Our trip to Venice
Ike's calm nature and straight forward personality, purchased the tickets with such elegance and surety, you would think he knew exactly what he was doing. We were on our way to Venice. All were smiling and ready for the adventure of a lifetime. We didn't need to wait long, until we heard the screeching of the wheels and saw the long green train approach our area. Once we entered the train and gazed around, we noticed how packed it was. The large folded up stroller didn't seem like such a great idea anymore and made it challenging to move around with the narrow rows of seating. My husband handled it with such grace and patience. The isles were a never ending view of people from all different walks of life, not willing to give up a seat or two. As we kept walking, we also had to keep apologizing. The hard working faces peering up at us were looking a bit discouraged, I guess they didn't care for the large American sized stroller that kept smacking whoever it passed. I finally just told Samantha to sit next to the old ladies, James sit next to the old men and Jana follow me to sit next to the young Justin Beiber look alike with his hood pulled up and his iPod in his ears. Ike stood in the isle with the big stroller on his side. Nobody gave a sweet and helpful smile or kind gesture to move over as we stumbled around trying to find someplace for all of us to sit. We got a bunch of frowns and looks making us feel unwelcome. There was a guy from India who spoke to us. He told us quite firmly to, "Tell the people to move the bags. The seats are for people not for bags." He was the only one to actually help us silly Americans who were looking frazzled over the setting. It did bring a sense of security, to some weird degree, to have somebody speak our language and try to help us, but in the same sense, we didn't want to stir up any more negative emotions. When I found my seat and as I was readjusting Isaac on my lap, I looked over and saw a kind, dark eyed gentleman with a round face, and Italian nose give me a little reassuring smile. I tried to give a pleasurable smile back hoping to communicate a little thank you for that much needed reassurance. I was instantly comforted. That gentle smile was a gift from God reminding me of His love during a time that we were vulnerable, unsure, and anxious. I was able to relax knowing my children were in good hands and I had nothing to be afraid of, while they were behind me sitting alone where I couldn't see them.
After a couple of stops, I hear a sweet, little boy's voice pipe, "Mom, you can come up here and sit with us now." My heart gave a little skip, knowing that voice well. I was grateful he had such a kind spirit to want his family close again experiencing this time together. We sat and watched, and enjoyed the scene of the busy train while waiting for our own exciting stop.
We got off the train a little unsure of ourselves again. You see, we couldn't find the sign through the windows of the train that we were in Venice. We had to rely on what time our stop was suppose to be. Thankfully it worked and we got off at the right stop.
It was time for lunch by the time we set foot on the Venice walkway, so we stopped at the first restaurant we saw. It overlooked the famous Venetian water with water taxi's, and Gondola's floating by. How excited we were, to actually walk through the city we have read and heard so much about.
The Clock Tower: We watched the men hitting the bell and heard the ringing tones. Amazing!
Just entering Piazza San Marco or St. Mark's square
The detail of the carvings are amazing.
Waiting in line to go into St. Mark's church
The children's favorite thing to do was to feed the Pigeons.
Ike was trying to get the pigeons to feed from Samantha's hand. We think it was no sleeves or the big bright pink backpack.
