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We arrived in Venice by Transavia airlines-a budget European airline that cost us only $200 CAD for all of us plus a checked bag to fly from Paris. We were so happy to see the sun when we landed and walked to our water bus taxi. The water bus was a bit costlier than the bus, but it was worth the extra to approach Venice from the water. We passed the island of Murano where they make the famous glass, arriving at the station to walk to our hotel. We have been traveling light so we only have a two small guidebooks - Paris and Iceland. Sometimes we forget to get the information we need before we go somewhere, relying too much on wifi. We wandered through the streets in the general direction of our hotel, and Liam was the one that saw the sign down an alleyway. The cobblestone streets and bridges are amazing to see, all the little alleyways and canals. There was no objectionable odor at all. You could really imagine being transported back in time to hundreds of years ago.
The first day we wandered around the main street, had a pizza at Gino's and bought
a water taxi ticket. We planned on doing the budget Grand Canal Cruise on the public water taxi, but it was a bit late so decided to wait until the next day.
Our hotel was very "traditional". The room was clean, and each boy had his own twin bed. The beds were pretty traditional too "i.e. old" and Ken and I both had a bit of a sore back. The first night was so hot, we opened a window which let in all the mosquitos. The next night when we inquired they gave us the remote for the AC which made it much more comfortable.
Day 2 we spent on the Grand Canal. I used Rick Steve's free audioguide which was fantastic to give a running commentary but not too much. It was timed to the stops along the canal. We decided to go all the way to Lido, an outlying island, and found out that it was the first day the beach was open. We paddled around in the Adriatic Sea and collected some seashells. There were no big crowds but could imagine how packed it would get in the summer. After a Gelato in Lido we
got back on the water taxi and went straight to our main destination of the day, Ca'Macana mask making. This was Cole's big request so we wanted to make sure we got to it. I had copied what I thought was the address from their website into google maps but realized after getting very lost that it had just been the entire area that I had searched. After a lovely cafe gave us their wifi password we found the right place and headed there.
Ca'Macana makes original masks, some incredible ones, from paper mache. First a clay mold is made, then 4 layers of paper mache (or more depending on the mask) are lain in the mold. Liam and Cole were able to each pick an already completed mask to paint. There are three styles, one is colour over colour, the other is two colours mixed partially into each other and the last is painted features over a white mask. Both boys chose green and yellow and each took their time and worked hard to make their mask unique. We also received a book on the process with all the characters. I can imagine that Carnival is an amazing
time to be here, a tradition revived only recently after 200 years.
We wound our way back through the narrow walkways and over the unique bridges to walk to St. Mark's Square. We stopped taking the Water Taxis because after two trips at 8 Euros each it really adds up. Everything is walkable and the walk is so interesting. We had to stop at a few shops for our shopper (not me, Cole!) who wanted to buy a mask for Tundra, his stuffed Tiger. We found a perfect metal one and we were again on our way. It was neat to see all the dogs people were walking around, with very little grass or green space it is an interesting city to have pets. Some seemed to just wander around the streets alone. We did have a dog poo incident with Liam's shoe, easily rectified by rinsing it in one of the canal steps close by.
We finally arrived at St Mark's Square. Touts all over will hand you some kind of pellet to feed the pigeons. The idea is you take the food that they offer to you graciously then they take your photo with a bunch of sky rats hanging all over you then ask for money. No thanks. Cole was really interested in participating but I said no. yuk. But I did get some nice photos of "Pigeon Heaven" - Cole's name for St. Marks' Square. Around the basilica was about 4 inches of water, apparently common if the tides are particularly high, they can get as high as 3 m around the tower. We saw the first digital clock, with a beautiful sculpted lion. Lions being the symbol of the area are found everywhere. Again, Rick steve's Audioguide was exceptional to give information about the square easily and without having to carry a book around. Well, what I could hear between shouts of "can we get more gelato mom". We did not go into the Dogue's mansion but did enjoy walking around the square.
The next day was just enough time to check out and head to the train station to take our fast train to Florence. We thought there would be wifi on board but you had to have a SIM card to activate it - and I didnt' have a chance to get one yet. Now I have. SIM so great since we do no have wifi here but connection not tha great...I will update more once we have better wifi in Rome.
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