Day 14: Last Day in Venice

We woke up and layed in bed for quite a bit today. We were all a bit ready to go home and sleep in our own beds. After breakfast, we went on a gondola ride. It was 70 euro which is pretty nuts but it's one of those things we had to do while there. Since it wasn't going to be a scene of romance with the girls, we went during the day to save 20 euro- prices go up after about 7:30pm. It was nice and relaxing, winding through the little canals and ducking under bridges. I can imagine doing this some day with my hubby by moonlight with a bottle of wine. Ellie started flipping out after 30 minutes and was pulling on the rope on the side of the gondola and broke off the little statue/rope holder 'thing.' great!

handome hubby

pardon the hideous pacifier. she is still stuck on that thing to sleep and it was well passed nap time at this point in the day

people watching the gondolas down below

We ate lunch at a chinese place about a block from San Marco's. We needed something different. It was pretty good food! We got there just before two huge chinese tour groups showed up so we never saw our waiter again or got drinks but I do recommend it normally if you want something other than italian for a change of pace. It's also cheap! Our bill was 26 euro for 2 entrees, an app, and a table charge.

We had another nap afternoon at the hotel. This is a must if you want to keep small kids up to eat 8:30pm dinners! We saw the clouds coming in so we scooted over to the waterfront and bought an impressionistic oil painting of gondolas @ sunset from a man there. Paintings range from 10 euro to 300 euro, watercolor to oil ~ a cool souvenir! We had dinner, pizzas, at an outdoor place and went for gelato. It was a nice end to Venice.

The painting we bought was a canvas which we rolled into a tube and just framed ourselves. The mask next to it is one that D brought back from Africa. (there is another one on the other side.. which I realize have nothing to do with each other but we're moving in 6 months so that's what I have to work with. ;) )

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Day 15 we went and got our minivan and drove down to Naples. I think it took 7 hours but I can't remember. We spent 2 nights there as we got to Naples fairly late in the evening. Naples itself is extremely dirty and covered in garbage everywhere. In August everything is closed and we pretty much spent the day at our hotel other than a stop at Ikea. We drove to the Naples base to see what they had there and it was super tiny! I was shocked at how insane this place was and glad to be stationed in Sicily. We went to a Rock n' Roll McDonalds (the only thing open, literally, within blocks) in downtown Naples and there was trash at every single table, artifacts ripped off the walls, just absolute filth. It was so sad because it was probably once a really cool place with a little soda fountain machine in the back of an old Cadillac (broken, of course). We had planned to stay two nights to give ourselves a break from the drive and maybe walk around the island of Capri but we had no energy left. It was a fantastic trip but by the end, we were so ready to be home. It took us about 9 or 10 hours to get back home from Naples I believe, including the half hour ferry ride back over. I highly recommend driving if you have small children or plan to buy souvenirs that you don't want broken by Alitalia ;) Let me know if anyone has any q's-- I'd be happy to help trip plan!

Ciao for now!