Bella Italia....

After all the bad news yesterday I think it's time to share some happy photos of our holidays to Cavallino, a large beach resort near Lido di Jesolo south of Venice (http://www.unionlido.it/). We have never done the 'camping thing' before and for those who haven't either you probably have the same impression that I had before we left - muddy fields, frying pans and little blue bottle gas stoves and games of I spy with my little eye something beginning with R and it's dancing on the roof! However, in mainland Europe (thankfully) camping is a whole different ball game. They really know how to provide entertainment for children and parents alike - all the mod cons and facilities to make you feel like home except you have 30+ degs outside and you are still sleeping in a forest...



























The kids had the most amazing time - the campsite had 7 restaurants, 2 aqua parks (free entry), kids club for 2 hours daily :-), a forest adventure park, 4 star hotel if you fancied a bit of luxury and the beach was a 5 minute walk away. It was perfect. We really got into the whole camp thing- throwing steaks and stuff on the barbie every night, sharing wine and beers with our neighbours. We met a lovely Dutch couple called Simona and Auke and their gorgeous little boy Bram and some other German kids as well so the girls were delighted to have some friends. It was so funny to watch them play with all of the kids on our 'street'. None of them spoke each other's language but it wasn't a problem. Kids don't need a common language to play - just some sand and a bucket and spade...



































We couldn't believe our luck with the weather - especially after the deluge of the past few weeks...A constant 30+ every day but not humid that you needed aircon. It was just so very pleasant! There were 2-3 stormy evenings which added a bit of drama to the whole experience but thankfully it was shortlived and the sun always returned the next day.


Everyday we headed to the pool and sometimes the beach which was lovely. We rented a little wagon to pull the kids along on their daily pursuits - they had the best time with this. It was the unofficial entertainment of the holiday.

Of course the real entertainment was the nightly 'baby dance' - a romanesque amphitheatre complete with DJ, MC and flood lights and 2oo screaming kids under 10 doing the equivalent of the macarana for an hour while the parents looked on with exhaustion. There was also a bouncy castle park (and yes I dont just mean one bouncy castle - there must have been 10 of them )...some of them so big I wondered if they were for the adults! Not to mention every conceiveable line in the Little Tikes catalogue all for Eur5 with unlimited access for the evening. This was a big hit as it opened til 11pm and they usually fell into bed afterwards.






















For me the highlights of the holiday were the two trips we made into Venice and Murano. I had been before but I still never get tired of the sight of this city. It is truly magical - the most surreal sight you will ever see is the Grand Canal and all the water traffic bobbing about. It's not the most buggy friendly of places but we persevered for a couple of hours in the back streets trying to escape the madding crowds of people in St Mark's Square.


I loved the quieter corners of Piazza Roma and beyond when you were the only people around what felt like a sleepy village and yet a mile away there were probably 10,000 people feeding pigeons fighting for a free corner! I took over 1,000 photos (no exaggeration)... these are some of my fav's so hope you enjoy.. We will be back here again!

The magnificant Basillica of San Marco is a sight to behold. My only regret that children aged 6 and 3 have no stamina for Churches so alas I will have to see theinterior another time...

We stopped and had lunch at the Rialto bridge - a bit of a worry when two small kids with a facination for water won't sit still! It was nice though - we met a lovely group of English elderly tourists who told us their life stories...

Everywhere you turn there are masks, masks and more masks. I was facinated by all of them and even bought a blank one for myself to decorate. Some were beautifully elaborate and ornamental. I overheard a large middle aged American in one of the tiny back streets say to his persistent wife who wanted to buy one..'But honey what do we do with it when we pay for all that shipping to get it home intact? He had a point...

Gondolas, gondolas everywhere and at €200 for a 20 minute ride we didn't indulge our children on this trip. It was romantic the first time we did it 7 years ago when it was our wedding anniversary, in the moonlight, gondola man singing O Sole Mio in true cornetto style and I was with child ***sigh***. This time it would have been terrifying with Lucy on board! We will save that trip til they are out of buggies and tantrums!

I don't know what was going on in this photo - two grown men pretending to beat the pulp out of each other (at least I think they were pretending as they were laughing) but it was riveting to watch as we went by on a water bus and too intriging not to take a sneaky photo!

Until next year...
Ciao!

XXX