Buon Compleanno, Ethan!

In pajamas for the
video call with his class

Ethan's birthday actually started the evening before when we had a video call with his class back home. They sang him Happy Birthday in Italian and showed him the huge banner they had made for him. He loved it- though he was really, really tired and not very talkative. Thanks to Mrs. Stone's class!!!

There is no denying that our boys have been spoiled on this trip. I cringe when I think about how much gelato and soda they've had. There are days that they play video games or watch shows because we don't have a yard or neighborhood friends for them to hang out with. They've grown accustomed to travel, seeing sights, and picking up souvenirs. So naturally, Ethan's birthday request was to return to Prague for the day.

Ben 'helped' Ethan
open his presents.

April 25, his birthday, is a national holiday here. It's the celebration of liberation from the Nazis at the conclusion of WWII. This year, it was the last day of his spring break. He knew he wouldn't have school. His friend, Brynn, had celebrated her birthday here with a trip to Venice. To him, a trip to Prague seemed like a reasonable request, but we had to explain to him that it was a little far to travel for the day. We settled on visiting Venezia again.

After opening his presents, we caught an early train into Venice. We weren't sure how crowded it would be for the holiday. All of us were starving by the time we reached the city, because we had no groceries for breakfast at home and were running late to catch the train. We found the first restaurant outside of the train station to eat at, and all of us were much less grumpy after that.

Pancakes- though Dave still
owes him his birthday '7'.

Ethan requested a gondola ride for his birthday, and he wanted to find the same gondoliers that we got to ride with for Brynn's birthday. Sadly, nobody was at their stop when we arrived. Dave's colleague, Ricardo, and his wife were meeting us to walk around a bit, so we had to wait until later to take his ride. We met Ricardo in Cannaregio, on the north side of the Grand Canal. We took a walk, and they showed us some quieter areas, the hospital, and a gorgeous church. We had a snack in the sunshine of a piazza before they set off on their way for lunch with family.

As Ethan's seven-year-old patience was wearing thin at this point, we found the first gondolier available to take us for a ride. He was nowhere near as entertaining or accommodating as the first gentlemen we rode with- I think he was upset that we interrupted his game on his telephone. It was a gorgeous ride, anyway. The canals are extremely tranquil and quiet in comparison to the packed areas of the city. I was able to sit back and enjoy this ride more than the first. Despite my initial skepticism and feeling that gondolas, and Venice in general, are tourist traps, I do recommend adding a gondola ride to your bucket list.

Scala Contarini
del Bovolo

Dave chose a seafood restaurant for lunch. As he pointed out, the majority of our food decisions have been made to accommodate the kids (back to the point about them being spoiled). He ordered the seafood he wanted, I got pasta with shrimp, and the boys had pasta with octopus. They survived. They were not fans.

Since we had seen most of the big attractions in the city on previous visits, we spent most of our time walking areas that were less traveled. One thing that was on our list was to see the staircase that resembles the leaning tower in Pisa. They were tucked away, back in a neighborhood, so we hadn't happened on them before. Eventually we made our way back toward the train station and had one last aperitivo in Venice before heading home to Padova.

Ciao, Venezia!

My seven-year-old.

After dinner at our favorite pizzeria and an ice cream cake from our favorite pastry shop, the day was complete. Ethan didn't celebrate his birthday with his class here until yesterday. They did have school last Friday, but his teacher and many of his friends were absent. We couldn't get treats to bring in until Monday afternoon, because many of the pastry shops are closed Monday morning, if not all day. He chose a fruit torta and cookies to bring, and we also got juice. He reported that everyone enjoyed the treats. As is the Italian tradition, his teacher did pull his ears seven times.

Ethan is looking forward to celebrating again at home with family and friends. Because he's spoiled... I mean an extremely, extremely lucky kid.