Somehow I have gotten quite behind in blogging, again. I never even finished writing about our Venice trip, which was over 2 months ago!
The final full day of our trip was somewhat overcast and rainy, so we stuck closer to the apartment and enjoyed the area around Saint Mark's Square when we did venture out. We visited Saint Mark's itself -- a really interesting, dark, Byzantine-feeling interior (which we were not allowed to photograph). You aren't allowed to bring even small backpacks into the building, so Jerome and I quickly hightailed it to the bag drop (located in an odd spot down an alley). We made it back just before Paul, Erin, and the kiddos were about to enter the church. Paul went up to the balcony to look over the Piazza, but neither Charlotte nor Gus were in love with being in the church, so the rest of us headed outside to wait by a fountain.
After Paul caught up to us, we took a wander through some of the back streets and canals of Venice, seeing the Bridge of Sighs along the way. It connected the palace to the prison, so many people passed through this bridge after being sentenced on their way to imprisonment (hence, "sighing" at their last sight of Venice and freedom).
We then sat down at a cafe for an early lunch along a canal. The pigeons are quite brave in Venice, and they had a grand time sneaking under Charlotte's seat for dropped pieces of pasta. It quickly became somewhat gross as the pigeons would then try to fly away with the pasta and often dropped it back in our general direction. I think Jerome had some on his shirt and Charlotte had some in her hair. Raining pasta! It was messy but she loved it.
We headed back to the apartment for a nap, and a stressful few hours after realizing that the public water taxis don't start service until 6 am on Sundays -- problematic as our flight was scheduled for 6:55 am on the other side of the lagoon! Our apartment host had assured us that they started running at 4 am, which was not the case. We got further frustrated as the host had originally stated he would help us find a private taxi, but now would only give us phone numbers of companies who refused to serve us as we were not staying at one of the local hotels. Apparently the private taxis give a kickback to the hotels, and only the hotels, for services rendered to their patrons. As we were staying in a rented apartment, we couldn't find anyone to help! Paul went to the docks by Saint Mark's Square and one of the private water taxi captains offered to meet us there at 4 am -- if we would give him a 50 Euro deposit now. We quickly decided that was our last option -- as there was no guarantee he would actually show up in the morning. Finally, Paul and Jerome stopped into the hotel closest to our apartment, and the front desk employee was happy to book the private taxi for us. Whew!!
After naptime and the resolution of the taxi situation, we dodged raindrops to walk back across the city to a restaurant where Charlotte enjoyed her first taste of tira misu.
Paul snagged a few final shots of Saint Mark's Square that night:
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| Mini-orchestra playing to a few patrons in the Square |
We all went to bed fairly early, as our wake-up call was at 2:45 am to prepare the apartment for our departure by water taxi at 4 am. Happily, it all went smoothly and we were safely on the taxi before 4! Early flights can be rough, but the kids were good (and loved the taxi!). It was pretty mind-boggling to be back at our house in England by about 9:30 am with the whole day ahead of us still!
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| All aboard the water taxi! |
