Day 36: Venice

I have died and gone to heaven.  This place is incredible.  We are in glorious Venezia and I am so excited to be here.  Its like a fairytale and I cant stop squealing with excitement.  It was a busy day as we had to deliver the car back to Venice Airport on the way here.  It seemed to take a lot longer than planned, but the exit from the car was all very easy.  Venice is stinking hot. I will go as far as to say that its hotter than Rome, and Rome was the hottest I can remember feeling for a long time. We came by boat from the airport via a water ferry which was the worst experience of my life, largely because of the heat.  A few ladies on board overheated, and one in particular looked very unwell as they tried to get some sugar and fluids into her. There was no ventilation inside the boat and it was like we were sitting in a hot house for about 90 minutes. The sweat was pouring from all of us and poor Zachie had to strip down because he wasn't coping too well.  We were thankful to finally reach our ferry stop and begin the search for our accommodation, which of course went pear shaped very quickly.  I had a few cranky pants moments after dragging our luggage up and down bridges in the wrong direction. I was navigating so I had no one to blame.  Anyway, it was well worth it when we finally arrived at our hotel.  We have saved the best til last and are staying in a beautiful place with views of the water, gorgeous drapery adorning the windows, the obligatory marble bathroom and guilded bedheads.  Its so Venetian, and best of all, it has air conditioning in every room.  We regrouped and headed out for a walk and an early dinner.  Rick found a fabulous spot on Trip Advisor and we dinned on Seafood risotto. It was only 7.30 pm when we finished so we strolled through the alleys and over the bridges and made our way to San Marco's Square.  I felt very emotional being there and had a few teary moments (when I wasn't being harassed by Bangladeshi's trying to sell me selfie sticks or bird seed to feed the revolting pigeons).  This place is just incredible and it was such a nice time of the day to be there, not too crowded and out of the blazing sun.  We sat, then walked and watched the gondola's and boats float by.  It was beautiful and everything I imagined it to be.  The kids loved it and plan to build a Lego Venice as soon as we arrive home in Australia.  I think we all have a new favourite in Italy and I am very excited about seeing more tomorrow.