Venice

Yesterday we ventured out to Venice for the day.  We enjoyed the easy and comfy train ride there and arrived by 11:30.  The day was sunny, but colder than anticipated by about 10 degrees.  We started out at the campanile of San Marco, where we enjoyed the view, but not the 32 euro price tag.  At least at the Duomo you get to climb a lot of steps---here, an elevator!

 As the kids have grown a bit weary of churches and museums, we limited ourselves in that regard, preferring to spend our time wandering amongst the narrow streets and canals.  We were surprised and entertained by the relatively large number of young kids on scooters and roller blades in this town of rough streets and many, many bridges, most of which begin and end with a long set of stairs.  Despite being lost for much of the afternoon, we were able to locate at least 4 stores selling legos.  Luckily, Jonah already got a new lego set the day before (at a huge Florence toy store, where Sierra happily purchased a volleyball), so we didn't need to stop in those shops.  We did, however, stop for some gelato artiginale, despite having gotten some of that the day before as well (and the day before that, and the day before that, and the day before . . . well, you get the idea).

Sierra took over 450 photos in Venice, so I did not bother to sort through to find the best canal shot, but here are a few with our smiling faces in them.  Tomorrow, we will head to Pisa and Lucca for another set of adventures.