Venice

Day 10

We arrived in Venice in the late afternoon. We decided to take the vaporetto (water taxi) the long way around to St Mark's Square (rather than via the Grand Canal). Upon disembarking, we only had a short walk through St Mark’s square, under the clock tower and our accomodation was literally a 20 metre walk up the laneway. We were pinching ourselves at how close we were to everything. 




The apartment we are in is on the top floor with a view over the roof tops of Venice. The only downside, which we knew in advance, is that there was no lift, so we had to carry our luggage up 6 flights of a spiral stairs case! Thankfully, the boys and I packed light. Nook and Ella, not so thankful!

We spent the afternoon reacquainting ourselves with this amazing city and strolling the streets and lane ways. This is our second visit to the 'city of love'. We found a little supermarket to get some supplies and then enjoyed dinner at a nearby ristorante.

Day 11

It was nice to have a bit of a sleep in with nothing planned for today. We enjoyed a gondola ride through the canals and Grand Canal with a gondolier who was happy to chat with us about Venice and how it is changing over the years. We had a walk over the Rialto bridge and then through St Mark's Basilica with it's breathtaking mosiacs. For the first time we ate in tonight with a selection of pasta, arancini, meat and cheeses.





At 11.45pm, Ollie and I woke to go out to St Mark's Square to witness the aqua alta. This is where at high tide, the square fills with water and they put out raised boardwalks to enable pedestrians to cross the square without getting wet.



Day 12

We arose early to catch the vaporetto directly to the airport (on the mainland), which was an enjoyable 50 minute ride through the canals and open water.

Farewell Italy, until next time. Off to Paris!




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