A wonderful place to visit

This photo is posted for a reader who enjoyed the one of the Colosseum on Sunday. It’s taken in an alley in Venice, outside the Hotel San Gallo. Take the train to Venice from anywhere in Italy, then the valporetto (water taxi) to St. Mark’s Square. This old (but air-conditioned) hotel is a short walk from all the main attractions – plan to stay at least two nights. Immediately adjacent is a glass-blowing room, where visitors can watch artists creating vases, model animals, etc. The demonstration is in Italian so we didn’t understand a word, but somehow that added value to the visual and cultural experience. I nearly cried when the craftsman tossed the little glass horse back into the fire after the demonstration – he said it wasn’t good enough to sell to me. When visiting Italy, be aware that bare arms or legs aren’t allowed in churches, so take light slacks and long-sleeved shirts even in summer. Ali and I carried sarongs which we used for both shawls and long skirts over our t-shirts and shorts.

Our family trip to Venice in 2001 came 30 years after my first visit there, on a school-sponsored trip (paid for by parents and babysitting, but still amazing when I consider my kids were fortunate to get a bus ride to Mount St Helens). I’d been planning to return during the second summer of college…. but I met Steve in New Jersey the first summer, and kept going back there instead. And then we had nursing school, medical school, kids, and various other expenses and time-contraints that delayed The Europe Trip, and limited family vacation trips to wilderness camping. Finally, in 2001, we felt our youngest child at 11 was old enough to appreciate and remember the experience, and we had enough saved up to pay for it all.

And Venice was even better than I remembered it.