is prepared for this stuff

We had some time after that to wander, get lunch, and create an entire story about a metal relief about a guy with a turtle.

this dog beat the heat the way we all wished we could: by laying down in the fountain

For the afternoon, Joe and Janis staked out a spot for beer/wine and conversation while the rest of us joined a second tour to Murano and Burano islands across the Venice lagoon.

Murano is known for its glass factories and their centuries-old family secrets. I've been wanting to take this particular tour since my first trip to Italy in 2004, so I was happy to finally cross it off my list. We got a demonstration of glass blowing and viewed some of the most elaborate glass sculptures and works of art I've ever seen (with exorbitant prices to match).

The second stop on our afternoon tour was Burano, which is known for both lace making and vibrantly colored buildings.

we match the flowers!

examples of the step-by-step lace making process

Our last adventure in the canal city was also water related. As if the gondola ride, the vaparetto, and the flooded square weren't enough, on our way back from Burano a thunder and lightning storm began that soaked the city in a torrential downpour (again, Julie couldn't have been happier). It let up eventually and we were able to get home just fine, but man we were wet.