Postcard from Italy

 

So, I’ve been a bit off the grid here, sorry about that, it’s a mix of holiday with very little spare time and very little wifi, haha – we packed both boys and all the necessary stuff and went on a short plane ride to Italy, more specifically circa an hour northeast of Venice. It’s been so nice to get away from the grey, rainy summer that Denmark had to offer and to get some well deserved sunshine, pool hours and good food.

I have to admit, I was kind of nervous getting on a plane with two kids for the first time but it went really well, the plane was far from full so we had plenty of space to spread out on plus it was only a 1,5 hour flight so it went super quick! We woke up at 4 in the morning to go to the airport but me and Max actually went to the airport the day before to check in and get our luggage tags so we only had to drop off our luggage and go straight to the security controls (can definitely recommend doing this when flying with kids). Since we had the tickets in advance, me and Felix played “airport/planeride” the evening before the flight to get him prepared on how the whole thing would work – he loved it and knew exactly what to do when we got to the airport.

 

 

When we got on the plane Felix got to open his “surprise backpack” that was filled with all kinds of snacks and entertainment and Max fell asleep after take off and slept through the whole thing, lucky us!

At arrival in Venice airport, we waited for an hour or so to catch our local bus that took us to Duna Verde an itty bitty tiny town that seems like it’s frozen in time. It’s actually kind of cool – you hardly see any tourists here and everything have been the same since the 70’s (my boyfriends family have been coming here since he was a kid so there’s photo evidence to prove that it’s exactly the same, even the rides at the arcade are the same!).

 

 

 

So basically we’re doing nothing but eating, swimming, gelato-ing and hanging out in this little town (throw in a couple of proper tantrums as well and it’s life in a nutshell – but, hey, I’ll take tantrums in Italy over tantrums at home anyday) The Italians seem quite used to the hotheaded temper anyway so the little mister fits right in.

Max started crawling/pulling himself forward a bit and since he’s up approximately every hour during the night, rumbling around in our bed, we aren’t as relaxed as I thought we would be. Since Felix refuses to sleep during the siesta, I’m currently alive and kicking thanks to the cappuccinos down by the little local cafe. They cost 1.80€ (13 DKK) – so cheap and so good!

The other day we took another bus (doing it the local way here) to Caorle, a slightly bigger city right next to here to eat some ice cream and look at all the pretty buildings. We’re still contemplating going to Venice as well in a couple of days but I’m scared it’s water over our heads to drag two small kids to a big city in this heat (it’s been around 36 degrees Celcius these last few days, puh!)

 

– Vino, pizza, pasta, fritto misto on repeat – 

It’s definitely different travelling with two small kids. Having to stay indoors during the peak hours (12-15.30) isn’t something I’m used to or even fond of (I’m more the “stay in the sun for hours and hours”- kind of gal). Here, we are even forced into it – they keep a strict siesta during 13.30-16.00 where everything is closed, even the pool. I guess it’s for the best though, it’s just one of those routines you have to get into to appreciate it. Before when Felix was smaller and napped during the day we had some breathing time for ourselves but this time he’s always awake and crazy active when Max is napping so it’s never ending.

We’re always the first ones to arrive at the pool in the morning (it easily gets that way when you’re up by 6AM) and I’m amazed at how good the boys are handling this heat – Felix swims and jumps around on his own now (with the help of two floating wings on his arms) and Max is just a natural born water baby. He entertains all the nonnas that’s hanging around the pool area – Bambino Bellissimo<3 He’s got some diaper tan-lines now, even though he’s in the shade most of the day it’s like his skin is just absorbing all of the Mediterranean sunshine. He has always had an olive kind of skin tone and with his dark hair and eyes, he’s easily mistaken for an Italian boy.

We still have a little less than a week left here in Italy and we’re definitely going to soak up all that sun and eat all the food we can before we go on that return flight home again.