Venezia

 rick steves writes..."travel is intensified living"

and i could not agree more with him.

traveling is..

educational.

exciting.

exhausting.

and

traveling with children...

we have learned..

takes both planning

and spontaneity.

our children are

17, 14, 10 and 3..

which also takes

a bit of creativity sometimes

to keep everyone happy 

when traveling.

but both steve and i feel

that for our family..

travel is important.

we try and stay with marriott hotels

whenever we can.

we (or i should say, steve) has a 

ton of points from traveling with work.

this is the ONE good thing

about his busy travel schedule..i think :)

we flew into bologna..

rented a NINE passenger

van and drove to the marco polo airport

in venice...about an hour and a half.

we parked the car and hopped on

a shuttle bus that should have taken

20 minutes but took about an hour and 20. 

roads were shut down for the venice marathon.

now, what i haven't mentioned yet..

is that we arrived during our own

hurricane sandy.

70 mile an hour winds

rain coming down sideways

and COLD.

those poor runners!

getting off the bus,

we finally found

the  right water taxi that

would drop us off at our hotel.

we were completely soaked

and tired from traveling..

but happy to be in venice.

we spent 3 days here..

marriott's boscolo hotel.

i was trying to figure out how

i could snag one of those chandeliers.

after filling our bellies

with pizza,

hanging our wet clothes all over 

the room,

and a good nights' sleep..

we woke up to a beautiful

but chilly day.

snow capped dolomites made for 

a lovely view from our room.

getting ready to board

the water taxi.

griffy doesn't like having

his picture taken.

off to st. marks square!

who doesn't love a boat ride?

the square was flooded

when we arrived.

there are elevated platforms

to walk on

for those of us that forgot

their rain boots.

the kids loved the venetian masks.

time for lunch.

typical street in venice.

gondola ride!

will's highlight of the whole trip.

by late afternoon

the water receded in the square

and filled with people,

pigeons, and vendors.

view from the rialto bridge.

steve and i went to venice

when we lived in germany

years ago.

stephen was only 2 years old.

it was valentines day

and carnivale and 

we were blessed with a warm

and sunny february day.

what a treat it was to

return with our family.

tomorrow..

off to tuscany!