Week 8: Venice Is Not for Children

Annie and I managed to escape to Venice for a couple of nights (May 22-24) while the girls stayed with Grandma, Aunt Molly, and Aunt Donna in Munich. This was almost three full days of bliss in which we traded stroller, Playmobile horses, and bathroom negotiations for boats, wine glasses, and discussing whether to get uno or due scoops of gelato. Venice was the perfect location for our getaway: A one hour flight, great food, and incredibly kid-unfriendly.

After a short flight and bus ride to the edge of the city, we speed-walked through narrow alleys to make our 1:00 lunch reservation at Al Covo, where we sat outside watching a mix of locals and tourists. Italian meals are slow and leisurely- exactly the opposite of our typical rushed meals with the girls, interrupted with bathroom breaks and attempts to track down waiters for more ketchup and napkins. Wine is also not optional.

After lunch we made our way (at a more reasonable pace) to the Ruzzini Palace Hotel, which was very, very nice and had the charming feature of tilting slightly toward the canal in back. The back door opened directly onto the water—one step and you're in a boat, or in the water if there is no boat. A perfect metaphor for Venice: beautiful, historic, and slowly sinking into the ocean.

Venice is built on wooden piles driven into marshland centuries ago. The city sinks 1-2mm per year, and high tides regularly flood areas now. We saw a restaurant with outdoor seating flooded by about a quarter inch of water—several tables still had diners eating like it was normal.

Later in the afternoon we went to see St. Mark's Basilica, The basilica was stunning with its golden Byzantine mosaics and massive arches. It's also sinking! But honestly, what isn't?

A note on navigating through Venice: there is absolutely no grid system, and, between the streets and the slanting, very few straight lines. One minute you're walking through an open plaza and then suddenly you are turning left into a narrow alleyway that is just as legitimate as any main street. A map isn't optional. I'm not sure what tourists did 20 years ago, because a Mapquest printout can't possibly include all the tiny alleys. I guess people just got lost and never returned.

For dinner, we did a bacaro crawl, hopping between bars for small bites - cicchetti - and wine. We went to Cantina Do Mori, Barco al ravano, and All'Arco. The crustinis were excellent, the Prosecco refreshing, and, apart from the heavy metal music at Barco al ravano, authentically Venetian. There were many locals popping in for a glass of wine and bite, including a scruffy dog who let out a bark at the bacaro owner and was gifted a giant meatball. All'Arco had to squeeze us in, and we had to sit in the rain (to our server's dismay), but our wine flight and giant charcuterie board were worth it.

Thursday morning we walked out to a cafe for coffee and then had our hotel arrange a water taxi for us to head to Murano to tour one of the glass factories. To demonstrate his technique, the master glassmaker made a small glass horse, then touched a piece of newspaper to it, which burst into flames, to show how hot the glass is. He and his apprentice went back to making cups and every once in a while brought the pieces over to show us. The showroom had art pieces valued at millions of euros. We bought a Christmas ornament for €30. We kept remarking to each other that we were so glad to NOT have our kids with us for this--showrooms full of glass and open flames. One can only imagine the trouble Hadley would get herself into.

Back in Venice, we strolled around the Dorsoduro sestieri (district) and had lunch at Pizzeria Oke, packed with locals including a group of Italian college students. Venice isn't known for pizza, but this place was some of the best I've had. The crust was especially good, soft and chewy. Annie's passion is finding the best restaurants for us wherever we go and this was no exception. It was also great to get away from the touristy area of Venice and see where people actually live.

Speaking of how people in Venice actually live, I thought it was fascinating how "garage doors" open up right onto the canals. The architecture was really interesting.

We grabbed our daily afternoon cappuccino and headed back to the hotel. In the plaza out our window, school let out and kids filled the space doing homework and playing soccer and banging loudly on metal signboards while parents chatted. Of the children we've seen in Europe, the Venetian ones have been significantly louder than their Bavarian counterparts. For dinner that night, more great seafood and wine, and we grabbed gelato on the walk back to the hotel (Walnut-Fig and Dolce de Lece).

On Saturday we had our final (and best) culinary experience at Anice Stello, in the north part of the city, away from most tourists. We had a nine-course lunch canal-side with crustinis, pasta, fish, squid, and other goodies. Plus one more gelato before taking the water bus back to reality the airport.

Cultural Observations

Transportation: There are no cars in Venice. Everything goes by boat—ambulances, police, delivery trucks, garbage collection. UPS boats make regular deliveries like it is completely normal (which, in Venice, it is). The bus system is boats, taxis are boats (and expensive), bicycles are boats, and houses have doors that open directly onto canals.

Slow Food: The Italians make Germans seem like they're wolfing their food down. Meals were very leisurely. Two hours into our Saturday lunch, we had to ask the waiter if we could pick up the pace to catch our water transfer to the airport.

Tourists and Kids: Unlike Germany, Venice was flooded with retired American tourists. Not just English speakers, but specifically Americans. There were also no kids traveling with their parents, which was very different from Prague, Copenhagen, and Salzburg. We saw babies in carriers, some teenagers and almost no one in-between (except the loud school-aged Italain kids).

That's all for now! Annie is back for the next one with an update from Belgrade, Serbia and our trip to the Neuschwanstein Castle.