We arrived late last night in Venice. Hands down the coolest arrival to any city I have ever traveled to. Despite missing our connecting flight in Paris resulting in a three hour delay, when we landed in Venice and hopped on the orange line water shuttle to our hotel we were all blown away. Where else to you get shuttled from the airport to your hotel via boat?! Amazing!

We packed it in today! Started with a quick walk to the grocery store to stock our apartment with some breakfast food and staples. After breakfast, we set out roaming the city. Our journey led us to San Marco square where my 5 year old could’ve chased pigeons for hours. From San Marco, we purchased 48 hour water taxi passes and hopped on the #2 line through the grand canal to the Rialto bridge. The kids loved the public water taxi – loved that they didn’t have to walk and I think it really clicked for them that boat is the method of transport in Venice.

The Rialto area was very crowded and we didn’t spend much time there. We meandered back towards our apartment (near Giglio station) and found a terrific pizzeria for lunch. Next stop, quick naps at our apartment!

After lunch we splurged on a gondola ride. Expensive, but worth it. The kids really loved it as did I.

Next we hopped on a Vaporetto boat that for 2 euro takes you from one side of the grand canal to the other. We meandered through the Dorsoduro district. Very nice to get away from all the people and really feel like we had Venice all to ourselves.

By 7pm I bought a bottle of wine and we headed back to our apartment for left over pizza from lunch on our beautiful terrazzo! What a day! Kids were exhausted and asleep by 9:00! Looking forward to Murano and Burano tomorrow.