4th September - VENICE

VENICE 4/9/10       (TOMS 9TH BIRTHDAY)

Weather: Nice and Sunny - 26 degrees

Awoke after a good nights sleep.  Mum and Dad came down to our room to get us ready for breakfast which was on the 2nd floor of the Monastery.  We sat on long tables with the other guests.  We had cornflakes with honey, coffee, hot chocolate, yoghurt, bread rolls with jam.  Today we walked down to Arsenal to the Naval Museum, on the Grand Canal as we walked along the corso there were 3 huge privately owned cruisers. Tatoosh was gigantic, it had four levels with a sailing boat stored on one side, a speed boat on the top and several jet skis on the back (amazing) check out the photos. 

The museum was good and had heaps of model boats, real canons and canon balls from the 16th century etc.  After this we caught the Vaporetta up to Rialto Bridge as we hadn’t taken any photos of the bridge yet.  We were lucky enough to sit outside and get a great view of the grand canal and all the beautiful hotels and heaps of boats.  Rialto Bridge was packed with people and on either side of the bridge were shops full of Murano Glass.  Down the bottom of the steps we walked along the market stalls which sold T-Shirts, glass, bags etc,  I bought a black cap and tom purchased some glass snails and a glass clown for his birthday, then made our way around to the Rialto Fresh Food Markets.  I brought a huge nectarine.  There was fruit and vegies, meat shops, bread, lots of fish.  We  needed another bag to put our shoes and stuff in so we purchased a large orange bag with wheels.

Hungry again and as it was Toms birthday we stopped to have lunch on the Grand Canal in a lovely restaurant full of flowers.  Tom had Fried Calamari, so did dad.  Mum and Luke had  Spaghetti Marinara and I had Ravioli with cream and Tomato.  We ordered a couple of salads.  Mum and Dad had a Gin and Tonic and we had water and soft drink.  For dessert Luke and I had chocolate mousse and Tom had Strawberry Mousse.  Mum and Dad had a cappucino.  Lunch was Euro 198 which included a 12 % tax.

We walked back to the bridge to try and find an internet stick but the vodafone store had sold out so we walked back through Rialto, and looked in all the shops and made our way back to the Monastery for a good rest.  I played games on my computer and the boys played their ds for awhile.  Mum and Dad had a snooze (mum was snoring!) as we were all tired from walking.  We changed for the night and walked down to St Marco.  Mum and Dad purchased a great Murano glass piece and organised to have it shipped back home.  Mum bought a hand bag and some jewellery. We took a Gondola ride around the canals, where we had a good view of all the houses, churches etc from water level.  There are always heaps of gondolas making their way around the canals.  It was great, Tom said it was his best birthday ever.  The Gondola made its way back to San marco and Dad and I wanted to get to the internet shop before it closed so we headed for Rialto.  We didn’t realise it was such a long walk (we took the long way) and the shop was closed when we got there!!!  Mum, Luke and Tom met us on Rialto Bridge and we headed in the direction of home and to stop and have something to eat for dinner.  Luke and I had a huge chicken kebab and went back to the Monastery to eat it and get changed and ready for bed.  Mum, Dad and Tom went to “Robertos” Pizzeria in honor of Pop for Pizza and Pasta.  They came back and tucked us into bed.

We all slept well, as we were very tired!!