My first time in Venice left me with a lot of impressions and a real desire to go back with my husband and kids someday. Because I was taking care of little Anastasia from 9 to 6 (with an hour break at lunchtime, which I used to get out for a walk every day, exploring different neighborhoods) I got to know the city in an entirely different way than if I had been on a weekend city trip, which was actually really cool.
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| Laundry is hung everywhere in Venice. |
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| I don't think I'd want my undies out for the grabbing right at street level... |
Part of wandering around with a toddler means you look like a local. Every day we spent our mornings in one of the few city parks, and by the end of the week, I'd made acquaintance with some of the other mothers who also came every day. Old ladies on the vapporetto boat we had to take to get to the park always commented on how beautiful Anastasia is and what nice chubby legs she has (you don't have to know much Italian to understand these sorts of comments). And more than once, tourists summoned up their very best Italian to ask me directions, and I felt bad disappointing them - not only could I not understand their request but often I was just as lost as they were!
Venice is a pedestrian paradise but a nightmare if you have a bad sense of direction! And the main highlight of the city for me, seeing as I had little time for museums and churches, was just walking around the city and seeing it as one big open air museum. Luckily I was able to take my time in getting to know the area our apartment was located in, and then slowly branch out. After a while you get a mental map of the city in your mind, and you also realize that if you happen to get turned around in a street there is no need to panic, just keep going and soon you'll see something you recognize, or signs pointing you either in the direction of the train station or St. Mark's square, the focal point for tourists in Venice:
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| St. Mark's Basilica |
One thing I hadn't expected was the difference in sounds in Venice as compared to home. For an entire week, I heard not one car, bus, motorcycle or heavy truck rumbling outside my window! Instead there were the church bells tolling every hour, sputtering boat motors, and singers on gondolas. Quite a change of soundscape!
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| Spot the grumpy looking cat in the window? |
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| I did poke my head into a few churches during my wanderings... |
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| View of the Grand Canal from the Accademia bridge |
It was an intense and tiring week (taking care of toddlers is hard work!) but at the same time rewarding and extremely interesting. I was even able to get a ticket to a concert of chamber music by Vivaldi in a little church for my final evening, which was really special. But by the end I was missing my family and looking forward to going home. So we ended the week with an excellent farewell lunch at
La Zucca (a well known restaurant that specializes in vegetable dishes), and I flew back to Brussels, hoping to return someday.
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| Enjoying a well-deserved Aperol Spritz! |
