Aaah...Venice

This was the year for the twelve-year-old trip of my third child, Valentine, the one with the most Italian name, and fittingly, she had her heart set on Venice. To Venice we went. There is nowhere quite like the very place you have dreamed of visiting and are now staying, especially if it happens to be a place like Venezia.

Everywhere you turn, there is beauty; meticulously sculptured details on palazzos and churches, flowers in balconies (I'll admit to my love affair with balconies), canals spanned with the sweetest little bridges, candy-striped mooring poles, and water, water everywhere.

 Doges' Palace

 

San Marco's Plaza

Valentine was constantly breathless with excitement and delight...and I was right behind her. This opportunity to travel with just one little girl, before the turning point in her life when she will no longer be a little girl, was precious.

 San Marco Basillica

It was a strictly budgeted trip, but it made us stick to the essentials; not so hard in Venice! Our hotel was a 4th floor walk-up; three mini-flights of steps for every floor. Excellent exercise. The bathrooms were shared ones down the hall; the morning dash without being seen by neighbors that I performed always made Valentine laugh. The hotel was perfectly clean and delightful; our tiny room had its own balcony with a table and chairs, and yes, plants in planters too. (Someday they might even bloom into flowers, in another season, perhaps.) The twin beds cracked up Valentine every time we entered the room, I guess because they were practically one bed without much space to make them two, she took the photos:

A million more pictures tomorrow...or at least a dozen. Arrivederci.