Last time we walked the whole time, but you obviously can't walk to an island, so we knew we had to try the boat transportation. It seems like the cheapest is the ACTV boats--you pay for the day and can use it as much as you want. We paid at the train station, and hopped on a boat to go through the Grand Canal and get to Lido--the very last stop. That sounds like it would be fun...but it was pretty terrible. They shove as many people as they can on these boats. It's hot, sweaty, and packed full of people. There are seats, but nowhere near enough for everyone, and there doesn't seem to be a capacity they adhere to. Whoever is waiting to get on the boat gets on, even if it doesn't seem like you could squeeze anyone else in there. And apparently when you get a bunch of tourists together on a boat, all courtesy goes out the window and it's a big free-for-all. As we were getting on the boat, I had some grandparent-aged people behind me literally pushing me (with a hand on my back) out of the way because they wanted to stand closer to the railing as I was holding Michael. I had read online that Lido is a 12 minute boat ride from the train station, but this took at least an hour.
We got lunch first thing in Lido because after the train and boat we were starving, then continued onto the beach. The free beach was packed with umbrellas and people. Tons of people were sunbathing and playing in the water. Most of the women, regardless of age or body type, were in bikinis. Most of the men were in Speedos. Walking around, there were many women sunbathing topless, kids running around... It was very busy, good for people-watching, and a far cry from the quiet, solitary beaches we got used to in Lompoc.
Michael loved it! We got him changed into his swim suit (he was by far the most covered up one on the beach, save for a middle-eastern woman who went in fully clothed and with her head covered) and he crawled right for the water. There weren't really waves--a couple of inches maybe--and the water was really shallow. We waded quite a way back and it was still only about waist deep. Michael loved splashing and kept wanting to sit down, but when I put him where the "waves" were crashing where he could actually sit he cried. We went out a little further, he sat in my lap and played in the water.
Then, as I was holding him, I felt a stinging sensation float past my side... I screamed like a little girl and looked down, and there was a jellyfish! It really didn't hurt that bad, it just surprised me. I'm glad it got me and not Michael's foot that was a few inches away. I don't know if those are particularly mild jellyfish, but nobody else seemed to be bothered. Either I was just "lucky", or nobody else cared. I can see it going either way. Robbie totally didn't believe me, but when we were wading back up to the beach we saw one. They were actually really pretty. Kind of like this guy only with lavender tentacles:
So now I've actually seen a jellyfish in the wild. And gotten stung. Yay!
After that I was a little paranoid about Michael getting stung, because I didn't think he'd appreciate the experience like I did. We went back up to the beach and Michael took of crawling. He probably made it 10 yards down (supervised, of course) before he kept trying to climb on people and had to be redirected back to me where he rubbed sand all over me.
We left shortly after, walked back to the dock and got back on the cattle car boat to ride back to the train station. Not too many people got on at Lido, so we had a really nice boat ride back to the main island where people started packing on again and made for a cramped, claustrophobic boat trip. Luckily, Michael was exhausted from all the beach fun and slept in the stroller the whole way. We did get spots right on the rail though, so we got to see some of the Venice sites while trying not to get pushed overboard.
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