Venice

Ahhh, Venice! It's a uniquely beautiful place. I fell in love with it the minute we stepped off the boat (aka shuttle "bus" from airport). There is truly no place like it. The kids did great considering it's not an amusement park. Our saving grace... pigeons! Yes, as we were told by numerous people, letting them chase the pigeons around St. Mark's Square in between site seeing helped us get around without grumpy children (well, the pigeons and the Gelato!!!). Of course, we had to take a Gondola ride even if it is quite pricey. It was pleasant even though I worried the entire time that Logan was going to jump out of the boat. We also went to Murano to see how all the beautiful glass is made. Let's just say this was not the best decision for my state of mind. For those of you who know my son well, you know this really was like taking a bull in a china shop!!!

Just an FYI for anyone planning a trip to Venice, if you fly into the Venice airport you still have to get across water to the islands. I knew this but I didn't fully investigate to know that the Water Bus takes 1 hour 30 minutes to get to St. Mark's and a water taxi cost 100 Euros to get you there in 30 minutes. The water bus wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't late evening with kids. Overall, the trip was fabulous! I really hope to get back there.

Back to London...

Someone asked me recently what is the one thing I can't live without here. I thought about lots of things but to pinpoint one absolute must have for me would be my iPhone. It's not because I do a lot of talking on it but for the GPS. I use it daily to help me get from point A to point B. I recently posted on Facebook, "Where would I be without the little blue dot on my phone? Lost is London!". It is so true. When I come out of the underground it's not always easy to get my bearings. I generally walk a few blocks then check to see if my blue dot moved in the right direction. You know you use it a lot when you're not lost just reading a sign and your 4 year old asks "Mommy, can't you just look at the blue dot?". At least I'm teaching him how to read a GPS : )