Venice like a local

While the tourist parts of Venice are amazing and not to be missed, our favorite parts were the more local areas. Venice is not a big place, so it's fairly easy to find your way off the beaten path (and find your way back).

 This might just look like another walkway, but this is not a tourist area. You can see laundry hanging out to dry and those are not tourist boats, those are family boats. On the side we are standing on there is a sidewalk, but from the other side people step straight from their boat into a door (or window) and into their home.

 

Every city we visited on this 3 country trip, we found a playground. While walking around for 8 hours wears us out, our kids still had energy to burn. It also gave them a chance to play with other kids and hear more of the local language. Even small differences like the swings made an impression on my kids. In America most swing seats are flexible plastic, while these were a hard piece of wood.  This park was just down the street from our hotel so we could easily stop by on our way back if the kids didn't look tired enough.

This may be the most important travel tip for anyone visiting Italy. All of the fountains have potable water. There are small taps around the city that just constantly have water running from them. These are a great way to refill water bottles. From the biggest most impressive fountains to the small taps, you will see people filling bottles, washing produce, washing hands, and drinking the clean water. I wish we had something like this around here.

You can't go to Venice without trying the gelato. I had the strawberry, sweet daughter had the banana, and sweet son LOVED the lemon. I don't remember what wonderful husband had, but he finished so quickly he was able to take this photo. haha

 You know you are starting to enjoy Venice like a local when you let your two year old run ahead of you because she knows where she is going. The best part? We were only in Venice for 2 full days and felt this at home. This is easily my favorite city we have visited just because it feels so different from everything else. So many places start to run together or remind you of someplace else. I never had that feeling here.

Don't put off planning a visit here because Venice is sinking, the soil is breaking up and floating away, it's tilting to the East, and flooding is causing a lot of damage to the monuments. While we hope to take the kids back in another decade or two, it might not be an option.