Revisiting Venice, Italy

Catching up on blog posts from over a month ago…Slovenia and Sicily to come. Leaving Florence and arriving by train we were back in Venice with our kids.  It was much warmer than when we last visited in February during Carnivale but no less crowded and already feeling a little overwhelmed with the mobs of tourists and heat surrounding the city. 

Luckily, we opted for an Airbnb outside of the island near the Mestre train station and suburb of the same name, it was a great retreat from the chaos of the island where we had an awesome, spacious apartment in a residential area. Here we could live like Venetians for a few days with easy access to the island and close to all the amenities we needed like grocery stores, cafes and pizzerias.

We spent a few days getting lost in the narrow streets and canals of Venice while revisiting all the popular sites with the kids. It was fun playing tour guides as we now know the island well after having spent more than 15 days here on what was now our third time and my fourth (here is a link to my previous Venice post and Carnevale Post).  We have explored it well and know a lot of the nooks and crannies with insider tips given by my friend who is a local Venetian and professional tour guide for mostly Japanese tourists.

With her help, we arranged to renew our vows for our 30^th anniversary at one of the oldest churches in Venice, the Chiesa SS Apostoli. It was a little dream we had when planning this trip and Father Don Luigi gave us blessings with our kids by our side. It was a special moment reflecting on over 30 years together in this dramatic setting and we were feeling truly blessed for all that has come to us.

Venice was Brandon’s dream locale, the kids spent one afternoon on their own returning all excited to tell us about getting lost in the back streets of this incredible city and what an amazing experience they had.  We all enjoyed our few days in Venice and the next day it was time to move on. Janet and I hopped on the airporter bus the next morning to pick up our rental car, we drove back to the apartment loaded up and were off to Slovenia.