Venice - Day 1

In mid-April, we took a trip to Venice, Italy! We had coordinated the trip with our friends Jerome and Erin and their little boy. We all drove down to Gatwick Airport (on the far side of London, so not typically our choice for flights, but the tickets were far less expensive) early on Thursday morning. We anticipated possible slight traffic around London, even before 5 am, but were happy to get all the way to the airport with no issues. 

We found Gatwick to be extremely family friendly! Check-in was easy, and then we spotted a "family security" area that catered to groups with small children. The line was very short, the staff was friendly, and there were handy countertop desks after going through security to help you get reorganized on the other side. We found a good spot to wait for our flight's gate to be announced, which was right next to a large soft play kids' area -- awesome. Charlotte got some energy out pre-flight. 

The flight was uneventful -- Charlotte spent most of the time watching Peppa Pig and drawing in her new coloring book (the Crayola markers that only color the special Crayola paper are amazing for flying!). The Venice airport (Marco Polo) is on the mainland of Italy, and requires a water taxi or a rather slow bus to take you to Venice proper. Upon arrival, we found a kiosk to purchase tickets for the non-private water taxi and followed the signage for about a 10 minute walk to the docks. We got in line, which wasn't too long, but it looked like we would have to wait for at least 2 water taxis in order to get on board. We completely lucked out when the staff waved us to the front of the line -- he saw the two little kids and took pity on us. It was unexpected and really nice! So we were able to get on the very next water taxi.

The ride was a bit longer than expected -- the boat goes slowly (at least at midday, in fairly choppy waters due to the large number of boats zipping around the Venice lagoon). We opened the windows to get some fresh air and some water splashed into the boat on one side! The boat's hull sits fairly low in the water, and all the passengers line the sides of the boat (facing each other) with suitcases at their feet in the middle of the boat. It was fairly snug, and not the ideal spot for squirmy Charlotte for about an hour. She did fairly well, but after 9 hours of travel already we were all getting a bit tired. It was fun to get a few glimpses of Venice from the water as we crossed the lagoon and headed down the Grand Canal to the Rialto stop, where we disembarked.

Approaching Venice via public water taxi

Charlotte appears to have had enough of the water taxi at this point

We were met at the Rialto stop by Mathilde, a New Jersey transplant to Venice, who took us through the labyrinthine streets of Venice to the apartment we were renting. She showed us (very quickly) the necessaries of the apartment, how to orient ourselves in the city, and mentioned several restaurants we could try. Although we had understood that we would need to book a private water taxi to return to the airport on Sunday for our very early flight, Mathilde assured us that the Alilaguna taxis (the public ones) coordinate with the flight schedule, and that we would be able to catch one of those taxis starting around 4 am. [More on this in a later post.]

Paul and Jerome went out to find us some lunch, and brought back some delicious pasta takeaway. I tried once unsuccessfully to get Charlotte to nap in the bed, but she was too wound up being in a new place to sleep. After eating lunch, she finally did go to sleep. Erin and I took that opportunity to head out for about an hour to wander around the city and grab our first gelato of the weekend!

Our apartment was near St Mark's Square, which was handy for orienting all weekend as well. We walked through the square, past the Doges' Palace, along the waterfront, then cut into the narrow streets to wander along the canals and explore. We rarely had to consult a map when we were out, as sporadically around the city you can find signs that say "Per S. Marco" or "Per Rialto" with arrows indicating the direction to help steer you in the right way.

In late afternoon, we went out again with husbands and kids accompanying us, and walked the streets in search of some dinner. We ended up splitting up, as Gus wasn't feeling very well. Paul, Charlotte, and I grabbed pizza at a restaurant. It was delicious! We then walked through St Mark's Square once more to enjoy the music being played from small orchestras at the outdoor cafes after dark. We especially enjoyed listening and dancing to a (long!) montage of music from The Sound of Music. We then headed home to sleep off the long day!

The Campanile in St Mark's Square

St Mark's Cathedral

The Winged Lion (symbol of St. Mark, patron saint of Venice)

Charlotte in front of St Mark's Cathedral & the Clock Tower

Gondolas!

Outdoor cafe orchestra

St Mark's & Campanile at night

Dancing to the music!

The Netherlands: Kinderdijk

On Tuesday morning, Paul flew out of Amsterdam for a work trip back to the States for 2 weeks. Dan was so kind to take him to the airport so I could finish tidying up our AirBnB apartment and finish packing while watching Charlotte. We headed out of Noordwijk mid-morning, and stopped at a UNESCO World Heritage site near Rotterdam (also in the Netherlands) to see some amazing and very Dutch windmills at Kinderdijk.

The windmills are all privately owned (and some appear to be residences), but it is free to walk around the site after paying for parking. There are 19 authentic windmills in a relatively small area that work to keep the water pumped out of the area. Most of the Netherlands is well below sea-level, and windmills have historically been the force used to keep the land from becoming sea. 

After walking around for about an hour or so, we headed back to a nearby town to have lunch, then hit the road back to France. We arrived at the terminal with plenty of time to make our planned train, but the passport control was incredibly backed up (only 4 of 8 stations were open) and we ended up having to get on a train a full hour after we had hoped to be on our way. That was a little frustrating, but luckily Charlotte wasn't upset to be sitting in the car. Once we were through the tunnel, we had about a 2 hour drive back to our house. Charlotte finally fell asleep on the drive around London, but kept making me nervous as she seemed uncomfortable and I was nervous she was going to throw up again. It was great to make it home safely without any incident!

The Netherlands: Flower Fields & Pouring Rain

Our second full day in Holland, we decided to rent bikes to ride around some of the flower fields in the area between Noordwijk and Keukenhof. We had checked the weather forecast, and saw that there was a 40% chance of rain at 11 am and again at 1 pm. We were planning to bike from 10-noon or so, and figured we would risk getting briefly rained on to enjoy a ride. 

It didn't go to plan.

We walked into Noordwijk and rented our bikes for the day, with Charlotte's seat outfitted to the back of my bike. I had biked with her previously on Sea Island, Georgia, and felt comfortable with having her back there. Armed with a trusty map of the bike trails in the area, we set off under grey skies. 

We loved the first part of the ride! I had selected a route that was recommended for touring the flower fields, which was stated to be around 29 kilometers. Not being much of a biker, I figured that the roughly 20 miles would tire us out, but not be horrible. To follow the route, we would glance at the map, which directed us to "33...42...8..." and the signs for "33" would point you toward that destination, at which point you would head to "42," etc. The bike paths in Holland are amazing -- we even saw a bike roundabout while driving around on a different day! 

We found a huge field of daffodils after riding for about 20 minutes and stopped for a picture. As we climbed off our bikes, it started to drizzle... as we climbed back on our bikes, the skies opened up!! It poured. And poured. And poured. We laughed it off, but it gradually became less funny as the rain continued for the next 2 and a half hours. We stopped briefly under an overpass to attempt to let the showers pass us, but to no avail, so we continued on to near the town of Lisse (where Keukenhof is located) and stopped at a train station that had been converted into a coffee shop.

Looking like drowned rats, with a freezing cold child (at least Paul and I had been moving, poor Charlotte was just sitting back there with rain dripping off her helmet onto her face), we went into the blessedly warm coffee shop for about a half hour for cups of hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream and a piece of apple cake. We climbed back on our bikes, and I found that my (very out-of-shape) legs had stiffened up while we were resting and I really struggled for the rest of the ride. We still had 10 miles to go, and we had just turned into the wind to return home. Woof. Paul rode along behind me, trying to go slowly too. 

Then... for the last 1.5 miles, the sun came out! We got a couple of pictures of the flower fields in the sun (it had been raining too hard to remove our cameras from their waterproof areas the rest of the ride) and limped the rest of the way home. There was a beautiful rainbow behind our apartment when we arrived. We toweled off, ate a late lunch, took hot showers (even Charlotte), and lay down. Charlotte napped for 3 hours!! 

So -- for next time, self: Thou shalt not plan a bike ride more than 10 miles on vacation. Or ask one of your 24892745 friends who bike regularly, "Is 29 km too far for a fun family ride?" Ahh, hindsight! 

Fields of hyacinths in the sunshine!

Rainbow behind our apartment

Going to return the bikes: You want me to get back on that thing?!

The Netherlands: Keukenhof Gardens

A bucket list item for me has been to see the tulips of Holland -- so visiting Keukenhof Gardens was the main inspiration for our trip to the Netherlands. We went on a Sunday, and it was fairly busy and became more so as the day went on. As it turns out, we were a bit early to see the majority of the tulip fields in full bloom -- but we did see plenty of them, and loved seeing all the crocus, daffodil, and hyacinth showing off as well. 

The park is quite large -- we definitely didn't get to cover it all. Some highlights included: climbing up a windmill for a view over tulip fields (largely unbloomed at this time in the season, but a few patches of color here and there), smelling the delicious hyacinth, seeing such an array of colors of the hyacinth and crocus blooms, posing Charlotte and her friend Auri in giant wooden shoes, and seeing all the orchids and tulips blooming within some of the larger "houses" on the campus of the gardens. By mid-afternoon, Charlotte was starting to get extremely grumpy with lack of napping, so we headed back to Noordwijk. Enjoy the beautiful colors of these flowers!!

Entering Keukenhof!

Hyacinth!

Tulips!

Crocus

Getting up close and personal

A CLUBHOUSE!!!!

So Dutch!

"Mama, smell these!!"

A few pops of color from the top of the windmill

My favorites!

The Netherlands: Noordwijk

In early April, we drove to the Netherlands for a long weekend with our friends the Favrettos. It was our first time driving to and on the continent, and we were somewhat apprehensive about what it would be like. I did a lot of research ahead of time, as each country has its own requirements for what you have to have in your car to drive there. We purchased a kit from Halford's (local auto store) that includes most everything you need to have for France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, then supplemented with a one-time use breathalyser (required to drive in France). 

We headed down to the Chunnel early Saturday morning, and hit no traffic around London (yay!). When you arrive at the port, you have to go through passport control in your car, and then follow signage to the holding area before boarding the train. Rather than driving through the Chunnel yourself, you drive onto a train! You drive straight through the train until you're told to stop. They then close dividers between each train car. There is space for about 3-4 vehicles per train car. We closely followed our friends' car to make sure we would be near each other on the train. Once you're parked, you can get out and walk around for the 40ish minute journey to France. Then you hop in your car and drive off the train and into France... giggling at the signs that strongly remind people to drive on the RIGHT side of the road!

The drive on the highways through France, Belgium, and the Netherlands was pretty straightforward. The road signs change to kilometers and speed limits to kmh, and various signs are (obviously) in different languages, but it was fairly simple to understand. We stopped for a quick lunch at a rest stop somewhere in Belgium, then proceeded on to Noordwijk -- the town we stayed in. We hit some traffic jams requiring rerouting (thank goodness for GPS!) but made it safely. 

Noordwijk is a seaside town between Amsterdam and The Hague, and is a popular spot in the summer months. It was fairly quiet when we were in town, which was fine by us. It is in a great location for visiting the Keukenhof Gardens and tulip fields, which was our main reason for going to Holland at this time of year. We walked down along the seaside each of the three nights we were in town, which was about a 10 minute walk from the AirBnB we stayed in. It was somewhat cool on the North Sea beach, but nice for enjoying the sunset!

Charlotte playing in the sand on the beach

Elisa and me on the beach, loosely chaperoning the kids

Looking back up toward the Noordwijk lighthouse (I am literally pouring sand out of Charlotte's shoe in this picture)

Day 2 - Sunset

Toddler wrangling, beach style

The first night we ate at a beachside restaurant, where there was a huge playground in back for the kids to run some energy off before we ate. It was too crowded inside, but we were seated on the outside deck behind some windproof glass. The second night we stayed in, as Charlotte was exhausted and had refused to nap, but the third night we ate at a Dutch pancake house (basically crepes served any which way! Paul had Mexican pancakes, but I stuck with a ham, egg, and cheese pancake and Charlotte had a raisin pancake).

We really enjoyed the AirBnB we stayed at -- the owner was 9 months pregnant and was actually in the hospital the day we left (!). It was very convenient with free parking on the street. It had very narrow and steep stairs (typical of Dutch homes) which was a bit challenging with Independent Woman Charlotte, and the bathroom was divided up in an interesting way. Toilet under the stairs, kitchen sink to wash hands, and shower closet upstairs. It worked! We were also pleased that Charlotte had her own room and a pack-and-play was provided for her. No bad AirBnB experiences yet! (4 for 4.)