Venice Day 1

Well we made it to Venice without the Volcano interrupting anything and and with some rule changes to how airspace will be closed I don't think we'll be stranded here.  So here are some pictures.

We arrived just in time last night to catch one of the last vaporetta's, or water buses, from the airport to the main island.  Here's a picture.

The Bus was slower than one of the water taxis but at only 26 euro for the three of us it beats the 100 euro a water taxi would have charged.  Very few automobiles are allowed on the islands that make up Venice so the main way to get from the airport to the islands are by water.

The almost an hour on the water bus allowed us to relax and take in the sights of the islands slowly and get a good picture of Shantel and Macen as well as a picture of the sun setting behind the Appennies Mountains on the mainland from across the Venetian Lagoon.

Macen let us sleep in a little bit this morning, until 7am and then it was out and about to Doge's Palace for some sightseeing.  We wandered through the Palace and tried to take some pictures but there were some areas where you were not allowed to take photos.  We didn't always see the signs but there were watchers stationed in the rooms to "politely" remind you not to take any pictures.  One thing in particular that we wanted to take a picture of were two huge globes one depicting the heavens and the other the map of the world as it was known in the 15th century.  Very interesting pieces of art.

The front of the palace many of the columns (called capitals) have been replaced with replicas and the originals stored and displayed inside.

A clock tower and some close ups of sculptures on it in the palace courtyard.

The Staircase of the Giants was where the Doge was crowned after being elected.

The Golden Staircase and some of the artwork on the ceiling.  This staircase led to the Doge's private apartments.

The Dungeons below and behind the Palace.

This lady is standing on the famous Bridge of Sighs.  Prisoners would walk over this bridge look out the window and sigh at their last sight of the water before entering the dungeons.

Everywhere you look in Venice you see the windged lion of St. Mark.  Read the legend about St Mark and why he is the patron saint of Venice here.

This where my camera died, I forgot to charge it.  We'll do a Day 1 continued post later this evening with pictures from our gondola ride, and the Hard Rock Cafe.

Will The Volcano Strike Again???

If you've been following the blog you know that the we got stuck in Paris during the "Volcano Crisis of April 2010".  Well we are heading off to Venice today and as I'm checking the news I'm seeing that London's Heathrow Airport and Amsterdam's Schipol Airports are closed today because of a new ash cloud.  I'm starting to think it's going to be deja vu all over again. 

We are taking the laptop with us so look for pictures and stories from Venice, and be sure to see if we make it Friday when we are supposed or will we be forced onto the train again.

Volksfest

We headed out to Volksfest since the rain stopped for the day. James enjoyed a big beer and we got some Donors (roasted turkey with lettuce and tomato in a bun eaten like a pita) and some very delicious chocolate covered strawberries. It wasn't bad when we got there but suddenly we got very cold and since we had seen all there was to see (it was a pretty small event), we headed home despite Macen's pleas to stay.
This was at the end of the Amazon rainforest "ride". It was set up like a haunted house but was a rainforest theme where you stepped on stones thru water, walked on tight ropes, etc. This spinning deal was at the end and the entire reason Macen wanted to do the ride. Guess who refused to go thru the spin :) He was scared the entire way thru the whole set up. He did like the huge talking alligator out in front of it though.

Today, James and I got the "Worst Parents of the Day" award. We came upon this ride and Macen was hollering to go on it and they were getting ready to start so we said sure. Big, huge mistake! It went fast and once it slowed down, it went in reverse and went fast again. Macen hated it and was crying for Momma during the ride. I mean really, he is 3. We should have watched it once and then decided if he was capable of riding it. We asked him as we were leaving if he wanted to ride it again and he gave a solid "No". However, he did want to ride the roller coaster ride. It was a small roller coaster but it was the kind with 4 people to a bucket and it spins as you go up and down and around. He really wouldn't have liked that. Hopefully we haven't scarred him from wanting to do these rides when we he is older.

This ride was more Macen's speed. He rode it many times and he stuck with the bus each time.

Well these mugs of beer look small in the pic but I assure they were not small in the least bit. In fact, I believe they held 2 German beers which equates to 4 American beers. Everything may be bigger in TX except for their beers.

Macen wanted to do the bumper cars with dad which they ended up doing several times. He did get hit pretty hard once and flew up out of the seat but overall he had a good time on this ride.

Deployment Ceremony

The US and Germany flag along with the Regiment Colors.

Casing of the colors. The colors are cased and then unveiled once they reach their deployment destination. Once they return there will be another ceremony uncasing the colors again signifying they are home. Not a great view but we were behind a big group of people.

The ceremony was very nice, a reality check but nice nonetheless. To a military spouse, this ceremony means our soldiers will be leaving anytime now. James won't leave until next month but guys will start departing from here on out. It rained on us throughout the ceremony and once it was over, it came a little harder. Along with the ceremony there is a festival, Volkfest, going on for several days. Carnival rides, games, wurst, beer, etc. We weren't up for sticking around in the rain to experience it but we'll head back out there sometime in the next 3 days to see what its all about.

Here are some German soldiers. They stood on the field with our guys and a lot of the local Germans came out for the ceremony. There are 3 small towns immediately close to post that are very supportive of the military. Whether a soldier and his/her family to choose to live off post or get here within a time housing is not offered on post, they live in these German communities. So there is a lot of interaction between the Americans and Germans.

Regiment Run

The Regiment did a run early yesterday morning to kick off the deployment festivities. We went out to support the girls and guys running. Everyone ran with their own squadron in formation which is what you see in the above pic.

Not 3, Back to 2

We did a good job of telling Macen prior to his birthday that he was going to be 3 and it stuck...for the first couple of days. A few days ago he blatently told us "Not 3 anymore, I turned back to 2". And he is holding strong on his argument.

Happy 3rd Birthday Macen

Macen woke up on his birthday to candy train. The middle pic is of him saying "I can't believe it" It's a new fave and he followed it with "Chocolate" this time. I am fairly confident if we had give him nothing else he would have been quite content with the candy and pez dispensers.