Our vacation began in Venice....we had about 24 hours to enjoy the city before getting on the cruise ship. I had low expectations about Venice - I was looking forward to it, but I had heard from some that it is hot and smelly in the summer. It far exceeded my expectations - I loved it!!
We started off dazed and confused, as seems to be the norm when we travel to new cities and try to find our way. We had no problem finding the bus to Piazzale Roma, but then we had no idea how to find the hotel. We had a map, but street signs are pretty non-existent. Thankfully, we found someone who was familiar with the hotel and pointed us in the right direction. Double thankfully, we didn't have to go far! Some good samaritans helped us get the luggage and kids up a down a few bridges and then we were there. Note to future Venice travelers - the bridges are all stairs up/stairs down. Thankfully, we didn't bring a stroller, but getting lots of luggage up and down is a challenge!
I loved roaming the small streets, watching the people and gondolas, perusing the shops....loved it.
These little monkeys loved seeing how close they could come to falling in the water.
The next morning, we took a tour of a Murano glass factory. Beautiful stuff!
After the tour, we headed to the port to get on our cruise ship. Venice has a great monorail that takes you to the port. From there, it was a long, sweaty walk to the boat. There was a long line of people waiting to check in their luggage. We got in the line, then a lady came over and said, oh, you have small kids, and took us to the front. In Europe, having small children frequently gets you to the front of the line. We were so happy to get on the boat and get some American style air conditioning!
First stop - Dubrovnik, Croatia...
Don't you love the "small children" line cutting rule? =) I can't wai to see more pics! And find out all about the cruise so we can do this next summer!
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