A Pew All Our Own: Italy: Venice for Carnevale

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Italy: Venice for Carnevale

I am not a fan of crowds, so I don't know exactly why I agreed to this. Venice at Carnevale (AKA Mardi Gras in the states or Facshing if you're in Germany) is just crazy and insanely crowded. The streets of Venice are narrow and more like alleys so the crowds can get pretty thick. They even had a few places with police directing the foot traffic to keep things from getting clogged up. This is the first time I have been a little nervous about keeping up with the kids. The older kids are pros at this traveling around Europe thing now though and they did great. We don't let go of the younger ones when things get this hairy anyhow.

Several of the children picked out masks to wear for the day. Genna picked one to match her black velvet dress.

We had to take a train from Padua to Venice. We first walked about 20 minutes to the train station. These children are going to be so tough after all this walking we have them do on such a regular basis. When we got off the train and walked out the front of the station, there were the canals!

Fresh off the train!

Canals

First Look at the Canals

Drew was not happy because we wouldn't let him go down anymore steps towards the water.

Isaac found his mask and surprised me by wanting the elephant nosed kind. He specifically had his eye on one with musical notes on it. He normally is embarrassed to wear dress up clothes now, so I was shocked that he kept it on all day, sans lunch and the cathedral.

Gondolas!

I was searching for blue agate cameo earrings and so we were window shopping a bit to see if there were any that caught my eye. I ended up going back to one of the first places we looked at for dangling Madonna and Child earrings that I've barely taken off since. I love them. They were not cheap, but at all the stores I looked at that was about the price they ran.

This lion statue is a famous landmark in Venice.

It was really a very nice day, but there was a chilly wind that got you in the shade. Mostly I was comfortable in my thin sweater. Hannah was kind of cold, so I ended up giving her my outer thick sweater. The line to get into the cathedral was pretty long, but it went quickly. They checked some bags and things so it slowed the steady flow a bit. The cathedral was free to get into, but the chapels on the sides nearly all cost money to enter.

Entrance to the Cathedral

Amazing Gold Mosaic Ceilings

Picture in the main square of the cathedral and showing the crowd

Here's Drew in his mask that he, surprisingly, wore most of the day.

Hannah did end up buying a mask at the end, but she got a blank one with the intent to bring it home and design and decorate it herself. My artist!

I love this candid shot of these two eight year olds.

The most fascinating part of it all was all the people who dressed up just to be photographed. It was a little bit egocentric, but I participated in the photographing nonetheless.

Sitting on the dock of the bay, watching tide roll away...

Best Buddies, the five year olds

We had to wing it for a restaurant and since we had a big party it was tricky. We found a good restaurant. Brian got Cuttlefish pasta which had squid ink sauce. I was forced to taste it, but did not like the flavor even though it didn't taste seafood-ish. I had a Caprese salad and pasta Amatriciana. The kids had pizzas again. Before this trip, they had been whining about not having pizza in so long because I have been on a diet. They definitely got their fill in Italy.

The Bridge of Sighs

When I set out Drew's clothes in the morning, he told me he thought he looked like a robber. He was very surprised to see one of the Gondaliers dressed to match in a striped navy/white sweater. We asked to take a picture of the twins.