Trip to Venice! Buon Viaggio!

At the library Harrison checked out "Olivia goes to Venice" by Ian Falconer. Do you know Olivia? She's a very energetic, precocious, strong-willed little pig. On her latest adventure she traveled to that many-canal'd city. It was a cute story and both boys loved it.

The next day Harrison said, "Guess what, Mom. Dad told me you've been to Venus!"

No my child, it only seems that way.

I've not traveled outside Earth's orbit, but I have been to Italy.

The kids have a 4-day weekend in honor of Nevada Day, and Bryce grandly offered to take us to the City of Lights, the City of Water--to Venice.

But instead of Venice, Italy (which would be too crowded this time of year with Carnivale anyway)--we went to the Venetian in Las Vegas. As The King would say after a pizza Margherita, Viva il Venezia!

Two things the boys wanted to do were ride in a gondola and eat gelato. Everyone was cool with that.

The kids were fascinated by watching the gondoliers.

It was nice to have Miss Bella along for Mary. Living in a world of brothers, she likes to bring a substitute sister along whenever she can!

 The gondolier told the kids to keep their hands in the boat. He jokingly said he'd count their fingers at the end to make sure they hadn't lost any. I sat by Cam, who was very serious and solemn about the threat of losing a digit.

Our gondolier had an Italian accent and he was a lot of fun! He belted out "Santa Lucia" pretty convincingly.

Tyce and the girls had their own gondola with a female gondolier.

At the end of the ride she held her hand out to Tyce first and he stood up. She said, "You failed! Ladies first!" and the other gondoliers teased, "Oh man, you got owned."

The shops were decorated so gorgeously for fall.

The picture doesn't do it justice but these vines were breathtaking.

We traveled by foot to the Piazza San Marco. It looked quite authentic except it was way too clean, way too small, and way too restauranty. But the most telling thing of all--no pigeons. (And thank goodness for that.)

We got there just in time to watch an opera buffa, which I loved. I am serious...I want to be a street performer. Hello, look at those costumes! And look at that teeny stage! Who wouldn't want to hang out with jugglers and stilt-walkers while singing your heart out?

The kids got gelato during the show: their choices were, starting with Cam: spumoni, blood orange (my fave), spumoni again, cherry (super delish), and mint chocolate chip.

Mary and Bella paid a buck and posed with the living statue! During this photo Cameron yelled, "I'm going to steal your $20!" to see if he could spur the statue into motion. (Scaring the statue: FAIL. Humiliating the parent: WIN.)

When I'm a street performer, this will be my business casual.

Pumpkin carvers attracted huge crowds. Their work was amazing.

Ugh, how creepy and talented is that?

The moving sidewalks through Madame Tussaud's wax museum--the girls just wanted to ride.

Poor Bella, she almost lost her head. Mwahahaha.

Bella took this gem of a picture.

Later we ate at the Grand Lux Cafe. The kids got to play with Wikki Stix, the greatest waiting-for-dinner activity ever created.

So it was a nice quick trip. We would have loved to have stayed, but as I learned in my own travels to Lo Stivale ("the boot") so many years ago...you can leave Venice but a little piece of Venice will always stay with you!