My parents’ last few days in town we stayed local. We explored a little bit of Vicenza (while waiting for the next train the Venice, as we missed the last train before reposo). Then jumped on the train to Venice in the late afternoon for a quick walk through Venice and a boat ride back to the train station through the grand canal.
La Rotunda (below) is said to be the most perfect building ever. It is beautiful, even from a distance. And it’s in my hometown. Amazing.
Venice can be very exhausting (i.e. the time Nick made Nicole and Dustin walk probably ten miles all over it…) And I’m pretty sure I had already run my parents ragged. So we simply walked to San Marco square, then jumped on the grand canal and called it a day. It is so amazing to me that we live close enough to Venice to just spend a half day there on a whim. I’m not sure I could count on both hands the number of times we have been there now. I think my parents enjoyed it, it is a unique experience.
I got them to kiss under the bridge of sighs almost at sunset. (It is said that lovers will be granted eternal love and bliss by doing this, granted I think you’re supposed to be in a boat actually under the bridge, but I think this counts.) This bridge is said to be the most beautiful bridge, which is interesting given it’s history of leading prisoners to their death.
A ride on the grand canal at night is my favorite. You can see inside all of the beautiful villas by the light their glowing Venetian glass chandeliers.
And on their last day with us, we went to our favorite olive oil place and then took an easy hike on the Grenadiers loop up near asiago. This is like a mini version of the 52 tunnels. It also includes tunnels built during WWI, but it’s a much less strenuous hike, and still gorgeous.
And since we were near Asiago we of course had to go see it and buy some delicious cheese! YUM.
My parents were troopers! They dealt with a lot of fun kid issues on this trip (not so much a vacation when you’ve got kiddos along). They were so patient. We really loved having them here and exploring some new territory in Croatia with them. Ciao for now, we’ll miss you!
