Two Words for Venice (or Venice, the short story)

Venice for spring break.  Awesome choice since we escaped cold, dreary "spring" to  sunny, warm Italy! And, checked another country on our list (totally want to go back for more!)  We were only there for 2 days, so it was just a "taste" of Italy.... I asked the boys to give me 2 words to describe Venice.  

Zach:  "Bridges and boats".......
"and Water, lots of water!"  that was 3 Zach...we said 2 words!
Zach's best Venice joke as we crossed this canal for the 14th time:
"Look! it's a gondola stau!"  (pronounce Sht+oww = traffic jam) Zach loved the whole city--in and out of museums and checking out the architecture, prisons, weapon displays, paintings and globes.

Nate:  "Gelato and narrow streets"Nate is our culinary expert --he managed to find us the BEST restaurant and gelato places!  But, don't ask him about the pigeons...(couldn't stand them being everywhere and likely to land on or near you...which they didn't, but....)

The narrow streets were a bit tough to navigate as he didn't like that "lost" feeling....but getting lost we found our hotel, above.  And, we found a woodworker's shop: met a wonderful Italian man who shared his puzzle crafts with us and talked about life in Venice.   He had all 3 boys in the palm of his hand for 30 minutes.  Priceless.  and, his Gelato recommendation was the best! Here's what we took home in addition to memories:

Alex:  "Architecture... and Lions"The winged lion is the symbol of Venice's patron St. Mark --we found lions EVERYWHERE!  (way more fun to count than # of McDonald's restaurants in Europe)
Above left, 16th century trade/business building in Piazza San Marco
Right, gondola parking in front of the Rialto bridge 
Of all our children, Alex will appreciate the beauty of Europe the most, as he realizes these are things you just don't see everyday in "the States."  He was not impressed, however, with the kitschy miles of stores in the Rialto merchant district!  <sigh> he is not my shopping buddy

Last words: Venice = "Magic & Fashion"
A young Italian girl on the train said she hoped we would find Venice to be a magical place.  I'm not so sure, I would really describe it that way, but it did have a certain allure about it.  I had no idea Venice was such a high-end shopping mecca --Gucci, Prada, Versace, Channel, etc...the window displays were amazing..I was too scared to even look at the price tags! I certainly want to go back and see more of the city, take a gondola ride, visit Murano glass blowers, listen to more dueling orchestras.   

FYI:  more about St Mark's bones: "stolen" from his Muslim-occupied gravesite in Egypt in 828AD and built St Mark's Basilica in his honor.  Original church burned in 976, but current structure was begun in 1063 with an "East meets West" decor:  Roman arches, Byzantine mosaics (imagine paving a football field with contact lenses-according to Rick Steves), Muslim inspired onion shaped domes, and marble slab walls from all over the world.