Venice

I remember reading "The Witch of Backbird Pond" in 6th grade.
That was the beginning of my wanderlust.
The main character was from the island of Barbados.
It sounded so beautifully exotic, so far away.
A place of dreams.
It became the first entry on my long list of someday.

Army life hasn't been all sunshine and roses. But it has given 'wings' to the travel dream.
And we are eternally grateful.



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Ahhhh, Venice!
Even before we made the move to Europe, our girls (especially Shelby) had dreamed of visiting Venice.
We decided their birthdays' would be the perfect time to go.
I swear they almost cried when we told them!
They started planning outfits that very night. Of course that may not have had anything to do with Venice, and everything to do with the fact that they're teenage girls!

*By the way - packing light was the best.advice.ever! Take one or two comfortable outfits, and visit the local launderette if needed. Oooh those poor tourists trying to schlep heavy suitcases up and down endless bridge staircases!

We started our trip expecting about a six hour drive.
Jeeves, our European GPS with the commanding British accent, had never steered us wrong.
But this time, Jeeves blew it.

Autobahn. Everything normal.

We veered off the autobahn.
Maybe Jeeves knew a shortcut?
A few turns later, we start seeing tunnels. Lots of tunnels, leading us higher and deeper into the mountains.

















Some of the tunnels were three or four miles long!
I love tunnels. Don't know why, just do.

















It was becoming very clear that this was not a shortcut, and we were worlds away from any autobahn!

We must have looked pretty lost - even the locals were taking notice.



















We did a little checking, and discovered Jeeves had altered course and taken us straight (well, as straight as possible) through the Dolomites!

















After taking in the amazing view, Joey held off on his instinct to throw old Jeevy out the window and decided to give him another chance.

Even the Quicky Mart was beautiful!
















We found a little pizzeria for lunch.

















And had to give some love to the horses across the road.

So, after our six, seven, eight, nine and a half hour drive, we finally reached Aviano, Italy, our stop for the night.

The next day we took the train on in to Venice.

Our apartment was fantastic!

The girls loved their loft bedroom.

















We checked in, and started exploring.
Venice is without a doubt the most beautiful city I've ever seen.

 Our train left way to soon.



















Very tired, but very happy campers.
For us, Venice lived up to the hype - and then some!