Ethan goes to Venice ..... umm - gelato.

We took a flight from London to Venice and arrived at Marco Polo Airport around 11:00 am. While in London, we bought Ethan a big "off road scooter." We thought it might come in handy for our trip, so we had it boxed and put on the plane.... Well - there are no cars in Venice. You have to take a boat (either a public transport bus type boat (around 6 euro per person)or a water taxi (about 100 euro)) to get from the airport to Venice. We unboxed the scooter and had Ethan ride it, but we had two huge bags and a box to carry now. We were quite a site going to the Vaparetto (water bus - cheaper option). Here are Ethan and dad on the water bus from the airport.

Here Ethan sits at the front of a Vaparetto. We had to take a short vaparetto ride each day to get from the Lido to Venice proper.

After the 40 min. boat ride, we arrived at Lido Island where our hotel was located. We followed the instructions to get on the bus (again a big deal with all the luggage - the bus was jam packed). We got off at the stop that we thought was the stop for the hotel but could not find it. Now, we were pulling all this luggage down the street in the blistering hot sun looking for our hotel. We asked a few people about how to get to the hotel, but we had difficulty understanding and communicating in Italian. Finally we found a restaurant where the staff spoke enough English to get us to our hotel. It was only later we realized that we left a bag filled with books on the water bus. This involved going back to the vaparetto office and a lucky break - someone turned in the bag to the Vaparetto Office. At this point everyone was exhausted and tired. After lunch of pizza and some much needed wine, we went to Lido Beach for the afternoon and later picked up some food to make a picnic dinner on our patio. Here we are on the street with our luggage when we stopped at the restaurant which gave us directions to the hotel.

In the garden of our hotel Pensione Stella.

The square where we found a market to get food for our picnic dinner on the patio.

Ethan breaks for a slushie.

William sets up our patio picnic dinner...

Near our hotel in the Lido, there was this beautiful bridge over on of the canals. It was a good spot for photos, so we took a few.

William takes a ride on Ethan's scooter.

We spent a bit of each day at the Lido Beach. Here are some pictures. Check out this paddle boat that we rented! Ethan slides .....

He is in the water!

Me on the beach with Ethan in the background (in the waves).

We spent some time exploring some of the major sights of Venice ... Here is the Bridge of Sighs - the bridge connecting the Dodge's Palace to the Prison. The bridge is called this, because prisioners would "sigh" at their last sight of freedom as they cross the bridge.

William and Ethan peek out from a prison cell in the Doge's palace.

This is a Gondola traffic jam down one of the canals. Venice was totally choked with tourists. We were very glad to be staying on the Lido to get some respite from the crowds.

This is a bridge leading to the Querini Stampalia Foundation designed by Carlo Scarpa.

Inside the Dodge's Palace in the Bridge of Sighs leading to the prisons.

Watermelon break along the canal.

View of the St. Marks area from a window in the Dodge's Palace.

View of the Dodge's palace from the water.

In the Piazza San Marco with the Cathederal in the background.

We also visited Murano. This island is famous for its glass. There are no schools on the island of Murano. Glass is the craft for all families on the island and children are apprentice to their fathers in the art of glass making at a young age. We went to a glass factory and watched a glass making demonstration.

Here is the furnace -

These two glass sculptures were on display on Murano Island.

From Murano, we took a short boat ride to the island of Burano known for its colorful canals. It was just beautiful.

On our last night in Venice, we took an evening Gondola ride. Ethan took this picture of us on the Gondola. We had our honeymoon in Venice and northern Italy 10 years ago. Here we are on a gondola again 10 years older.

Getting ready to board our gondola.

Ethan tries on the Gondalier's hat.