Venice: hotels

Our mom-kid trip to Venice was fabulous. There were low points, to be sure, like the time I insisted we go for a walk before heading to dinner and we got stuck without shelter in the pouring rain and then had to squelch our way into the now-crowded-with-all-the-other-American-tourists-whose-walks-were-interrupted restaurant. But there were so many amazing things to make up for the harder ones. For starters, both hotels were fabulous. It makes such a difference when "home base" is somewhere I'm happy to spend time!

The kind and astonishingly multi-lingual receptionist at the Hotel Arlecchino, an easy walk from the train station, upgraded us to a room with a spectacular view of the canals. We stayed here one night, and I wouldn't have thought to book two different hotels for a three-day trip but this worked out perfectly: one night with easy access to the city, two nights of peaceful sleep. I took pictures in the evening and the next morning and I can't decide which I like better so here are all of them.

we're in Venice! there are gondoliers! and motorboats too.

looking right, evening

looking right, morning.
that long canopy on the sidewalk covers adorable and romantic canal-side seats for the restaurant next door, which is definitely on my list if we ever do this again!

looking left, evening

looking left, morning

We spent the other two nights at Casa Sulla Laguna, right near the last vaporetto stop on Murano, where we were treated like family* and the view out the window was equally, if differently, spectacular. Venice skyline in the distance! You can't see it in my photos but it was totally there. During the day there were boats chugging right by the window; at night the water was flat and silent. Shades of blue-green-gray...

* C. has a new favorite treat, Italian-style "hot chocolate," which is a packet of chocolate mixed with corn starch that when stirred into the right amount of hot milk straddles the line between hot drink and warm pudding. "You can eat it with a spoon!" I had to order some when we got home.