venice for a 7 yr old?

[ipanemagirl]

Any advice for a friend who is taking her 7 yr old to Venice in a few weeks?

thanks! I'll pass that advice on! What's a book walk? Excuse ignorance!?!

Get one of the travel passes so you can hop on and off canalboats. Go to Murano where they make the glass, and there's loads of free demos where you can watch them blowing and pinching the glass - there's a glass museum and galleries of impressive glass art on the island too. Burano has pretty coloured houses and a fairly boring lace museum but you can watch the elderly ladies making lace.

Shops where they sell proper papier mache masks are also fascinating because there's masks for all sorts of animals - I was so tempted by a wonderful realistic elephant one on my honeymoon...

Wandering the back streets and buying icecreams, and picnics on some of the small islands, are great. Restaurants away from the Piazza San Marco are cheaper and often better (ask in a hotel for recommendations), but when my parents took me and I was 7 I did a lot of sitting in piazzas with one parent and icecream/slab of pizza and an Italian coloring book, while other parent looked at something historical. If she wants to tire her dd out, you can climb up the Campanile but possibly not an idea in August heat. St Marks is much less crowded if you turn up in late afternoon - worth a quick look but not a tour.

thanks, I'll pass all this on. I"m so jealous, would love to go to Venice again, haven't been for years.