Venezia!

And we’re back! From a waaay over-due but absolutely amazing weekend in Venice! I can’t wait to tell you guys all about it, but I also have to mention that I only have about a week left in Naples and I can’t believe my blogging will be coming to an end! I’m going to try to write a lot this week just to capture all of the emotions and feelings I’m having right now as my wonderful experience is drawing to a close. I don’t want to forget anything :)

So Thursday night I went out with my friend Lucia to our friend Marco’s birthday party. It was a fun time and I got to meet some new people, have a few drinks, and socialize. Although we were leaving early the next morning I wasn’t too worried about staying out late because I knew I could sleep in the car the whole day. I got home around 3:00am and passed out right away!

Happy Birthday Marco!

Friday morning we all woke up, got some last minute things together, and hit the road. We were originally planning on flying to Venice, but ever since that volcano in Iceland erupted, all air traffic in Europe has been at a standstill. We considered taking the train, but they were all pretty much sold out as a result of the ash cloud. So, we hit the road instead! We stopped at a restaurant outside of Florence for a big yummy lunch, and were in a lot of traffic for pretty much the rest of the trip. We finally arrived outside of Venice around 9:00pm, parked the car in a garage, gathered up our luggage and headed for the boats. It was pitch black out and raining a little bit, but thankfully Bruno knew exactly what he was doing so we all just followed him! We made it to the hotel around 10 and got settled. There were two separate rooms; one for Rosa, Bruno, and Vittoria, and the other for me and Chiara. The hotel was absolutely gorgeous (Starhotels Splendid Venice) and I couldn’t wait to dive into my huge fluffy white bed!

We decided to eat dinner at the hotel since it was so late, and it ended up being a great choice. I had spaghetti with zucchini and clams, yum! Although I was exhausted, I didn’t sleep too well that night, partly because I was so excited and partly because Chiara was tossing and turning and hanging on to me all night! It was cute though…I felt like such a mom!

Saturday we woke up early for a full day of sightseeing. Unfortunately, it was raining out, but we picked up some umbrellas and headed out anyways. Venice is such an interesting city! The main area of Venice is basically 117 little islands all on a lagoon, connected by hundreds of little bridges and pathways. There are absolutely no cars, buses, or vespas, and therefore no air pollution. Instead of a public bus there is a public boat ‘bus’ and instead of taxis there are boat ‘taxis’. It’s hard to believe that people actually live there; their way of life is completely different from any other city in the world. Sure, it was packed with tourists, but it was really interesting to see the workers bustling around the city, transporting cargo on their work boats and wheeling carts of goods up and down and across all the bridges and stairways of the city. After walking around for a bit, we took a ‘bus’ down to a garden and let the girls play, then took the ‘bus’ back and walked around San Marco square and by the famous Realto bridge.

We had lunch at the hotel and everyone laid down for a nap, but the sun was starting to come out and I was in no mood to sleep so I wandered around exploring on my own. After a while I headed back to the hotel and met up with the family, and we went out walking again. We made our way to San Marco Square and listened to the live music while watching the crowds. We stopped inside Caffe’ Florian for an afternoon treat. The Caffe’ Florian in San Marco Square in Venice was opened in 1720 and is probably one of the most famous cafes in Venice, if not in Italy. It’s almost like a museum inside; there are several rooms decorated with art and antique decorations and each room is connected by a tiny doorway. The table service is amazing as well! Rosa and Bruno had coffee, the girls had gelato, and I had tea.

Outside of Caffe' Florian

Inside Caffe' Florian

Afterwards we went out into the square to run around with the pigeons. A lady offered me some bird food and I put some in my hand and held it out and was quickly surrounded by tons of pigeons! They were all pecking my hand and eating the food and I was screaming and laughing all at once, it was such a funny moment! The girls were squealing with delight and luckily Rosa caught the moment on camera!

That night Rosa and Bruno went out to the casino and left me to put the girls to bed. We jumped on the bed and had a pillow fight (what hotel stay is complete without one!?) and after a while Chiara easily fell asleep. Vittoria, however, was a completely different story. She had broken out in the chicken pox on our drive up, and this night was probably the climax of her discomfort. She could not stop scratching herself all over, and couldn’t sleep at all. She would fall asleep for a couple of minutes, then right as I started to doze off she would wake up screaming and crying and scratching again. I tried my best to keep her from scratching and to soothe her but I could only imagine the discomfort my poor little baby was in! I paced around the room rocking her, I sat in the sitting chair, I laid next to her in the bed, I spooned with her, I laid her on top of me, nothing seemed to help. Finally I think her exhaustion overcame the urge to scratch and she started to fall asleep, right as Rosa and Bruno returned from the casino. I gratefully passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow, only to be woken up by Chiara, who had wet the bed. I got that situation taken care of and got back in bed to go back to sleep, only to realize that it was already 8:00am! Oh well, time to get up and start the day :) That night was definitely one of my most challenging nights with the girls, but made me grow a lot closer to them and really gave me a new respect for moms!

Sunday we all woke up, had breakfast, and headed out for the best part of the trip: we were going to ride in a gondola! It was sunny and hot as we made our way through San Marco Square to the water. Bruno did all the negotiating and before I knew it we were all stepping down into a beautiful gondola! As our gondolier was getting ready to push off, I got really emotional and just couldn’t believe that here I was, on an actual gondola in actual Venice. This is something that everyone knows about, everyone has seen, in movies, on TV, in books…and I was actually doing it!

The gondola ride was absolutely indescribable. We went along the main canal as well as in and out of little hidden canals all throughout the city.

As we passed other gondolas, our gondolier would talk to the other gondoliers in their Venetian dialect, and none of us could understand a word of what they were saying! It made me realize how much each dialect is really like its own language! In America, you can go to New York or California or Alabama and sure everyone has a different accent but you can still understand each other; in Italy if you go to Naples or Venice or Sicily and listen to the locals speak, it is truly a completely different language. Rosa and Bruno could not understand one word of Venetian, and if they spoke Neapolitan, the Venetians couldn’t understand one word of them. So unique! After our gondola ride we headed out for a big Sunday lunch. The girls were exhausted and fell asleep at the table, so we just let them sleep and took advantage of the quiet and really had a drawn out lunch. We then headed back to the hotel where everyone just wanted to relax, so I went out on my own to explore a bit. I got into a random conversation with a young Italian guy who asked me “do you want to go get a drink and speak together” but because of his broken English and the odd way he phrased the question I thought he said “do you want to go get a drink and sleep together” and we had a good laugh about it!  That night both of the girls slept with Rosa and Bruno so I had my room to myself, and fully took advantage of it, with a long hot bubble bath and enjoying the huge bed to myself!

Monday morning we woke up and headed to Murano, a small island near Venice that is famous for its glass-making factory. We were able to sit in the work room and watch the ‘maestro’ (master) work. It was so interesting and absolutely amazing everything they could make from glass.

Vittoria blowing glass!

There’s a huge store/museum connected to the work space and Rosa and Bruno spent 4,000euro! They bought a beautiful vase, a set of glasses, and a lamp. I tried to keep the girls occupied so that they wouldn’t touch everything – we were surrounded by so much glass and the girls tend to be a bit careless and wild! After spending the morning in Murano, we went back to the hotel to get together our things, have lunch, and check out. We hit the road at 5 and got back to Naples right around midnight.

The weekend in Venice was a beautiful experience and something I will never forget. We had to reschedule the trip three times and I honestly thought it would never happen! I had considered going by myself, but I’m glad to have done with the family so I could be treated to a nice hotel and nice restaurants! There’s no way I would have been able to afford all of that on my own. Venice is truly a fascinating city and something I think everyone should see in their lifetime. It reminded me a lot of Florence, with that ‘old-world’ feel, but the water aspect makes it completely magical.  It was a great weekend, and it was definitely the icing on the cake of this wonderful year I've had in Italy!