Sorry to hear you got taken.
We found the scam artists to be more "in your face" in Venice than in Paris.
We got stuck by the guys at Montemarte with the bracelet thing. I had ahold of DS's hand and thought that DH had DD's hand, nope, she stopped, so we all stopped. Of course DH is also pretty savvy, so only offered them 1 euro apiece for the bracelets, and honestly they were nice. But we did cut them off at the hotel that night, because they also totally mark you as a tourist!
I don't think I posted that it's on stilts.
It never occurred to me that I should've explained Venice a little more.
But maybe I should have. It certainly is an odd city in that way.
It was awesome.
Probably in any famous city, but definitely in Venice, it really pays to get away from the packed tourist areas.
The best masks, the best glass, the best food... all not easily found.
And worth the search!
We ended up going to Murano for glass, and bought a sailboat (a glass one, not a real one!), way more than we budgeted for a souvenier, but it really spoke to my DH.
Not now... but maybe later.
I was showing some pictures of our trip to my parents.
Kay saw the Paris Opera pictures and piped up, "I don't remember that."
I replied that she had not wanted to come and stayed at the hotel.
"Well." She said. "I didn't know it was going to be like that."
Unfortunately, I know my daughter well enough to know that trying to get her to see something that she doesn't want to see...
I console myself with the thought that she might wish to see it some day and strike out on her own.
It's kinda why we took this trip.
Give 'em a taste of travel and see if they catch the travel bug.
It's not always a bad thing if they don't have a travel bug! My DS has it bad, so he's always asking where we're going next. I'm looking at him going "Dude, you're 10, you've been to Europe twice, spent a birthday in Paris, Shanghi and London on 3 different years, you're seriously feeling deprived of travel?!
"
Actually... it is the case!
While the buildings were built on water with the express purpose of being able to boat up to them...
They are sinking (plus water levels are rising).
So most buildings are now uninhabitable on the first floor.
We got another interesting tidbit from a walking tour that we did. Apparently, Italy changed the configuration of the bay that Venice is in so that they could put more industry on the mainland. This has caused the tides to have much more impact on Venice that previously, so, the increased water movement is what's contributing to the flooding and erosion of the pillars that the city is built on.