We spent almost the whole day at Rome's modestly sized zoo, called the Bio Parco. We have mastered the local public transit system, and put our 7 day passes to good use by hopping a local bus straight to the zoo. It was a good size so that every animal could be seen in one day, and most of the enclosures allowed the kids to get up close and personal with some exotic animals. 10/10, would visit again.
These bears actually wrestled each other for a good chunk of the day.
Japser and Leopard
Jasper and Rhino
Jasper and Siberian Tiger
The only blip on the day was a surprisingly chaotic zoo restaurant lunch experience, which seemed to leave the even the locals confused and frustrated, but the pirate ship themed playground more than made up for it. It is impossible to capture that 3 tiered, multi slide, tunnels all over experience in just one photo, so here are a few of the highlights capturing various parts.
Penny made it up to the third floor rope bridge.
One of at least 19 slides within the pirate ship, Penny's going down standing up!
Outside shot of the pirate ship playground
The park included a extra high difficulty spring loaded balance beam. Both parents nailed it.
Today was Grandpa Jims 68th birthday, so we made a special salmon and gnocchi supper with some cupcakes for dessert. Ellis spent the whole afternoon making hats and decorations from paper and markers. Great times. We also watched Canada's heartbreaking elimination from the World Cup during supper, everyone except for Daddy Pat got over it pretty quickly.
Oscar posing like he's about to drop the hottest mixed tape of all time.
Today was a long travel day from Venice to Rome on the train. We had some time to kill before our 1pm train, so we went to the park near the station.
We went to Burger King for lunch. Not a very Italian experience, but it was close to the station, had space for us an our bags and the kids had a blast playing in the kids play area.
We have now made it to Rome, checked in to our new apartment.
It is our last day in Venice, so we set out today on another scavenger hunt in Venice. This time we were in 3 teams: 1) Grannie, Grandad, Jasper 2) Ellis, Penny, Pat, Kristin 3) Grandma, Grandpa, Oscar. Some of the items on the hunt included, cross at least 10 bridges:
Go to a new park:
Try a cicchetti (or in Oscar's case, a cannoli):
Cross the grand canal on a bridge:
Find a garbage boat:
Find a plague doctor mask:
Ride a traghetto ferry:
Chase a pigeon:
Find an Italian flag:
Ride the Vaporetto:
Find a cart for carrying things around the city:
Go through an alley that is a tunnel:
Find a pink house:
Find a lion:
Visit the Frari Basilica:
Visit an art museum:
Find a clock tower:
This evening, several groups went out for a last chance at exploring Venice before we leave tomorrow.
Ellis, Penny and I went over to the Acqua Alta bookshop. An elderly Italian woman scolded me for not having the kids bundled up enough in the chilly weather (it was 13 C this afternoon). After I put Penny's touque on, she was satisfied, gave Penny a big kiss and fished a candy out of her purse for Ellis.
Pat and Jasper went to the perfume museum and then played soccer in the square with what seems like every other kid in this neighbourhood.
Pat and I went out for dinner tonight after the kids were in bed. Tomorrow, back to Rome.
The weather forecast was good for today, so we set out to make the most of the sunshine. The kids were a little restless in the morning so Daddy took them over the play some urban soccer against the church right after breakfast to get burn some energy off.
Don't worry it's not Sunday, Jesus is somewhere else.
The rest of the family picked us up and we boarded a Vaporetto to the island of Murano, a small island just north of Venice with about 5000 inhabitants. It has been the center of Venice's glass industry for centuries, and it is still home to countless artisanal glass blowing workshops and stores that sell glass goods. It is also home to the Museo del Vetro (Glass Museum) which we checked out after a stop for snacks and a little more urban soccer at a park. The museum featured some a mix of spectacular modern glass art pieces and normal glass stuff that was around 600 years old (more impressive that the owners managed not to break them over multiple generations).
Jasper can't stop kicking that soccer ball.
Penny is all smiles on the Vaparetto ride to Murano.
An example of some modern glass art on display at the museum.
We ate lunch at a very efficient cafe that had a number of egg salad themed sandwiches (egg salad and ham, egg salad and shrimp, tuna and egg) where everyone managed to find something to their liking. After lunch the little ones went home with their parents for naps, and the big kids stayed on the island with the grandparents to watch some live glass blowing.
Walking to lunch on Murano island.
A glass blowing demonstration.
Everyone got back together for some home made pizza for supper, then watched the Buffalo Bills play the American Thanksgiving day game before bed time.
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