Venice with the Girls

In early November I headed to Venice for a little girl's getaway. I think it was a wise decision to leave the kids at home, it's not the most stroller friendly city. What a unique and marvelous city it is though. I give tons of credit to the local Venetians because while it is breath-taking it is also a lot of effort to live there. Between the flooding and garbage disposal, there are plenty of unique challenges the locals face.

Our first stop was to a small town outside of Venice called Nove for a little pottery shopping. They are known for their beautiful ceramic and pottery pieces, but we also found a few interesting pieces as well...

After stocking up on pottery, we continued on to Venice. The best way to see Venice is by boat, so we were thrilled when our hotel sent a wooden boat to pick us up.

 Maria and I on the boat. 

Jill admiring the view.

The Grand Canal

This is a picture of our hotel. It was stunning inside and out. 

 Hotel Palazzo Stern

And the inside...

We had some time before our dinner reservation so we decided to visit the hot tub on the roof for a night-time view of the city. It was raining, but we barely noticed. 

True to form, Rick Steves' food recommendations did not disappoint. We had a fantastic dinner the first night but were eager to crash after a very early morning and long day. The next day, we headed out for some sightseeing. 

Where George and Amal were married. 

We noticed that everyone we saw was wearing rain boots, yet it was not raining. When we reached St. Mark's Square, we realized why, the entire square was flooded. We happened to be visiting at a time of year with the highest water level, and the flooding even went inside the Basilica. There were risers set up to walk on, but we bought a pair of fancy disposal boots and just waded through the water.

 Our pink rain boots! 

 

For our last night we signed up for a Bar Crawl of Venice. Our tour guide, Alessandro, was so informative and took us to some of the most historical bars (and also well hidden) in Venice to taste some of the local wine and food. We met a great group of other American tourists and we went out with a bang! 

 

 Loved the pots hanging from the ceiling at this place. 

 We love Alessandro! 

 Rialto Bridge at night. 

 Some of the fun ladies we met. 

What a quick, but remarkable visit. Ciao Venice! 

Delft and Scheveningen

I realized this post is a bit out of order, but in early October we took a day-trip to the quaint town of Delft. Delft is best known for it's blue and white porcelain, but this peaceful Dutch town has so much more to offer. We enjoyed wandering along the canals and visiting the New Church where Dutch ruler William I of Orange is buried.  

  I love that you can sit and eat your sandwich right on the canal. 

 The New Church

From Delft we took the tram through The Hague to reach the "Dutch Coney Island." The story goes that during WWII Dutch Soldiers would ask visitors to pronounce Scheveningen to weed out potential German spies. We happened to catch one of the last sunny days of the season and the kids enjoyed playing in the water and riding the carousel. 

 When in Europe....

Terschelling with Auntie Lindsay

I have been seriously behind on my blogging, but it's time to get caught up. This past October we were thrilled to have Auntie Lindsay come to visit, especially considering the fact that she was still recovering from hip surgery. But in true Lindsay fashion, she flew across the ocean without complaint to spend the week playing with her niece and nephew.

The highlight of the trip was taking Lindsay to the Dutch Island, Terschelling, in the North Sea. We had been there over the summer and knew she would love it, so she and I went back with the kids. Here are a few pictures from the ferry ride over:

The first night we had an excellent fondue dinner at one of our favorite restaurants on the island. They have a special play area for the kids that Jake remembered and Casey was happy to lay under the table hoping she might get to sample the delicious food as well.

I still dream about that chocolate dessert.

The next day we took a stroll on the beach. It was slightly windy, but still beautiful. 

The day after we got back from Terschelling we visited one of our favorite little German towns, Monschau, where we take all of our visitors. The half-timbered houses and the stream running through the town make a great backdrop. 

Lindsay's last night with us happened to be Halloween and she was a great sport and tagged along for "Trick or Treating"with Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. 

We were so sad to say goodbye after such a fun week, but it was a lot easier knowing we would see Auntie Lindsay again in just a few weeks. Thanks for coming to play with us Auntie! 

Linds and Jake in Maastricht.