Venice

"Nothing in the world that you ever heard of Venice is equal to the magnificent and stupendous reality."
                                                                       
                                                                                                                         ~Charles Dickens

This quote by Dickens is so true.  Before our trip, I had been pretty focused on our time in Rome and Florence and knew very little about Venice.  What little I had heard certainly did not prepare me for this wonderful place.  I think I will split Venice into a couple of different posts because there is so much to share.  

I took this picture of Ben and Chris on our first evening in Venice.  It is taken right outside of our apartment on the lagoon side.  

This was our street ~ Calle Pedrocchi.  

This is the front door to our 4th floor apartment.  The only time being on the top floor was difficult was moving in and moving out.  Special thanks to Jeff for schlepping our bags up and down the narrow hallways that led up to the apartment.   

This is the canal on the side of our neighborhood opposite the lagoon.  The street was called Via Garibaldi and it ended with this canal.  Via Garibaldi had everything we needed ~ a grocery store, a post office, a cheese shop, a coffee shop, a bakery and more.  It was SO quiet at night ~ such a change from our hotel on a busy street in Milan.  Also this part of Venice, called Castello, had the rare presence of a lot of green space ~ perfect for the boys to dog-watch, chase lizards, and burn off some energy.

This was the park right next to our apartment ~ the boys could go out and play by themselves because we could see them from our window.  It was perfect!

This is a park a block or two away where Jeff would take the boys to throw a ball around.  They had some serious battles playing "500".

These guys were just a little too quick for the boys ~ I don't think they ever did catch one but they sure had fun trying.

This was one of the highlights of the boys' time in Venice ~ they got into a pick-up basketball game with some Italian kids.  I give them so much credit for just walking up and asking to play.  There was only one boy who spoke a little English, who was very nice to them and welcomed them in.  It was pretty casual ~ they just played with as many kids as they had ~ I think it was 7-on-6.  There was a lot of traveling and double-dribbling but Ben and Chris had a blast and definitely held their own.  It is something I don't think they will ever forget!

Thought I would finish up with this picture.  We were very grateful to have a washing machine after our week in Milan in a hotel.  There was no dryer, so like most other Venetian women, I had to hang our clothes out on the clothesline.  You saw laundry out all over the place and our apartment was no different.  It was kind of fun actually.....made me feel Italian. :)

Ciao for now!