I'm back, in one piece, from Italy. That's a good thing - considering the brave venture - Italy with kids ages 2 and 5. A last minute plan is the only way it could have happened, because if I'd reasoned, I would have given up on it. So how was it, you wonder? Nothing short of spectacular, AND totally doable with kids.
The itinerary - fly into Venice, spend 2 nights there, then drive to Tuscany, with 4 nights in a Tuscan farmhouse, and drop off the car in Rome, with a stay for 3 nights.
The trip planning - I did not use a travel agent, though I would ask Costco or AAA next time for a quote. I didn't know any other agent. Air France was offering package deals to Italy, but I thought the hotels were a bit far, and wasnt sure if they would charge my kids for the price of the package (which would be a waste as they were mostly free in hotels). I found and tracked flights at www.yapta.com, and checked reviews on www.tripadvisor.com. I wanted to live in the city center (Venice and Rome), so I didnt need to take too much public transport, and we lived in apartments wherever available, so I could have the convenience of a fridge and such.
We packed light, which was a huge advantage - We only had one suitcase, one carry on (to keep in the flight in case our bags were lost by the airline), and 2 backpacks... and 2 strollers. Which was pretty good for 10 days, I'd say. We totally didn't use the swim stuff, and could have used extra jackets/warm clothes. I should have carried one more tour book, as Fodor's guide book on Italy was just average.
Trip prep for kids - reading children's books on Ancient Rome (my favorite was
See Inside Ancient Rome by Katie Daynes) and the Magic Tree house series on Leonardo da Vinci (Monday with a Mad Genius) and Venice (Carnival at Candlelight).
I'm based in California, so it was a long flight on Air France to Venice. We had the middle four seats, so kids could stretch a bit and sleep on the flight. Rest of the time they were entertained by cards, doodles and stories. The flight to Paris did not have individual screens (but the return did, thankfully). We did run into an issue with the stroller check-in at the gate. It turns out that Air France sends the stroller straight to the final destination. We spent a lot of time at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris before figuring that out. Another note - there is an HSBC ATM at this airport which has a better exchange rate than the airports in Venice. We didnt stop as we were short on time, but wish we had.
Day 1: At Venice, after picking up the bags, we exited the airport and saw the Water Taxi booth. Cost to hotel San Zulian, which is inside a narrow waterway off the grand canal, was E110, versus E100 for drop off on the canal. We went for the "drop closest to doorstep" but it was quite a waste as you'll see.
Like a good tourist, I saw Rick Steve's Venice episode before I left. He said - You'll get lost in Venice, and I thought - not me, I'm good at directions. Well, I'm humbled. The maps hardly make sense, and the street names are rarely didplayed. With all the waterways, and walkways through buildings, we ended up walking for an hour before finding the hotel. That was our least fun part of Venice, but did help us get over the jetlag.
The hotel was lovely, small but efficient, with modern fixtures, free breakfast in bed and an elevator! It was centrally located, right next to St. Mark's Piazza, which is why we booked it. Once we, ahem, understood the directions, it was quite convenient.
Our first stop was to an ATM. I had checked that Bank Of America has an affiliation with BNL Italia, so transactions have no fees. I'd mapped out the location (ahem, again) and we eventually found it. By now, we had seen most of our neighborhood and we went to a street near our house for dinner. Being a tourist hub, with waiters beckoning people, we gave in and went to one. We took a seat in the patio, with an outdoor heater and ate really bad food. That pasta was the blandest I've eaten. And we were in Italy! The hotel was San Tommaso and we should have checked the reviews...
We were on a trip to Italy, so we were prepared with money belts, except, we didn't realize how uncomfortable they are. So, on our first night, while removing cash, my husband dropped his credit card. Of course, we didn't find it, and now we only had one backup card, which we had to keep safe for the upcoming car rental. Ah, such adventure! We had to re-learn the art of carrying cash around.
Day 2: We started the day walking to St. Mark's square, and saw Doge's Palace. The most fascinating part for the 5 year old boy was the larger than life sword. For me, it was the Golden Staircase, and the rooms where the king held court. The celings were so beautiful! Cranky kids prevented us from checking out the prison.
We ate lunch at an open air restaurant in a piazza that we chanced upon on our way to Rialto bridge. It had amazing bruschetta with cherry tomatoes, and spinach cannelloni in tomato-alfredo sauce. Soon after, but of course after leaving the restaurant, my son needed to rush to a restroom! We learnt that the huge WC signs around lead to paid, but clean, public rest rooms. From there we took the water bus (vaporetti) number 1 (which stops everywhere in the Grand Canal), and got familiar with the Piazzale Roma stop where we would be renting a car from. We then decided to go to Murano, even though it was 4:30 and the boat ride was long. By the time we reached, the factories were closed, and it was time to return. Dinner that night was at a pizzeria under the Rialto bridge where I had an exhorbitant caprese salad of E17 because they didn't have any vegetarian options except pizza. I did not realize till later that the other side of Rialto had a ton of restaurants which were less posh but served better food with more options. Food was terrible in Venice, and I would suggest carrying a list of good restaurants (that you can try if you don't get lost). I found this amazing site (after I came back, sigh) - http://wikitravel.org/en/Venice
Day 3 - We checked out in the morning after breakfast but left the bags behind at the hotel. We saw St. Mark's basilica, shopped for souvenirs, and then took Vaporetti #2 to Piazzale Roma for the car rental. That was an awesome water bus - we should have taken that instead of 1 the previous times...
The car rental office (Hertz) was close, but at 1pm when we reached, all the staff disappeared for 45 minutes - probably to lunch, leaving us in the cold. Once back they were efficient, and we got a "Vehicle Type: (D) Ford Focus or similar" manual transmission car. We managed to fit 2 bags in the hatchback, and the 2 backpacks and strollers were in the backseat.
Next stop - Tuscany, in the next part...
Helpful Resources:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Venice - should have found this before the trip.
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