Elle Takes Europe 2026 - Day 2: We Made It
We woke up this morning drenched after a night with little to no air conditioning and a hotel room, while lovely, over 80 degrees. Fortunately, Elle was able to get a good night's rest, and we went down for our included breakfast. It was quite the spread and a great example of how much has changed since Jenn and I stayed at this hotel in 2012. The Hilton has been completely remodeled, and the breakfast was phenomenal with a big spread and great options. The only tough part with the hotel is that you have to take a ferry that comes every twenty minutes, which drops you off at Piazza San Marco. With a two-year-old, that just adds a little extra complexity. We made the second boat out, and Elle loved that and all subsequent boat rides to and from the hotel.
There’s nothing quite like Venice. The feeling you get as you walk through Piazza San Marco and start to weave your way into the heart of the city is unparalleled. Jenn was adamant for most of our time in Venice that we just explore, with very few agenda items, merely letting Elle and the streets guide our way. We also decided against bringing the stroller, which meant we took turns holding Elle’s hand or carrying her. The only two stops we had in mind this morning were Starbucks to get Jenn’s first Italy mug and Sephora, where we picked up some makeup for Jenn. Outside of those two stops, we made our way through, letting Elle run after birds and watch the gondola stream by. It was a beautiful day, a bit warm, but not overly busy. We didn’t move fast, but for nearly three hours, we made our way through the city before grabbing a quick bite at Burger King and taking the boat back for Elle’s nap.
Jenn joined Elle in taking a nap, while I went out and grabbed a coffee at Majer. I got a cappuccino and drank it at the bar before heading back to the hotel and grabbing a quick nap. When we returned to the room, it felt like the air conditioning had been fixed, but throughout our stay, it would only work intermittently. Fortunately, Elle is still a great sleeper, and after her nap, she was ready to get back on the boat and head back over to Venice.
It was much warmer when we got back to Venice, but that didn’t slow Elle down one bit. She walked even further on our second trip around Venice. It was clear that the variety of things to look at, from the canals to the gondolas to the countless birds, was going to keep her interested for our three days in Venice. Jenn insisted that we stop for gelato before dinner, which we did, and it was divine. One of the highlights of this trip out was the three times families stopped us to ask if they could take a photo for us. It’s so hard to get good family photos on vacations, so having three separate strangers offer it up was a huge win for the day. We finished our stroll and stopped into a bookstore, and Elle got to pick out her own book before we headed to dinner.
I did a quick look on TripAdvisor and found Ristorante Al Chianti a few streets away from the bookshop. It was still early (5 PM), so another family and I were the only ones there when we sat down. We started off with a half bottle of their house red wine and some bruschetta. I had a pizza, Jenn had their seafood pasta, and we both gave some of our food to Elle. She loved both, but is starting to love pizza almost as much as pasta. Before we could leave, our waiter brought over a little chocolate and whipped cream for Elle, which she devoured. We walked back from dinner to the ferry and back to our room to put Elle down after a very successful first day back in Venice. It doesn’t matter how many times we’re here; it never gets old.
