Who'll Stop the Rain?

I've obviously fallen well behind in keeping these blog posts up to date. I'll do my best to get them up-to-date over the next few days.

School ended on the 16th of December and after a day of relaxation, we were off on on Christmas break-- first to Venice. Our flight out of Sofia was a little eventful, as some strange noises and turbulence made our climb to cruising altitude a little more exciting than usual. But before long we landed in Venice, took the bus to the edge of the Grand Canal and began our walk through Venice to the hotel.

We found the hotel pretty quickly (at least by the finding-things-in-Venice standard) and settled in briefly before heading out to explore. While Jaime and I have both been to Venice, it was the first time in Venice for the kids. Sadly, either the cold (it was hovering in the high 30s) or the lack of recognizable landmarks ("There no Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame!") meant that the kids were less than enamored with Venice. I guess 9 & 11 year olds don't appreciate the magical, gently decaying feel that Venice has for us older folks.

We did get to enjoy some delicious Italian pizza at a small hole in the wall the we discovered our first day-- a location that was visited several more times over the coming days. However, our stay in Venice was interrupted by a little bug that Cameron caught-- which meant half of the family was on hotel patrol. Brady and I did manage to do a little sightseeing and visit a Leonardo da Vinci musuem-- which may have been one of the highlights of the trip for him.

More to come...