Venice "Disney Land without rides"

After spending the morning in Triestle, Italy,  we boarded another train to Venice our final tour  before heading home.  I knew Venice was popular, but I admit I was not prepared for the crowds as walked off the train station and was met with a wall of people.  It it was pretty late- so we made our way to our hotel.  We were really anxious to see our hotel, as apparently it used to be a palace at one point.  After talking with owner we found out most the builds were built in the 15th century for a family- through the years various structures were added on- it is not clear when the apartment we stayed was added. The owner reports he moved about 2 years ago with the intent of restoration, but there is a lot of red tape to due this.  He reports you need to make a request to city if even want to paint the walls.  A city official came to the building and starting scraping the small sample of the wall to determine what the original color was- found about four and decided what the color should be.  The owner had no say on what it would be.  He reports he can change a light bulb in the chandlier without a permit, but cannot replace the cord without one.  It was fascinating and fun experience.

This is a room in the main palace.  Not sure what it would be.

This was another room in the main palace.  It has an incredible travertine floor. The owner reports this room has been photographed due to to having one of the most intact floors and beautiful floors in Venice.

Since we only had a day in Venice, we decided to hit the main attractions.  When traveling with kids you need to pick no more than three places, as their tolerance is pretty low and their parents sanity is also threatened if they are pushed any further.  We decided to see the Doges Palace, St. Mark's Basicila, at Piazza San Marco, and the adjacent musuem. 

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This is a picture of the grand canal- kind of the major "highway" in Venice- it is packed with boats and the water is pretty rough!  Most of the businesses receive their goods this way.

Another view of the grand canal- I had to take these pictures super fast- as the bridge I am standing is packed with people doing the same thing.

Piazzia San Marco- you cannot really get a sense of how many people are here.

St. Mark's Basilica- of course the day we are here is half covered in scaffolding. This was only a quarter of the line.

Just outside the main building- you were not allowed to take pictures inside.  The floor mosiacs and gold were pretty amazing.  The building had settled quite a bit- when you looked at it the floor was wavy and slanted.

Gondola gridlock!

The kids reaction when we suggested we go to another museum.  They were done!

Looking across the canal at another island

Unfortunately it ended up pouring that night so we spend the evening at another pizza joint and had the pleasure of shopping at an italian grocery store to get food for the train ride the next day.   I probably sound a little cynical about the city, but as pretty as it was, the crowds were really tiring and I felt herded around all day long.   I have to admit I was ready to leave.

Fortunately,  the location where we were staying was actually in the neighborhood that locals live, so the alleys were relatively empty and peaceful.  Exploring the neighbor actually made you forget about the crowds were only a short walk away.   Wes found a path to walk through the local neighhorhood to get back to the train station the next day and we were able to avoid the main tourist drag- it was actually really nice and for second I was willing to stay another day.

Here are some photos of our walk to the train station.  It was very peaceful and quiet.

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Forgot to mention we rented an apartment so Wes and I would have our own room and the kids would have their own bed as they share one in France.  I woke up Sunday morning to see them sharing a twin bed instead.  Oh well!

This was the palace/compound where we stayed.  The owner told us that the original entrance was on the canal, the alley entry was added at a later day.   This is also true for the most of the home on the canal- if they were wealthy they had a boat and driver.

There is a small Jewish ghetto in Venice.  This is a memorial which has a list of the all the residences that were sent to concentration camps.  

Another photo of the Jewish quarters- per the guidebook only about 12 families still live in the small area. There are several kosher cafes and a all kosher hotel.  

 Back into France.