Venice

Today we were meeting Stewart's sister Debbie and her husband Mark with two of their kids Matthew and Liz in Venice. We drove our Suburban and parked in a parking structure on the edge of the city, then took a train into the city. I think this was the highlight of the boys day.



Our niece Liz actually has been living in Florence for about a year and was our tour guide for the day. We met them at the train station and started walking through the city.

We are discussing where we need to go to get tickets to tour Doge's Palace. I stayed in St. Mark's square with the kids while some of the other adults went off to purchase tickets. Thank goodness for Burger King, because Thomas and Zachary got hacky sacs in their kids meal, which kept them entertained for awhile.

Cassidy wasn't interested in playing with the boys, but the birds interested her.





























A lady in the square gave Zachary and Cassidy some bread to feed the birds. Zachary really thought he could catch one.

After chasing all the birds away, we moved to the line to enter into the Palace.

I stepped away from the line to take a few pictures.


















We toured the Doge's Palace and even were directed into a secret entrance because we had a stroller. OK, it wasn't a secret entrance, but it was it sure seemed like we were going someplace where we shouldn't be. The boys really liked the armory. They had an incredible huge selection of weaponry.

The tile mosaics were my favorite. I guess it comes from my years of teaching tiling classes at the Home Depot and could only imagine the work that went into designing and laying these floors.

Thomas is on Stewart's shoulders taking in the view of The Saint Mary of the Friars Basilica. I don't know the name of the church on the right.

We took a water taxi to Murano. Zachary had enough of the site seeing and decided on a nap.

Thomas had fun on the ride. Cassidy is posing for a picture as we pass Cemetery Island of San Michele.

It was fun wandering around the "streets" of Murano. At one point Thomas asked me where all the cars were.

We finally found a place to refill our water bottles and for Cassidy to cool off.

This big blue sculpture was across the river. Cassidy thought it looked like a meteor. And I think it was actually named Blue Meteorite. Thomas called it the big blue star.

We didn't make it to the glass factory. They had just closed when we found them. But we did tour a glass museum. The boys were not really eager to go to museum. So to peak their interest, I told them they needed to try and find a glass gun. They really liked the guns and swords in the Doge's Palace. Well, I never guessed that the first room we would go into had glass guns. So after they found them, they were ready to leave. On our way back to the water taxi stand, we found a glass shop. Stewart bought Cassidy her very own glass ring. She picked out the colors and watched as the man made her ring.


























Our day was coming to an end. So we walked around the city a little bit more on our way back to the train. I was really thankful to have Matthew around to help me carry the stroller (and Zachary) up and down all the stairs. It seemed we would cross on bridge and then have to cross another. And they were not equipped with any handicap ramps. When Thomas was lucky enough to get to ride in the stroller, I made him get out of the stroller to walk up and down the stairs. Thomas is just too heavy.

We ended our tour of Venice on the Rialto Bridge. I left the stroller at the bottom of the stairs for this trip. We weren't crossing it, just site seeing.

From here to there, touring Italy

Our first stop today is Cittadella. It is a medieval walled city founded as a military outpost in the 13th century.

The walls are pretty much still intact except a small section that was destroyed in the 16th century during the Cambrai war. (Who knew blogging would provide a history lesson as well.)

The wall was constructed with 32 large and small towers as well as a protective moat.

After explaining to the kids why these windows are shaped the way they are, the kids pretended to be archers. But their arrows are pointed in the wrong direction.

Notice the man on the sign? This is how I felt walking along the wall. I had to bite my tongue several times to keep from telling the kids to keep away from the sides or looking through the rails. I didn't want my fear of being up there take away their fun. They were safe, it was just nerve racking for me.

The Duomo (Cathedral) of Cittadella was built between 1774 and 1826.



We were only able to walk half way around the wall. So we had to walk back the way we came. We made it back on the ground safely, I was so relieved. Then we walked thought the city to take this picture of the front of the Duomo.

Bassano del Grappa was founded in the 2nd century BC. The town is famous for its covered wooden pontoon bridge. The pontoon bridge was designed in 1569 to replace an already existing bridge constructed in 1209. The bridge was destroyed many times, the last time during WWII. The Alpini, Italy's fighting brigade took up private collections to rebuild the bridge. The Alpini still come to the bridge to sing songs and pay respect to their fellow soldiers.

Looking cool, (or hot) on the bridge.

We walked throughPiazza Libertà on our way back to the car. On the left is St. John the Baptist Church built in the 14th century. The astronomical clock on the right was built in 1747 and still works today.

Thomas is such a good boy. Here he is asking if he can go cool off in the water. We said, YES.

Marostica, the name has Venetic roots, meaning to have hills and streams. And as you see in this picture it does have a hill. It was really cool to see the wall go up the hill and back down the other side, surrounding the city. Did you know there was a Venetic language, I didn't. And the Venetian language is still spoken in the area today.

Every two years a theatrical live chess game is played at this site. The first game was in 1923, in remembrance of two legendary young noblemen who played a game of chess to win the honor of marrying a lady they both were in love with. Cassidy especially liked this city, she has been learning how to play chess at school. In fact she came in second place in a chess tournament at school.


Cars could drive into these walled cities, but we opted to park outside the city with our Suburban and walk through the gates.

Verona

Zachary sure looks tired, and he had the good life. Thomas and Cassidy did all the walking, while Zachary got to ride in the stroller. Well actually Thomas took a few turns in the stroller as well.

Verona's Colosseum or Arena is the third largest in Italy. It was built in 30AD and could seat 25,000 spectators.

Taking a break on a hot day.

The interior of the arena is virtually intact and contains a few modern improvements. Spectators still occupy the stands to see operas, plays and other events. We saw a few characters outside the arena willing to have their picture taken with us, for a fee. Here we are with a Gladiator.

Ice Cream break, oh wait this isn't ice cream. This is Gelato!! Yum.

Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou Romeo. We gave Cassidy a brief run down of Romeo and Juliet. She kept coming up with alternative endings to the story. She gave me several options Juliet and Romeo could have done to be together, instead of killing themselves.

We went to the tomb of Juliet. The entrance was under construction and we would have had to walk back around to where we just came from. So we decided to forgo the tour of the cemetery and went back to the car, it was a long day already.

We made it to Italy!!

After a pleasant drive to Vicenza, Italy we found another great place to stay with air conditioning even!! We have good friends in Stuttgart, who's father lives in Italy. He was out of town, but he offered his house to us. He had an incredible yard, luckily we brought along our soccer ball. Cassidy took Thomas out the next morning to explore the yard. Stewart, Zachary and I were fast asleep. Cassidy and Thomas found kiwi, grapes, and apples in the garden. I guess it is good the yard is gated.

Our first stop, Switzerland

Today we are starting our 2 week journey. We plan on seeing a lot, so we will have to see how the kids hold up. Luckily our trip is broken up into mini adventures. The kids went to school today. It was easier to get the car packed with no kids around. But the real reason they went was because Cassidy had to give a presentation in school. She learned about the barn owl and made a poster with pictures and the remnants of an owl pellet. In May she learned about owls and dissected an owl pellet in Girl Scouts. It was perfect for her presentation and only a few girls were disgusted by the rodent's bones.


So we finally took off on our trip. Our first stop was Gams, Switzerland. We stayed at our friends house for a night. Of course our friends were not there, but were gracious enough to offer their house to us. Stewart took a well needed nap, while the kids and I went for a hike. The boys counted slugs on the trail. After a good night's sleep, we took off early for Italy.

Fourth of July

The Fourth of July fell on Sunday this year. We went to church in the morning and back home to relax for a little while. We skipped all the Fourth of July activities but went for the firework show at 10:30. We had some time to walk around and dance while listening to the band. Stewart took a nap while the kids and I walked around. Thomas joined him taking a little nap, or at least pretended to.

The dancing brothers.

This is Stewart having fun with the camera.

Stewart watching the fireworks.
















Thomas and Jenni watching the fireworks. Thomas liked watching the show as long as he covered his ears. He had never liked loud noises.