Venice

We packed up the car (a challenge with all of our stuff - it was like a game of Tetris where every piece has to go in just the right spot for everything to fit) on a Friday morning and left Munich on our drive through Austria and northern Italy for Venice, stopping along the way in Fussen so Steph and Wade could check out King Ludwig's castles. We knew we wouldn't make it all the way to Venice, about a 6-8 hour drive from Munich, so our plan was to go as far as we could until Madison's night time timer went off and we needed to stop. We had our eye on a small village in the Dolomite mountains in Italy and as it turns out we ran across a nice guest house about 20 km short of our goal. Not bad. The place we stayed was newly renovated and one of the nicer and larger rooms we've stayed in Europe. I had a card from the hotel, but I can't find it. I do know that it is in Saint Sigmond, located right off the main east-west road that connects the towns with the autobahn; there's a large well lit 'Hotel' sign and a pizzeria next door up the hill. Just in case you're ever driving through the Dolomites on your way to Venice you'll know where to go. Beware, there's no eating in the rooms. So don't pull a Wade and try to sneak pizza and wine up or you'll feel the wrath of the owner.

We made it! Woo-hoo!!! And look, more great weather. The travel season in Europe runs from June through August, this is when the prices are the highest and the crowds the largest.
However, we've been to Italy twice in October, note - well past "travel season", and it seems the whole country is overrun with tourists year round. Granted we hit Rome last year with Regan and Cheri, and Venice, Florence and Pisa this year and those are all major attractions, but the flood of people really does get annoying. Tourists!!!!

So here we are doing our tourist thing; this was taken on the wooden bridge that spans the Grand Canal and connects Dorsoduro with San Marco. Personally I liked the areas we saw in Dorsoduro and San Polo better than San Marco just because San Marco was wall-to-wall people. The crowding was made even worse by the fact that we were toting Madison's stuff around too.

Another view of the Grand Canal, this time from Ponte de Rialto on our way to a pizza joint in San Polo. The area from Ponte de Rialto to Piazza San Marco was really crowded and difficult to enjoy. Once we crossed over a couple of blocks into San Polo the crowds pretty much dispersed.

After lunch at Ae Oche we made our way back towards Piazza San Marco and perused the art vendors along the way. The best looking paintings to my eye, admittedly not a very discerning eye, were being hawked by a guy on the walkway near where the gondolas launch in this picture. By the time we made our way through the rest of the "artists" in San Marco it was late and we didn't have time to work across the island to the guy we liked. Oh well.






It appears Madison and I have the same interest level in shopping for paintings - all originals of course, despite the fact they all look so similar.

Madison really was a trooper throughout the entire trip. I had visions of hauling a screaming baby all over Italy, but she just hung out and took it all in. Out only issue was the same one we have every day - when anywhere between 6 and 7 PM Madison turns into a pumpkin and we need to get her night time routine going. We did our best to reward Madison's good behavior during the day by getting her back to the hotel, get her a bath, fed and put to bed.









After a full day of sightseeing, shopping for "art" and Jamaican Prada handbags everyone needed a break; especially Wade and I.

One note - none of our group took part in a gondola ride. I can imagine that during the off season a gondola ride would be pretty romantic, I'd imagine that since off season is during the winter it would be pretty cold too. However, while we were in Venice the gondolas were making their way through the canals stacked back to front like rush hour traffic. It looked very NOT romantic.


Never fear, Stephanie and Wade got their share of tourist moments in too. This is on the same bridge as the photo of Shelly and I, but facing the opposite direction back towards the mouth of the Grand Canal.

S&W hadn't had enough so when Shelly and I took Madison back to the hotel they stayed back for a little Venice at night. Ohh la la.

Shelly and I actually had a decent dinner back at the hotel. The rooms were average, but the bar and restaurant were pretty good. I actually had one of the best pours from a bar tender ever at the bar in the lobby. Generally in Europe a liquor drink (in this instance Scotch) you get a one-finger pour and pay 10 Euro. But this was one of those times when the guy went past the normal (U.S. normal, not European splash normal) cut off and kept going and going, I almost started cheering. Shelly had a nice house red and we had few moments of relaxation - that is during the 3 or 4 minutes between sprints up to the room to make sure Madison was still sound asleep.