Ciao, Bella: Venice: It Was the Best of Days and the Worst of Days

Ahhhh, Venice. The city on the water. The city of love. The city where we lost Landon.

Let me start at the beginning.

Saturday we decided to go to Venice for the Carnival. Every year around this time, Venice has Carnvial. Basically, it is tradition that goes back to the 14th century where people dress in masks so you can't tell the difference between nobility and the common man. Lots of revelry and money changing hands as well as street entertainers, etc. So, we got up early, headed to the airport to turn in our first rental car, make arrangements to pick up our second car that evening and got tickets to a waterbus that would take us to Saint Marcos Square where all the action was.

Me looking at Venice through the window of the waterbus.

The waterbus was a great way for us to see the different islands that makes up Venice. Each island has it's own special identity. Murano is famous for it's glass art. It was beautiful to see the buildings from the water.

We ended up at Saint Marcos Square and were immediately immersed in a mass of people. Those of you who know me well know I get VERY claustrophobic in large crowds. I get aggressive to just get out of them! Les laughs at me all the time. Anyway, I held it together pretty good and we made our way as part of the mass, seeing people in costumes, seeing the masks for sale, and for me, looking at the amazing architecture. I didn't know how to react to actually being in Venice!! Hello!!

We walked to the Saint Marcus Basilica. This was built when Saint Mark's remains were brought to Venice (stolen) and he became the patron saint of Venice. The winged lion you see everywhere here is his symbol. The Basilica is so ornate with different colors, carvings, amazing statues, paintings, etc. It has a beautiful palazzo it opens up to but we didn't really feel how big it was since we were in the mass of what I will call human carp. (it reminds me of when I would feed carp in Japan and the fish would jump over each other, mouths gaping open to catch the food you sprinkled down. I felt I was in that thick group of carp) I had a death grip on Grayson, who resented the fact he couldn't just go look at things and I would just keep my eye on him. Sorry buddy! We took pictures of some of the people in costume. We decided we may do that before we leave. Landon and Grayson actually decided that for us.

Statue in San Marcos

A man in costume on a balcony in San Marcos

Landon posing with two ladies in costume.

We walked down the narrow streets of Venice and went into some shops, had our first Italian hot chocolate and tried masks on. The hot chocolate was very potent and is a mixture of chocolate syrup and hot chocolate. It was good! The boys got gelato. The masks were so interesting. There is a saying in Venice that you don't pick the mask, the mask picks you. The boys did get two basic masks and loved feeling like part of the party. We also stopped at a little bistro and got a sandwich. I got a Caprese one to die for! The mozzarella here is amazing and the bread is homemade and soft. I was in heaven.

Landon and Grayson modeling their masks.

Me trying on a mask.

We took lots of pictures and walked all over, inside the middle of Venice, saw gondolas, small plazas, beautiful apartments, and lots of interesting doors. I had a field trip with my camera. We decided we were done for the day and headed back to where we were to be picked up by our water bus. There were several different waterbuses that came to the same dock and as Les was asking one if this was the right bus (only one goes to the airport) Landon jumped on and went inside. It turned out to NOT be the right bus. The buses keep a tight time schedule and as Les was just learning it wasn't the right bus and Landon had already stepped on without looking back, the waterbus was away and I was looking frantically to see if Landon was by us. We hoped he had gotten off at the next stop, realizing that he had gotten on without us, but he didn't. We spent over three hours waiting for him as each waterbus stopped at our station, asking them to get in contact with each bus on the route. Finally Les and Grayson got on and went to the airport. It takes an hour to get there and I waited in hopes that he may still show up. I was to wait and hour and them get on and join them. He never showed up. He had gotten on at 3:30pm and it was now 9:00pm. He had been missing for almost 6 hours. When I got to the airport, Les had already gotten in touch with the police. They waited until I got back before they contacted the police in Venice. They discovered he had been found, and the police there had put him on a train to Vicenza. So, we at least knew he had been found, where he was headed, and that he was safe. Now the police looked at us and said in broken English, "Now for other news. You must come with us." OK, I am a girl who likes to fly UNDER the radar of trouble. I haven't been in the back of a police car in my life, much less an international one. I was so nervous so I just asked the other police man if we were in trouble. He looked like he couldn't figure out what I was saying so I asked if everything was OK. He quickly reassured me everything was OK. We were driven to the police station at the airport and escorted into a room next to their office. We could only look and make up in our heads what they were talking about as every single police officer sat in that office and talked amongst themselves. Finally after 15-20 minutes of that one came who could speak better English and told us the train manager had Landon and would turn him over to the police at the train station in Vicenza but we had to wait there until he got off the train to make sure we knew where he would be held and if it was the right boy. More waiting. The police were very nice and understanding. An hour later we were allowed to talk to Landon (who's first words to his dad were "You left me on that boat!") and then leave to get our rental car and drive to the train station (which we had never been to and just hoped our navigation system would help us get to). After 45 minutes later, we arrived at the train station, Landon was there, Les had lots of paperwork to fill out and we were a family reunited. I don't recommend this experience to anyone. It is a horrible feeling to lose your child, much less in a foreign country. I had prayed that he would have someone come to his rescue and help him and that is what happened. A nice French lady helped him to the police and he sat there for a few hours until they put him on the train. By then they were in contact with us. I am so grateful for good Samaritans, for answered prayers, for faith, for Landon's safety.

Pictures of our trip