5 Cards Dealt to Amsterdam: Venezia

It's been longer than usual since the last entry, so I am again splitting it up into two. Another reason this makes sense is that we had a couple of trips, so one entry each. With my new job, I am having more trouble finding the time to devote to the blog and I'm sure that the writing quality has declined to dismal and often long-winded. As Mr. Cobain said, "All apologies."

I believe that I'm picking up right about the time that I left for a business trip to New Orleans, leaving Mom here to wander the streets in relative peace for a few days. The girls (all 5 including Holli) made the short drive to Delft and came away impressed. I didn't get a detailed run-down but it is obvious that Eliza had fun.

Did I forget to mention that Ron and Clayton flew down to meet me in New Orleans?
This lady was on CC like white on rice when we stopped at Lucy's Surf Shack for dinner Saturday night! I was pretty sure she was a couple of cards short even before we noticed her stroller, which contained a cat!

Mom stuck around until the end of August and then headed home to embark on her next trip to see Justin in Washington. They tried out the new steak place a few yards from our front door just before she left.

Cool lights, huh?

Holli had one of those "work events" that this time around included a helicopter tour of Amsterdam. Looks miserable.

Kerry got to ride shotgun so didn't make it into this one.

Happy Birthday to me, the last in my 30's!

Holli looking very happy after finishing the 10-mile Dam to Dam run (with almost no training)!

Happy Birthday to Lucy (her first in double-digits)!
I couldn't be more proud of the young lady she has become!

Lucy had 5 good friends over for a romp at a trampoline place followed by a sleepover.

Venice (finally)
We had a long weekend at school due to some in-service days, so we took a short trip to Venice. I have always wanted to see this city, but was somewhat concerned that after living in a "canal city" for the last year that some of the charm might be lost on me. Amsterdam doesn't do canals the way Venice does, however; here the canals are part of the scenery while in Venice they are an integral part of everyday life!

Some background on the city... Italy (population ~60 million) is divided into 20 regions (think U.S. states). Venice is the capital city of the region called Veneto (pop. ~5 million). Veneto sits in the northeast part of the country - picture the back of the knee-joint at the top of the boot. Technically I believe that the city of Venice (pop. ~260,000) includes a good portion of area on the mainland in addition to the 118 small islands in the Venetian Lagoon. But practically speaking, when you go to Venice you are heading to the island of Venezia - the historic city. Around 60,000 people live on the island, which has no cars nor roads, other than the bus terminal on the western edge. Transportation is "entirely" by foot or by boat.

People began living on the islands as early as the 10th century BC, but it did not really rise to a powerful city until around the 12th century (AD). Despite being decimated (a Roman term by the way) by the plague multiple times, the city remained vibrant throughout the following centuries but from what I saw appears to be in a severe decline.

The surface level of the island is falling and the sea levels are expected to rise, which will only make the tidal flooding worse. While this may not sound all that bad, consider that a high percentage of the buildings that I saw had their entryway/ first level within 5 or 10 feet of the water level. Water has flooded the streets countless times, and a tidal increase of only about 8 ft will flood half of the island's area. I wonder how much this has factored into the condition of the buildings and infrastructure (both the damage itself and the lack of capital invested in repairs).

Venice has had its ups and down through history, but it is easy to see why it continues to capture the imagination as there is no place like it that I have seen. It is incredibly beautiful and has so much potential - I really hope that it makes another comeback!

The Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute at the entrance of the Grand Canal on our way into town.

I believe the operators told us that the gondolas cost between €40,000 and €100,000.
Incredibly hard to believe since it has no moving parts (nor gold lining).

The view from our hotel - actually quite nice!

Looking at St. Mark's Basilica from the Palazzo Ducale.

You get an idea of how low the islands are from here.
The Church of San Giorgio Maggiore sits on the island of the same name (minus the church part).

We made a day trip to the island of Murano (10 minutes by boat? Very close...) where they pride themselves on their glasswork. Our first stop was at a factory - although I hate to call it that as it implies mass-production. Every piece is made by hand from molten glass on an iron pipe. Including the vase and horse in the photo that were made while we watched.

Unfortunately for me, Murano - like Venice - seems to be made up of about 45% glass shops and 49% carnival mask shops.
On the other hand, a good portion of that remaining 6% consists of places that sell Italian beer.
I found a couple of varieties that were OK (this one was a Sans Souci Export by Birra Moretti - I like the name!)

We did pony up for a gondola ride - I think these two had an OK time.

Lilli with the famous Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in the background.

Like I said, this place is beautiful in a great way. But for me, 2 days would have been plenty!

A couple of random pictures...

Lilli had a class trip to Muiden Castle, where she had another opportunity to see some raptors up-close and personal.

Game day (night over here, but at least we could see this one!)

I got to take a bike ride while Eliza was at a birthday party south of Amstelveen,
and I came across these guys somewhere along the Amstel River. SO FLUFFY!

Baaas-tun
There was some very big family news in October as Holli's cousin Jessica got married! I was VERY sad to miss out, but Holli was able to make it to "Boston" and came back with some great pictures.