Venice - Part 1

Ciao Everyone! Last Monday we caught a 7 hour train ride to Venice. Our biggest complaint was that there was only 1 wc (bathroom) working for 3 train cars. It was a long ride but we had some beautiful views of the Alps, waterfalls and lakes. I tried to take some pictures but it is hard with the train moving so fast.

Once we got to Venice, we took the scenic route to our hotel on the island of Lido. It was another hour on the Vaporetto (water bus) thru the Grand Canal. We found a good place to eat and went walking to enjoy the sunset. The Gelato (Italian ice cream) was delicious and reasonably priced.(2 Euros for a good size scoop)

On Tuesday morning, we headed out early to a perfect day of weather. It was probably high 60's or low 70's but that sun was nice and warm. We went straight to the Piazetta San Marco.

We walked around St. Mark's square. This is the front of St. Mark's Basilica.

The mosaics are beautiful.

This mosaic is from the upper part of the main portal. The work that is put into the mosaics is unimaginable. The inside of the Basilica is mainly all mosaics.

We decided to just walk the island. Some streets were very narrow which Jason had fun demonstrating.

I believe this is part of the Church of S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.

This is one of the views from a bridge that crosses the canal. After a while, things start looking the same.

I had to add these next 4 pictures - Lucas made us laugh!

The kids were getting a little bit bored so we got on a gondola. I don't think you can go to Venice without experiencing a gondola ride. This is the Bridge of Sighs. They hide the construction work behind these huge tarps with advertising on them. There was quite a bit on construction going on.

The kids did finally perk up.

Devin snapped a good picture of the gondolier. He hardly talked and he definately didn't sing.

Some of the gondolas are definately more fancy than others.

After the ride we headed to a different part of the island - more residential. Kate and I were on a mission to find a bathroom. The boys could not keep up. We followed the signs but after a long trek, we had no luck.

So we went to a nice restaurant right along the grand canal and had a nice early dinner. The bathrooms were the nicest we had seen and there were actual toilets that were at least 1 1/2 feet off the ground and no water shooting at you when you stepped away. We chose very well to end our day.

I need to go have a French lesson but I'll post again later, so check back soon!

Spring Color

We finally remembered to take the camera with us when we went for our walk to the lake. I noticed a bird go into the house but never saw one come out. There are quite a few of these bird houses in the park. I'm not sure if the city put them up or if it was a private individual.
The tulip beds were roped off all winter. I remember when they were planting all those bulbs. It took quite a few days to plant all those bulbs.

They are so beautiful and it adds such color to the park.

On the other side they hand planted poppies, pansies and I don't know what else.

The magnolia trees are in full bloom.

My Easter bread turned out so pretty that Jason took a picture of that too! I shaped it the French way like they make their Tresse bread. It was so delicious!!! I know I made Nona proud.

Check back in tomorrow, I will be posting our pictures from Venice!

Joyeuse Paques!

Happy Easter! Katelyn and I had gone to have lunch with Jason and when we returned there was a beautiful box at our front door. The owners of the building left us a nice thank you gift for being patient with the construction work that has been taking place through out the building since we moved in.

Inside was a half of a chocolate egg that was filled with various chocolates from our favorite chocolate store - Walder. Now we know for the next time what everything tastes like. I think we have a sample of every single piece of candy they make. It's been fun tasting the diffent flavors. However, we sure have had lots of chocolate in our house this past week. I think we need a vacation to Venice, Italy.

Lucas's Birthday

We had another birthday this week! Lucas has turned 11. He always enjoys lighting the big candles for his birthday. He doesn't like the wax from the little ones getting on his cake.

I think we have all had our fill of chocolate cake with chocolate mousse frosting. Lucas made sure he got every last bite of icing.

Saturday Hike to Saut de Broc

Our friend Stanton had a dream and it was to hike to this bridge - Saut de Broc. This bridge is on "les Gorges de l'Areuse". It sounded like fun and we joined him. (I copied this picture from a swiss web page, take a close look at the water.)

We took a 20 minute train ride to the town (village) of Norique. We were ready to go.We immediately started following the river. It was flowing fast and loud!

We had a nice paved path for a good portion of the trail. It made it nice for the stroller. The building in the picture is one of the power plants we saw along the way.

There was definately a lot of snow in our area this year.

I was a little nervous in the areas where there wasn't a railing or wall of some sort. The kids were real good about not getting too close.

This was as close as I was willing for them to get. That water was so powerful but it made for a great backdrop.

There were some beautiful views.

I think Katelyn held her breath the whole way across this bridge.

Maggie was just as terrified.

After we crossed the bridge, we had some steps and a narrow catwalk to go down. Kate wasn't thrilled about that part either.

This picture taken from the bridge shows the trail on the left.

We made it to the bridge.

This is a good picture of the bridge and notice the water. All white rapids. The river gets really narrow.
The kids just loved this vertical, spillway. It was running fast. The kids would put something in there and have someone at the bottom yell when it came out.

The boys named it Switzerland's "Screamer" like the one at the water park in El Paso. They were pretending that they were going down.

Payton did really well. However, he started to walk a little bit slower so Jason gave him a ride.

To make things even more exciting and fun, the kids found a geocache along the way. There were actually 2 coins in there that the boys have to put in a different geocache somewhere. One was from Finland.

We took one more group shot after resting for a while.

Towards the end we had a nice long staircase to go down. Jason carried Kate and I carried the stroller. It wasn't too bad. I wonder how long those steps have been there. They did a nice job.

A pretty picture looking up stream.

The boys had a good time. Payton loves to hang out with them. It's a great picture. Thanks Stanton.

Some more great pictures from Stanton. You need to go to his blog and check out what he had to say about the hike. We are making him our official tour guide. He also finds some funny things about Switzerland. Go to www.familydetaylor.blogspot.com.