Venezia: Due

Venezia: Due. So the rooms were particularly toasty. Toasty enough to necessitate sleeping with windows open (remember, screens are a relatively new invention that people don’t seem to feel the need to have…) and despite our best efforts of “OFF” bug protection, Aidan got eaten up while he slept. Back to the benedryl for him.
We headed over through St. Mark’s Square again and lined up to see the Doge’s palace. We got a tip off from the guidebook about ticket purchasing (this one actually worked this time) and waltzed right through the line. The kids were slightly impressed with the palace. Honestly, one fancy building is sort of blending with the next, even for me. Probably the most impressive part of the palace was the torrential rain that fell on the courtyard in a matter of minutes. Clearly, the kids are native Southern Californians when rain produces the same awed effect as thousand year old palaces – both are just about as foreign to them. The rain pouring from the gargoyle downspouts was pretty spectacular though. And with the rain came the benefit of a slight cooling off in temperature.
It was at this point during the weekend that Edwin started to be done. Done with sightseeing. Done with standing. Done with everything. It was also at this point that I remembered the lions. Venice’s “mascot” is the winged lion (St. Mark reference?...) and the city is full of them. Everywhere. And when there is not much to keep a young boy occupied, counting lions turns into a pretty fun game. So we lasted a little while longer at the Doge’s palace; made it over the Bridge of Sighs and sighed our way down to the prisons below which happened to look about Edwin’s size. We probably got to about 100 lions by then (in ceiling paintings, carved in mantelpieces, on doorknockers, etc.)
Since our family has an affinity for high places, we headed up the Campinile Bell Tower for an aerial view of the city. We timed it perfectly to be down from the tower before the top of the hour. It is a *working* bell tower, and very loud if you are standing up with the bells when it’s their time to go on. Of course, more lions were found up in the tower. Aidan still hasn’t grasped the concept of “Keep Out” as he wants to go up any closed off staircase wherever we are.
Back on the ground, Julia succumbed to the only pigeon pooping experience we had during the weekend. A miracle really, given the amount of time we spent watching and feeding the flying rats. I mean pigeons. After cleaning her shoe off (thankfully, not her hair. Although, there IS a tip in the guidebook on what to do if you get pooped on by a pigeon: Don’t wipe it off immediately; let it dry and then it will supposedly just flake off. Right. Let it dry. On Julia. Sure, like THAT was going to happen…) So more pigeon feeding and birds flapping around while Edwin counted even more lions.
After one more museum (actually, we went more for the air conditioning than the art) a bit more walking around and purchasing some clearly overpriced but desperately wanted souvenirs, we started back to retrieve our bags and make our way out of the city. Edwin wanted a gondolier hat and since he was a (relatively) great hole-in-the-lip loose-toothed trooper, we gave in. It also provided for some adorable fat-lipped pictures of him on the bridges overlooking the gondolas with his straw hat on. Colin pointed out that *he* hadn’t gotten any souvenirs yet. Which was true. When I asked him why not, he answered that he wasn’t really into the kind of stuff at the souvenir stand. (That doesn’t count the English language Herald Tribune newspaper only found in big cities and scoured by Colin for news from home on the sports front.) He pointed out the disparity of “fairness” to him that the other 3 always got money spent on souvenirs but he didn’t. To which Brian snarkily replied, “Yes, Colin, but you have eaten the most.” After being asked what he would LIKE as a souvenir, he then came up with “internet time at the café back in Rieti. “ That’s what he really wants. More than a glass fish, gondolier hat, or venetian mask. So that’s what he’ll get. And when it comes time to pack to go home, Colin’s bag will be the lightest.