Tales from "The Brussels Sprouts": Venice, Italy

The ship docked back in Venice, Italy and we spent the night there so we could explore. Although we were tired and wished we would have come to Venice before we left on the cruise, it ended up all working out for us. The Saturday we boarded the ship Venice was actually flooded. There was about 2-3 feet of water throughout the city. A lot of things were closed that day and we would have missed out on seeing most everything.

Our hotel was just around the corner from the train station, so after we dropped our luggage off we set out to explore Venice. The train ride took about 25 minutes and soon we were looking at the beautiful canals of Venice.

Armed with her map (actually it was Jason) our Navigator set us off in the right direction...destination - St. Mark's Square.

We walked...and walked...and walked some more. There was so much to see weaving in and out of all of the alley's. Up stairs, down stairs...we walked some more.

The kids started to get really hungry so we decided to break for lunch before it started to get too busy. We found a great restaurant. Finally, for a change, something that everyone likes and would agree on...Italian food!! Bring it on!

After our bellies we full we continued our walk to St. Mark's Square. We happened upon the Fish and Food Market. Jason and Liv walked through, but I didn't think that I could stomach it. The smell outside the market was bad enough.

This was one of my favorite shots of Sophie. Check out the expression on her face. That came after she saw that the little crabs in the bin were still moving. The cherry on top was when were were checking them out, a women visiting from England explained to us how she eats them all the time...shell and all! I asked her what they tasted like and she simply replied, "crunchy". Sophie was grossed out and you could see the wheels spinning in her head trying to figure out just HOW one would go about eating them:)

We walked on and stopped along the way to take a couple of pictures on the bridges over the canals.

PIPER WAS SNOOZING FOR THIS SHOT

THIS ONE TOO!

We figured we probably walked about 2 miles and FINALLY made it to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square as we know it). It is the principal public square of Venice, where it is generally known just as "the Piazza". It is dominated at its eastern end by the great Church of St. Mark.

The Piazzetta dei Leoncini is an open space on the north side of the church named after the two marble lions..

Beyond that is the Clock Tower that was completed in 1499.

The long arcade along the north side of the Piazza are known as the Procuratie Vecchie, the old procuracies, formerly the homes and offices of the Procurators of Saint Mark. They were the high officers of state in the days of the republic of Venice. They were built in the early 16th century. Now the arcade is lined with shops and restaurants at ground level, and offices above.

There were a lot of vendors selling their wars in the square. Cole had his heart set on something...

Ta-da...finally a happy camper! Does it shout..."Look where I have been?!" He was really excited to get it and FINALLY we didn't have to listen to him asking for it. I don't think he quite figured out that MOST of the vendors were selling it.

As much as I wanted to board a Gondola and be serenaded to the tune of "That's Amore", I had 4 tired kids who had just cruised for 7 days and walked their little legs off. They were tired and were not afraid to let us know. We opted for the safe route and boarded a water taxi back 14 stops to the train station. Boom...done!!

This is the picture that was taken after Jason made some sort of comment, or mumble as I like to say, about "coming to Venice and not riding a gondola". Oh well...that just gives us a reason to come back.

As a sidebar...take note of Piper's "sock-less, shoe-less" state. I, and only me might I add, was screamed at, in front of the kids, by some Italian lady who claimed to be "a mommy too" and wondered "how could I allow my child to go shoe-less in such cold weather...how dare I!" She screamed at me for about 4 stops. A priest actually got up from his seat to allow me to sit down to get away from her because she wouldn't stop. I didn't want to stoop to her level and inform her that each of the 4,000 times Piper took her socks and shoes off that day I put them right back on. The trouble was she took them off again as we were boarding the water taxi and I was waiting to get on the taxi in order to put them back on her. Oh well...you win some, you lose some, right?! (At least the priest sided with me:))

When we left the hotel that morning and walked down the alley to the train station, there were graffiti artists beginning to create some great art. We were excited to see that they had finished when we returned 5 hours later.