Venice by T

Once everyone woke up Daddy, H, and I headed for the restaurant car. On the way we stopped at Gram and Papa's "room" on the train. They told us about their sleep. It was a lot better than all of those in our car, but that might have been because their bed included an extra mattress. H stayed and chatted with them while Daddy and I headed to order water from the restaurant car. I ordered six waters in Italian, but the lady only gave me one. Then I said "sei" and she gave us them but spoke to us in English, she also rolled her eyes at me. Anyway, we headed back to Gram and Papa's car, picked up H, and went back to our car. Soon our stop arrived and we were in Venice!! We got off the train and lugged our luggage to the boats (the equivalent of buses or metros in Venice). Gram got the tickets and we were off. Well not really because the lines were long, but you get my point.

Our next stop in Venice was the place we were staying. Upon our arrival, we met up with Angelita and she told us in English that our rooms would be ready in fifteeen minutes but that we could go up to put our junk down. We all changed and Daddy took a shower but then we were off. Our first stop on the tour of Venice was San Marco square, and that was when we were bombarded with pigeons. We all dislike pigeons, but it seems that all the pigeons like Mommy because she kept getting peed on. Our second stop was San Marco Basilica. We all went in without waiting in the lines, thanks to a hint from Rick Steves, and stopped to look at the mosaics on the ceiling in awe. While Gram and Papa sat down, Mommy, Daddy, H, and I went into the treasury. Besides all of the wonderful gold, silver, gems, and stones, there were also displays of bones and brains of the saints. At first Daddy, Mommy, H and I didn't know they were bones but then we saw the hand, all shriveled and dry, and we then saw that the entire room consisted of containers of bones. We left the treasury and met up with Gram and Papa and Mommy joined them to wait for us while Daddy, H, and I climbed to the top of the basilica and saw the view below -- tons of pigeons, some alive some dead, and beyond that the waterways of Venice. We took pictures of Gram, Mommy, and Papa and they took pictures of us.

Once together again, we headed for the Peggy Guggenheim collection. Daddy, H and I walked in and I spoke Italian for the tickets. I asked for 4 adults and two students. Then the lady asked what age are the students and I said 12. Then she spoke English to make sure she understood, and I left. Daddy told me that she said that I spoke very good Italian and so she handed him an Italian Peggy Guggenheim book for me.

The Peggy Guggenheim collection was pretty and there was quite a variety of interesting pieces of art. Some famous artists in the collection were: Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miro, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Piet Mondrian and Max Ernst. After walking through the collection, we moved to another section with modern art. Some of these works included: animal fat with felt, a sled made out of felt and wood, and a video with a man lowering himself into petroleum jelly. More specifics on the video: this sman filmed it himself; he had himself strapped to the ceiling by leather; he was naked and he (literally) lowered himself into petroleum jelly. Maybe this work of art will be like Picasso's or Monet's and become famous at some time but I doubt that everyone will think that it's wonderful and should be put in the Louvre.

After we left the Peggy Guggenheim museum we took a boat to a restaurant Rick Steves recommended. It was like fast food but Italian style. I asked for pasta marinara. Mommy got the same thing. H got ravioli and Daddy got ravioli and pasta with white sauce. After we finished, we went to find gelato. We walked around Venice and eventually found a place for gelato. Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as we had hoped. Mommy had limone. So did I. H had strawberry and chocolate. Gram had limone. Papa had mixed berry and Daddy had mixed and chocolate.

We went back to our apartment and after some conversation about plans for the next few days, we all went to bed and fell asleep in an instant.