Europe 2011: Venice to Verona

After a good and much needed sleep, we woke up and ate breakfast in the hotel. All the hotels on this trip served amazing breakfasts. There was everything you could think of and more! The kids (and some of the adults) discovered that the chocolate croissants were especially good, so every morning the hunt was on to locate the tasty pastries and compare them to what was eaten the day before. Not a bad job, I must say.

Cynthia, our guide.

When breakfast was over, we all gathered in the lobby of the hotel and began our walk over to St. Mark's Square to meet Cynthia (our local guide) for a tour of Doge's Palace. As you can probably guess, the history and stories of every building and piece of architecture was overwhelming. So much of what one has learned in school was right before our very eyes. It was mind-boggling for me to think that all these great figures in history had walked through doorways and corridors that we were parading through at that very moment. Especially cool, was walking across the bridge that Casanova reportedly walked over on his way to his prison cell which was located below the floor of Doge's Palace. It's been named "The Bridge of Sighs" because as Casanova was led across the bridge to be locked away for months, all the women sighed with their shared disappointment!

Casanova's view on his way to prison!

Casanova's Prison Cell

After touring the Palace, we walked over to visit the Murano Glass Factory. Children and adults alike were stunned with the skill of the craftsman who, before their very eyes and in only a matter of seconds, created an intricate glass statue.

Everyone had their cameras trained on the glassmaker!

After the glass making demonstration and a few minutes to tour and shop in the factory, we walked back to St. Mark's Square where we waited for some water taxi's to take us to the mainland. Even transportation was a treat in Venice! The private boats that Stefania had arranged to pick us up were spacious, plush and fast. The kids thoroughly loved having the choice between the open air seating or the comfy seats of the cabin--while the adults loved seeing some of Venice's sights from the water!

Inside the boat's cabin.

View of St. Mark's Square from the water.

Once on the mainland, we finally laid eyes on the coach Mom & Dad had reserved for us to drive through the various regions of Italy--and it was HUGE! I'm going to post a picture out of order (which I don't usually do), but I feel like I need to so you can see that I am not exaggerating. So...

Okay, so once we all decided where to sit on this colossal vehicle, our friendly, Italian bus driver (a.k.a. gladiator) pointed us in the direction of Verona. After passing through some lush country, we pulled up to Verona's city walls. Our gladiator navigated his way through the surprisingly modern city and dropped us off close to the Colosseum. From there, we set-off on foot to Juliet's home and her infamous balcony. (I must mention here that my mom, Sue, pretty severely injured her foot at this juncture. However, she didn't let that stop her and even though this was the very beginning of our trip, she soldiered on without complaining to any of her children once! I wish I was made a little more like her!)

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene...

Juliet's balcony.

Swope Family (minus my sweet sister) on Juliet's balcony.

After touring Juliet's house (and writing letters to Juliet), we were able to spend a little bit of time in the city of Verona. I loved it! I really did. I didn't think that anything was going to compare to Venice, but I found Verona to be a clean, young, modern, and enchanting city. So, of course, it's now been added to my list of places of where I'd like to live.

On our way out of the city, we stopped for a quick visit at the Basilica of San Zeno Maggiore which was built for Verona's patron saint, St. Zeno. Historically, it is believed that this was the place where Romeo and Juliet married.

Doors to Basilica--depictions from the
life of St. Zeno.

My favorite painting. Notice that there are nails embedded
on the canvas!

Inside--the level below the altar is where St. Zeno's body
is encased. He was the first bishop of Verona.

Relaxing in the Basilica's Courtyard.

We closed down the basilica and boarded the coach for our ride back to Venice. Upon our return to Venice, we headed straight to dinner at a quaint, quintessential Italian restaurant. As usual, there was more food, pasta and wine then we knew what to do with--but there was also some of the best strawberry gelato ever! In fact, no where else for the rest our travels in Italy did another place ever beat the scrumptious strawberry gelato as was served in this Venice bistro.

Anticipating dinner!

The cousin table!

With a full day behind us, we all walked back to our hotel completely content. The next day promised to be as busy and as exciting as the last as we were going to Ferrara and then onto to Florence. La Vita e Bella!

TO BE CONTINUED...