That’s an obvious title. There’s water everywhere in Venice. But today we try to get on the water as much as possible to see areas of Venice farther away from our apartment.

I wake up to Oly crying that he can’t find us. Both kids have been amazing as we shuffle them from one place to the next across Europe. It breaks my heart that he is scared. He can’t remember where my bedroom is, and he’s yelling, “Guys, Guys, I can’t find you guys! You’re not in the kitchen!” I guess that’s where I normally am?

I really want to enjoy a coffee on a terrace before the sun heats things us, so we get ready quickly this morning. We walk around this little neighborhood and settle at a cafe by the canal, near the vaparetto (ferry) stop. It’s in the park next to two playgrounds, so the kids take off immediately. It’s perfect. I sip my cappucino and get a few quiet moments with Stefan while the kids tackle both playgrounds.

We take Oliver back home and end up hanging out at the house for a bit because the kids are playing a game they don’t want to stop.

We walk back down to where the ferry boats (vaparettos) stop and take the ferry to Murano. This is where glassblowers have practiced their trade for hundreds of years, and I’ve read it’s a must. The boat ride is calm and beautiful–a very different experience from our ride yesterday. It takes awhile but we finally stop at Murano.

There are a lot of people here. It’s a popular tourist destination. But it’s still really nice and calm. We walk along the narrow canals and admire all the shops slinging glass goods.

Lunch is a priority as it nears 12pm. Stefan finds a good spot via Spot (crazy how much better it is than Yelp in Europe). We sit on the patio at Trattoria busa alla Torre. Stefan gets the best spaghetti with clams ever. My sole is solid, and Lilian is super happy with the mussels in tomato sauce. Lillian loves seafood, so she’s really happy that it’s an essential component of Viennese cuisine.

After lunch we walk toward the museum.

A beautiful church sits opposite the small canal. It’s very pretty, but again, I think we’ve been in too many churches. This one has two sets of human remains, one at the altar. Very strange.

We visit the Glass Museum. It’s not cheap at 10 Euros/person, and it’s pretty disappointing. There’s an interesting introductory video, but I kept feeling like I could watch this on tv or YouTube. The exhibits rooms are full of glass. Unfortunately some are offered up without context. But others are in order of time, so you can see glass made in the 4th century, which is amazing. Overall, I think the museum is a disappointment, but I can appreciate that there isn’t a lot to do in Murano. I wish we’d come on a Tuesday or Thursday when they have free glass blowing demonstrations. That’s the kind of experience I think everyone is looking for in Murano.

The backyard of the museum is a nice place to sit. The kids have fun climbing on a ledge.

We pass by another, smaller church. It’s supposed to have some old dragon bones in it (seriously), but we can’t find them. It’s still really pretty. I love that this town is fairly small, and they still need multiple churches (of the same denomination).

I want to take the boat farther out to Burano, but the stop we’re at doesn’t go there. I’m not sure there’s much in Burano, so we just get on a boat headed back to main Venice. We get off on the other side from where we’ve been before, hoping this way we can walk through the city to the Main Canal and take the boat home from there. At first it’s pretty quiet, much like the east side where we are staying. This just proves to me that there are many calm places you can stay that  are still close to the center.

We walk around the city to a church on our walking tour. We want to hit a few of the spots today and plan to see the rest another day. There’s a small, but impressive church. This one is special because it is made of multi-colored marble. It sits right on the canal.

As we walk south, it gets more busy until we are on a square packed with people. We reward the kids for their good behavior with a popscicle at Gelato di Natura. Stefan and I have some gelato, and it’s very good.

//Stefan note: Venice is busy but really fun.   I thought it would be a gross tourist mess, and parts were, but mostly it was amazing.  You find the less crowded streets, you stay outside the center, you take the boats around, and you understand that it will be a mess and than the mess is than less than expected.  Amazing city, an italian stockholm without the free childcare.

We head down a busy street until we hit the Grand Canal. It’s busy over here. We think taking the ferry down the Grand Canal is an essential experience, so we board a vaparetto south. It’s packed with people and hot. Not the most enjoyable ride. But the view is amazing. These buildings have been here so long and most seem to have been palaces. I wonder if this is a place where a tour is worth it.

Oly falls asleep on Stefan almost immediately. So instead of getting off to see the Peggy Guggenheim museum, we stay on until our stop. Oly wakes up on the walk home, but we could all use a little rest time.

The kids play nicely for awhile and then they get super crazy. Of course now it’s time to go to dinner. They’re so wild, running all around chasing each other. It’s cute, but they have a very hard time settling down once we get to the restaurant, Osteria al Pampo. We get a great table on the patio, and soon there are three families, each with two kids the same ages as ours. The advantage of being here with no vehicles (or even bicycles) is the kids play with a ball in the street next to the restaurant. I love how quiet and easy it is to be a completely pedestrian neighborhood, and I’m dreaming of finding some place like that near NYC. One can dream.

It’s our 6th wedding anniversary. I pictured getting a babysitter and having a fancy night on the town with Stefan, but this night is perfect. Not every celebration has to look the same. Here we are with our two kids and sweet old dog, sitting on a patio in Venice at a local, family-run restaurant. It’s simple but great.

The food is really good. Seriously the best calamari I’ve ever had. The two guys running the place are amazingly attentive, even though we’re sure they don’t speak any English. Food and smiles are international. The weather starts to shift very quickly. We see a lot of lightning in the distance. They want to move us inside, but almost everyone on the patio wants to stay. We all help each other move our tables and chairs tighter under the covering.

Then the rain starts. It’s ridiculously hard, and all the kids find it incredibly exciting. Lillian takes her shoes off (they’re leather and she doesn’t want them to get ruined) and runs out into the rain. Oly follows. They run out in a circle and back under the covering, shrieking with delight. Everyone is laughing.
We end up chatting with the couple nearest to us. They live in Florence, but the mom is from Barcelona. We try to talk in Spanish a little, but I keep speaking Swedish.

It’s an enchanting evening.