Our time in Venice is coming to an end, but that didn’t stop Elle from loving every second on the boat and endlessly chasing after pigeons throughout Venice.

Following a long day of travel, we hit the ground running in Venice, Italy. With many miles walked and gelato consumed, it was a great first day of the trip.

After delays on both of our flights we finally made it to Venice Italy for the start of our 2026 European vacation.

And so the cruise begins. After going through the check in process yesterday and exploring Venice with my family it was on to our first full day of the cruise. The cruise ship stayed in Venice overnight and departed today at 2PM but we had to be on board by noon. My parents with Amy and Ally left to go back into Venice for a few hours while Jenn and I slept and Jake worked out.

When we planned this years Europe 2012 adventure it was broken into three parts. Switzerland, Venice, and then the cruise. Today marked the completion of part two of our journey and the beginning of the longest portion of our travel, the cruise. This morning we woke up at around 7:30AM but laid around in bed until 9:30. We finished up packing, checked for any loose items, I finished up my entry for yesterday, and we went down to breakfast at around 10:30AM.

Jenn and I love getting in a routine while on vacation. It usually takes a few days but we have been in an incredible routine while in Venice. Sleep in, go into town have lunch, walk around, have some lunch and some wine, go back to the hotel rest, go back out for dinner and some more wine, eat some gelato, walk around some more and call it a day. Sounds like a beautiful thing to me and today once again follows that pattern.