Maze Running Venice

Ciao! Italy was the perfect trip to recharge after a damp UK winter. The sun, the heat, the landscape, the food, the language. You can’t go wrong! During the kids’ summer half-term break, we visited Venice and Lake Garda. Spoiler alert: Lake Garda blew us away. It’s up there with Cinque Terre, where we visited when I was pregnant with Lil Fox. Our first stop though was Venice!

The Complex Science Behind Choosing Venice

Neither of us would say Venice was on our bucket list (not that we really have one). However, after moving here, we decided to take a spontaneous, opportunistic approach to travel while living abroad. We choose places that we can easily reach from our closest international airport (about a half-hour train ride away), that don’t have outrageous flight prices and fit the vibe of where we want to travel at that moment in time. Venice was one of the places that met the criteria. Bada bing bada bang bada boom!

Living the Late Night in Venice

In true late-night Italian fashion, our kids probably stayed up later than they ever have on the night we flew in. I don’t think we went to bed until 1 AM, (it’s one hour ahead of our UK time). After landing, we walked to the Vaporetto to take the boat taxi to Venice. We had to wait quite a while but the boat finally came. A little late-night 40-minute stroll on a boat sounds absolutely quaint, doesn’t it? Almost. Almost. It’s pitch black out, so you can’t really see outside. You’re inside a hot, muggy boat with tiny windows. Your littlest is yelling she’s hungry then flirting with anyone around her and back to screaming she’s hungry and your oldest might pull a Goldie Hawn Overboard moment trying to see. At the time we traveled in Italy, you still have to wear an FFP2 mask on public transport so it was extra hot! I’m sure in the right hour and the right situation it definitely is.

After getting off at our stop, we experienced the only Italian nightlife we’ll experience for a while. Walking through alleys, seeing people sipping wine and eating dinner, smoking cigarettes, and chatting at 11:30 pm is the most bizarre feeling. I’m just trying to get to bed! We met our Airbnb host, who was so nice. He gave a great recommendation for a local pasticceria, Bonifacio just a block from our place. We all agreed it was one of the best pastry shops we’ve tried. I’m salivating just typing this out.

We stopped there all three mornings in Venice. The staff was so kind and loved chatting with the kids, remembering them every morning. They were patient with our fumbling Italian and would explain the different pastries in English when we’d ask in Italian. They gave the kids lollipops and candy (parental sigh, but you can’t help but love how kind they were to the kids). Developing that relationship with the staff was an experience we probably wouldn’t have had without kids. We love being able to experience these subtle changes in our life now compared to “before.” It balances out all the crazy bits when traveling.

Our favorite pastry was this one with these sticky pecans on top (see picture above). It has this sort of cinnamon goo filling. Ooh, it was THE best-tasting thing ever.

Maze Running Venice

Lil Fox only knows one time to get up no matter how late bedtime is. So, the next morning Lil Fox and I set out for some morning adventures while Hedgehog and Daddy slept in. I really enjoyed these early morning excursions. There were no crowds yet so you can wander the canal alleyways and experience what life might feel like without tourism. It gets to be a bit much once the crowds set in. You stop, the stampede will get you!

The tall and continuous buildings make you feel like a maze runner. You can spot the locals who chat on their phones and turn as needed on autopilot while everyone else is staring at their phone maps trying to figure out where to go. Lil Fox, we feel, has photographic memory tendencies so if we had done a route before, he was all over the how to navigate us to said destination, even a day or two later. Literally. I asked him a lot if he knew where he was or if he knew how to get us back to the Airbnb. He usually did. He was my tour guide haha. And he usually is like this wherever we travel, live, or explore.

Exploring Piazza San Marco

We kicked off our Venice sightseeing at Piazza San Marco and did a free self-guided Rick Steves audio guide tour. It was perfect to get some background information and be able to start and stop it as much as we needed with little kids. It down poured on and off a bit – fun to watch all the people flock out of the square screeching like seagulls being chased by a toddler. Lots of beautiful buildings reside in Piazza San Marco, including St. Marks Basilica. We enjoyed a brief parental break encouraging the kids to spot as many lions as possible in the piazza. Lions are a symbol for Venice, particularly winged ones. Can you find any in some of our pictures?

After listening and completing the tour we visited the Doges Palace. The Palace is where the Doge of Venice resided during the Republic of Venice. The grandeur of this and the exterior of the St. Mark’s Basilica were extraordinary!

The tour of the palace consisted of walking through a lot of rooms where different groups met to discuss important things. You supplemented this with looking at the artwork on the walls and paintings on the ceilings. We probably would have appreciated it a bit more if our kids weren’t the loudest ones in the building and not overtired crazy from the night before. It was a bit hard to be mentally present. We all enjoyed walking through the prisons and the Bridge of Sighs, one of those things on every “must-see in Venice” list.

Touring the Grand Canal

The next day we did a boat tour of the Grand Canal using another free Rick Steves audio guide tour. We love these because we can start and stop the 292 times necessary for Lil Fox and Hedgehog. We don’t need to worry about bailing on a paid tour with the kids if need be. It was nice to be able to see Venice from the Grand Canal. I can only imagine what life used to be like back in the day. I wondered if anyone ever got pushed off a gondola in a moment of a brawl or lover’s quarrel on the way to a dinner party. Or what if you got kicked out of somewhere or were trying to escape? Did they throw you out into the canal, did they jump and swim, or kindly wait for a boat?

Cycling in Lido

After the Grand Canal, we went to the island of Lido and rented some bicycles to ride around the island. The bicycle rental company even had kids’ bikes for both Lil Fox and Hedgehog. We picked the perfect day, cloudy and insanely windy. The first part of the bike ride was nothing special as we mostly biked through some unpopulated streets with no views of the sea. But then on the return, we biked on a bumpy path along the windy sea and appreciated the views! Hedgehog is too little to see above the stone wall but every 1/8 of a mile or so there was a gap in the wall. Hedgehog would stop and open her mouth and say she’s getting air. In retrospect, I can imagine how much she enjoyed those visual bits of freedom!

Little huts were built every few hundred yards along the shore. We wondered if people have dibs on them or if it’s communal or how the process works. They look so rustic and perfectly beachy. As we got closer to the town center, we also biked by the building for the Venice International Film Festival. No red carpet or celebrities were seen ;). After a couple of hours, we were all pretty cold. Not cold enough to stop and get some gelato after we were done though!

We probably spent over 100 Euros on Gelato the week we were in Italy. Our most used Italian phrase was, “I’d like a half kilo of gelato for takeaway please.” Which is something similar to “Vorrei mezzo kilo di gelato de asporta per favore.” Then followed by asking how many flavors are allowed (quanti gusti).

After coming back from Lido, we walked along the promenade, crossed a lot of bridges, wandered through some more parts of Venice, and watched our kids maze run the crowds with no concern about if we were following them. We had aspirations to go to a wine bar and have some aperitif but it was a long day and so we headed back to the Airbnb. Fun side story, we loved our place but weren’t prepared for the late-night Italian/English karaoke that happened until about midnight each night. Luckily the kids slept through it. In retrospect, Kevin and I should have just done a dance party out in the living room until the last call.

The next morning we got on the trains and buses to head to our first stop in Lake Garda! More on that soon 🙂

Did We Love It?

With its future up in the air due to residents leaving the city and the struggles with increased flooding due to climate change, you never know what the experience might be like years from now. We appreciate having the privilege to visit it. I will get it out there and say that we’re glad we saw it once and that was also enough for us. It’s crowded and parts of Venice can feel touristy and it just took away from the experience a bit. Visiting it in the off-season is an option, but preparing to experience Venice during the acqua alta is not a high priority for us ;). It’s a seasonal phenomenon in the area where the tides get high and cause frequent flooding mostly around fall and winter. I think I read a blog somewhere when researching for the trip that advised if you go around then to bring water shoes!