Venice with 12 yr. old
 

Grandma and Ariel are off to Italy! At almost 12 she's been looking forward to Venice with great anticipation--I've hired a private guide for 4 hours to provide a sense of history, and culture for selected sights. How can I best use this time? A good guide can make it come alive! We have 4 days to wander, I've been there before and don't want to overwhelm her with museums etc., she'll be back! Suggestions for her age much appreciated!

She is outdoorsy, a voracious reader, has taken cooking lessons with me for 8 mo., and has willingly taken on "homework assignments" to prepare for the trip.

We will stay near San Marco, she wants to go to Murano, a mask making shop, of course the Basilica and campanile, and take a gondola ride. I was thinking Ca Rezzonico and Palazzo Mocenigo, and the smaller art museum (whose name I can't locate) that shows the development of art through the ages. She will be back again, this is just to give her a taste. We also have Florence (2 nights), Sorrento (4 nights) and Rome (3 nights) if you have more to share. Thank you!

When we first took our then 10yo DD to Venice, she loved everything - but then, she's big into museums and art. The museum in the "attic" of San Marco is always interesting, and allows you to get closer to the mosaics. Smaller places that she loved were: Santa Maria dei Miracoli; San Zaccharia church (crypts below are interesting); Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni; and Scuola Grande di San Rocco.

In Florence, we did taste-testing at the Mercato - we bought fresh pecorino from different producers, sat in a nearby piazza to try to decide which we liked best. For other places our DD liked, San Lorenzo / Medici Chapel; Santa Croce.

In Rome, San Clemente (construction begun on upper church in 1108; lower church was built in the 4th century; built over a Mithraic Temple from the late 2nd or early 3rd century, which is still underneath, along with remains of a Roman house from the 1st century); Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (Michelangelo’s “Christ Carrying the Cross”);
St. Ignatius (really neat trompe d’oiel dome); San Agostino (Caravaggio’s “Santa Maria of Loreto”); San Luigi (three paintings by Caravaggio, about St. Matthew); National Gallery of Art, Palazzo Barberini (beautiful palazzo and some great Raphaels); Santa Cecilia's

Our DD loved gelato everywhere, of course. We developed a system. I would buy a medium for she and I to share, 3 flavors, and she'd try to guess the flavors.

In our 2 1/2 week trip (incl Rome, Florence, Venice, Bologna and Le Marche), I tabulated some of what we visited: about 25 churches; 11 museums; 4 palaces; 11 castles. And 26 (many shared) cups of gelato. Our DD was tickled to find out how old many of the places we stayed were.

Have your granddaughter, at the end of her trip, guess the age of the oldest man-made thing that she sees on the trip. (Probably it will be the Egyptian obelisks in Rome, which the ancient Romans brought/took from Egypt.)

Have a wonderful trip!

Thank you, those are great ideas, I especially like hearing her reflections. We'll find those places in our book. (And what is a DD? Feel so out of it...) W/O parents along our gelato schedule is open! Market tasting sounds good too.

Wow, what an incredible thing to do for your granddaughter! "DD" means "darling daughter" so I suppose your granddaughter would be "DGD" but I have never seen that before!

Here is the website for a mask making class that may interest you: http://www.camacana.com/

Some other ideas may include the Doge's Palace Secret Itineries tour, Peggy Guggenheim museum for modern art, Murano to see the glass blowers....

Sorry, Just realized that Murano was already on your list.

Since you both share an interest in cooking, in Rome there are several cooking classes that you can take where they also take you to a market. This may be really fun to do together if you have the time.

Here is one that I found but if you google rome cooking classes you will probably find many more: http://www.danielascookingschool.com/cooking-classes/

My young daughter and I spent a happy afternoon shopping for inexpensive glass beads.

We also encouraged keeping a scrap book/journal and took sticky tape with us so they could tape in souvenirs like tickets, brochures, postcards, etc., as well as write up the day.

Well, I guess GD doesn't always translate well! Thanks for cluing me in--also for all of the wonderful ideas. None of these had been on my radar in previous "adult" trips, sound like good finds for anyone. Will map out to coordinate with other must sees.

Tape! Wouldn't have thought of it, but handy. Where did you find the glass beads? Are they on Murano, other places in Venice? Ariel would like that I know.

May I recommend two great kids' books about Venice ...

Vendela in Venice (a picture book) by Christina Bjork

The Silent Gondoliers, by S. Morgenstern (yes, that S. Morgenstern) aka William Goldman.


You will find the tourist sections of Venice dripping with glass shops that sell beads; and also many on Murano.

My kids had great fun taking a `random walk' in Venice -- flip a coin at every corner to decide which way to go next, then let the child guide you back to San Marco (easy to do with all the signs posted high on the walls).

The Mercato Centrale -- a giant market full of produce, meat and all kinds of food stands -- is fun to visit in Florence. . Keep an eye out for the bronze pig/boar statue at the Mercato Nuovo -- rub his nose for luck.

How about this:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-teenagers.cfm

When we were lucky enough to do all three cities with our kids they were a bit older than your DGD, but taking them in no particular order, we liked:

Venice: the Rialto market, Secret itineraries tour of the Doge's Palace, gelato on the Zattere, a trip out to Torcello [you have to go via Burano, which is prettier than Murano, IMHO] wandering around the little streets and getting lost.

Florence: climbing the campanile, the markets, [getting a theme here?] Fiesole, the Accademia [a great collection of musical instruments as well as David of course]

Rome: the Colosseum, St Peters' [sadly she's too young for the Scavi tour] spremuta d'arancia, wandering into random churches to see what's there, the rick steves' tour of churches with mosaics, the food.

in all three cities, they liked having a cafe or gelateria which we adopted as our own, so the staff would say hello, [or ciao if we said it to them] they could try out their italian. in Rome, DS used to go out and get our breakfast by himself, but he was a bit older, and we were in an apartment of course, but I'm sure that she would enjoy learning and then practising her language skills.

Hope you both have a great trip!

Great stuff! I've been cutting and pasting these ideas, and the tour is just terrific. I'd gotten the Kids Go Europe treasure hunt but thought it might be for a bit younger age. I'll check out the other books suggested, Vendola sounds good for her little sister (6) who doesn't get to go--this time. They can look at it together before and after our trip.
A couple have mentioned the Secret Itineraries of the Doge's Palace tour, found it in a guide but no instructions on booking. Did you do that there? Thank you all.

Here you go for booking Sercet Itineraries:
http://www.vivaticket.it/index.php?nvpg[evento]&id_evento=409912&idt=566&wms_op=museiCivici&SiteV ersion=1

Thank you, found it!

Wonderful suggestions everyone!!
I'd like to add one....a cooking class with the contessa.
It's a wonderful & warm experience...you choose the dishes you'd like to learn.
I spent a wonderful day with my niece and Lelia........
http://www.cortetiepolo.com/eng/catering.php

Just checked out the website and have written for more details, looks amazing! We are signed up for a pizza making class in Florence, and gnocchi and tiramisu in Sorrento, but not in that atmosphere I'm sure.

Lelia will work around your schedule....we didn't want an entire day...so we just did a 9-2.
Oh and lunch is included....it's a lovely affair!!

I go to Venice often and next year is the first time I'm bringing my grandkids....so I'd love to hear all about your stay.

I did hear back from her after emailing for details, but didn't get the response expected, so hopefully reclarified my question.

If you've gone to Venice often, what would your suggestions be how to best use our 4 hour guide? I would have asked her to tour the Doge's Palace with us but the secret itineraries tour includes the ticket for the palace itself. She suggested Murano but that is something we could do on our own. What museums would you plan to take your grandchildren to? I want to best utilize our guide's knowledge. I'll happily report our trip results when we return!

You are right about Murano....you really don't need a guide for Murano.
My grandchildren are really young....they'll be 4 and 7. I haven't thought about which museums yet.
I know that we'll go down to Giardini/Gardens ...for a run around.
I wonder if it would be fun having the guide take you through the Rialto markets.....I love seeing the critters crawling around in bins.
Have you asked her/he for showing you the kids side of the city? What life is like for a child living in Venice?
Here is a name of a couple that also do individual tours...fluent in english....Karen and Mike Henderson.
http://www.theveniceexperience.com/

Was the message from Lelia...cyrptic? Her written english is not the best...


My blog.....http://baileyzimmermansvenezia.blogspot.com

I think its good to have a guide in an art museum. You can hear the stories behind the art -- for example, in the Accademia there's a room with a series of paintings depicting the life of Saint Ursula. Its much more interesting if you know her legend.

The Accademia (old) or the Guggenheim (modern) would be good choices for art museums to visit. The mosaics in St. Marks are also interesting. We enjoyed visiting the Museum of the City of Venice, which had lots of maps and artifacts from Venice's days as a great world trading center.

Thank you Bailey, love the tour options the Hendersons provide so will check out their walking tour. Lelia's reply was not so much lack of English, but she asked if it was a special occasion, birthday etc. I replied that I was interested in the cooking classes and what did she offer. Haven't heard back, but it would probably take too much time.

Thanks for the suggestions capxxx