Adventures in Venice Continue

Wednesday, April 20th.  Another beautiful, sunny day greeted us as we left our apartment Wednesday morning.  There are not many "big" sights to see in Venice, we had done both of the main sights the day before, so Wednesday we decided to enjoy walking around and discovering new parts of Venice, away from St. Mark's square.  Our trusty old guide (Rick Steves) suggested we hit the fish market early in the morning.  Most restaurants in Venice serve seafood and this market is where they come each morning to purchase their fish for the day.  The boys found it very interesting.  We saw eels, squid, octopus, salmon, giant tuna, and lots of shrimp and crab.  I'm not a huge seafood lover but it really was neat to see the fresh catch of the day laid out.

Taking the vaporetto over to the fish market.

The boys wanted to ride on a gondola but we had to say no for two reasons.  One, they are really pricey.  Two, I couldn't imagine Julian sitting for 45 minutes in a boat that might tip over if the boys got too wild.

At the fish market.

The boys enjoying fresh strawberries from the market.

After the market we headed over to the Frari Church.  This Franciscan church is the home to many beautiful Renaissance paintings by Titian.  The most dramatic being the painting behind the high altar, The Assumption of Mary.

Titian's The Assumption of Mary.

We explored around a bit more and found yummy gelato for our hot and tired boys.  Here the twins are taking a rest from all the walking.

After lunch we decided it was such a nice day we should head over to the beach again.  The boys were very excited to head back over to the ocean.  We tried a different beach this time, a lot more crowded but with better sand.  The boys built a sand castle, Julian collected and then threw back into the water all the seaweed he found, Oma's purse got stolen...wait a second, that's terrible!  So our trip to Venice wasn't all sunshine and gelato.  Oma put her purse inside Hyrum's backpack and someone came by and swiped the backpack while we were playing in the waves.  Luckily she didn't loose her passport or credit cards, which she had left at the apartment.  Still a bummer, but it could have been much worse!

Townsend getting warm on the sand.

Julian loving the waves.

Emerson by the sandcastle that he, Townsend and Daddy built.  Emerson collected all the seashells and placed them to decorate the castle.

On our way home from the beach, all tired and ready for bed.

For our last night in Venice Hyrum and I decided to take a walk over to St. Mark's square.  There are cafes on the square that have musicians playing classical music outside.  It was interesting to stand in the middle of the square and hear multiple concerts coming from different sides of the square.