Venice trip - part 1

We spent the first weekend of May in Venice, Italy, where CJ had a 4 day work trip, and us, girls tagged along.

This was Katherine's first experience on the plane and we - or to be exact me - were pretty anxious and stressed about how she would take it and act. I am happy to report that both on the way down and back she did fantastic. There were several babies on the flights and she was by far the best behaved one of them all. She did not cry or fuss at all. I fed her when we were taking off and landing to relieve pressure in the ears - funny her feed times coincided with flight times so it was great - and other than than she just wanted to cuddle so I held her close to my body and all was great. Whew! What a relief! I'm sure as she gets older she will become squirmier and more vocal, so this may have been the easiest flying experience we will have with her...

In Venice we stayed at the gorgeous Molino Stucky Hilton on Giudecca Island, which is one of the smaller islands across the water from the main part of the city. The hotel used to be a flour mill and bread and pasta factory in the 19th century. It is a massive complex and such a gorgeous hotel. A lot of the old charm has been preserved and the rooms are styled to look old - thick, dark wood trim and doors, wood beams on the ceilings, old fashioned chandeliers in rooms. Lovely!

We flew down on Thursday and took a boat taxi to the hotel. What a fun experience. After checking in CJ had to go to meet his work people so Katherine and I had the rest of the day to ourselves. We had lunch and then went out to check out the property. I seriously spent an hour walking with her all over the place. So glad we brought down our car seat and frame combo. Originally we were just going to bring the baby Bjorn but then after my friend's advice we decided to bring the stroller and it was great. I was able to go places (like to breakfast in the morning) without having to hold her in my arms the whole time. And she was able to nap whenever she felt like it.

On Friday, CJ had to get up super early and go to work again, and I took Katherine on a long walk on Giudecca. The weather was great and the views lovely, but it turned out to be quite the workout for me. Giudecca, just like the main Venice island, is cut up by canals with bridges above. Well all the bridges had stairs up and down, so to cross them I had to lift the stroller and carry it over. After I did that about 10 times on the way out I decided it was enough for one day and headed back. I was sweating and panting by the time I got back to the hotel... haha.... Oh I got a pizza to go on the way back and made 2 attempts at eating it on a bench by the water, but each time frggin pigeons started swooping down around me and I was worried they would start attacking me so I packed up and left. Two times!! I guess I shouldn't have watched Hichcock's "Birds" so many times when I was younger...

On Saturday CJ finally had a day off so he could spend some time with us. We put Katherine in the Baby Bjorn and headed out to the main part of Venice. The Hilton has a courtesy water taxi which runs all day from the hotel to 2 different spots in Venice. One of them Piazza San Marco - and that's where we went first. We walked all around, took pictures, chased pigeons away and just enjoyed the day. I was so glad that CJ was with us as I have absolutely no sense of direction and would never find my way around. CJ lead the way through the narrow streets, bridges and passageways to the Rialto Bridge. There we had some yummy gelato and took more pictures.

 Then we started heading back to the second hotel boat stop in Alilaguna. Again - thank goodness for CJ's excellent sense of direction. We picked some delicious parma ham paninis for lunch on the way and made it back to the hotel just in time for one of K's feedings. Unfortunately CJ had to leave us in the evening and go back to entertain work customers,

On Sunday the weather turned out to be pretty crappy - it got cold and rainy so we did not even try to go back to Venice. We hung out around the hotel and went to snoop around the different ballrooms and conference rooms. It really is a gorgeous property so if any of you are considering a place to stay in Venice, definitely look at the Molino Stucky Hilton.
Finally around 2pm we took the boat back to the airport and by 4 we were on the plane home.

It really was a fun little trip but I have to say - traveling with a tiny baby, especially to a place like Venice, is not quite the same experience as before. Being limited by her feeding schedule and having to truck her gear around makes it a little difficult to go places. Venice is just not a very baby or stroller friendly place.

Coming up later - CJ's account of what he did and saw in Venice while he was away from us.