Venice - Day 2

this is the key to our Airbnb 😂 

First 2 pics are from yesterday from other cameras. Photos came in a bit wonky so I will do tofay first and then last night at the end!

Owen:  Dad go stand in front of that sign that says Trev is an and I’ll write idiot beside it! 😂 

This morning we headed to the island of Murano which is know for glass making

We had booked a workshop where we would make glass medallions that could be made into necklaces, keychains, bookmarks, etc

The guy explained how they make these long glass rods in different patterns. And then they cut tiny pieces. And you make your patterns with them and then fire them to make your piece. 

He had these tiny kilns that you put into the microwave and they get to 700C. Here is one of our pieces straight out of the kiln

Carly’s pre-firing. I did a Christmas ornament. 

Trev’s

Joel’s

Owen’s

Anna’s

I’ll post pics tomorrow of the finished product. We went back after an hour and they were cooked enough for him to pack them into bags for us but he told us not to touch them for 24 hours so we haven’t really got to have a good look at them. 

Then we were starving so we went to a coffee shop for some cannoli and coffee/tea. 

Then we spent an hour or so wandering around Murano. All there really is to do is shop and we aren’t too much for shopping so we didn’t stay too long

Back at Venice

This is not like us but the pizza was so good yesterday we went back to the same restaurant. It was still really good tofay but they didn’t cut it into pieces, they didn’t bring us bread to start and our waitress was a bit cranky. So not quite as good as yesterday!

Then Joel got a duck souvenir since he had bought a Statue of Liberty duck in NYC last year. So he figured he’d start a collection of ducks from around the world!

The caps on all bottles in Italy stay attached to the bottle to reduce litter. I actually really like it!

After lunch we walked back to St Mark’s square and watched the pigeons and then headed to Doge’s Palace. 

By the way the streets if Venice are Covered in confetti. Apparently a big Venice Carivale festival was at the end of February and throwing this biodegradable confetti is part of it!

We walked past this guy at Doge’s palace and Trev took a pic with it. Then he said, I have some recollection of your brother Jon, mayme, taking a pic of this when we were in Italy?  So I sent a pic to the family chat asking g if anyone remembered and my dad sent this back a few minutes later from 2008 😂 

I wasn’t sure what the kids would think of Doge’s Palace. A bunch of fancy rooms. Owen especially loved it. The idea of the Doge, ruler of Venice, living in this giant, fancy palace really intrigued him. He asked a ton of questions and kept saying, I can’t believe this is real!  He decided he would prefer to be someone who lived in this palace in the 1400s, rather than just a regular dude today. Even if that meant being a prisoner in the palace 😂 

Owen pretending he is a prisoner, handcuffed and walking over the Bridge of Sighs to the prison. 

Looking out the window of the bridge of sighs. 

After that we had seen much of what Venice has to offer and it was time for another gelato before heading to the train station!

Everyone rated this gelato as better than the last ones we had. Owen had strawberry (again), I had cherry cheesecake and salted caramel, Trev had salted caramel, Joel had cherry cheesecake and Anna had strawberry and lemon. 

We got our bags at the Airbnb and we walked the 10 minutes to the train station

Arriving at the train station

We were a bit early so we waited outside for a bit

It’s been a while since we’ve been on a European train!  First time ever for the kids!

It’s such an awesome, stress-free way to travel!

Not sure why these pics are out of order but here are the pics from last night!!!

Delicious Bellini for our late afternoon break at the Airbnb

Anna got this hoodie

Heading out to find a gondola ride

Found one!  The gondolier was good and he took us down the quiet back canals. Lots of fun!

Then dinner at a restaurant my cousin Angela recommended. Everything was delicious although Owen doesn’t understand the concept of Al dente pasta. I guess I overcook mine at home!

Spaghetti bolognese for Owen

Lasagna for Trev

Pasta with garlic butter and chilli. This was so spicy and absolutely delicious!

Anna got Alfredo pasta with peas and ham

And Joel got a 4 cheese pasta

You can see we polished off every single drop! 😂 

Just arriving now in Florence. It’s 7:30pm. Tomorrow we are going to Lucca!