Cars coming down from the mountains had piles of white slush on their hoods and it was hardly a welcome sight for a family of winter-weary Manitobans vacationing in Europe without skis.
There was a bit of a gloomy air in the car as we ascended the highest mountain in Western Europe and drove through the continent's longest tunnel.
It was all cast aside as soon as we emerged into Italy and found much warmer temperatures and bright sunshine on the other side of the Alps.
GLORIOUS SKIES
We pointed our rented car toward the Adriatic Sea and made a bee-line for Venice, where after just a five-hour drive, temperatures in the 20s and glorious blue skies awaited us.
It can be said now that there are few places better to be than Venice on one of those splendid spring afternoons. Especially when you are surrounded by loved ones, who were wearing long pants and heavy sweaters just that very morning.
Now clad in shorts and T-shirts and experiencing one of the world's greatest tourist destinations under ideal conditions, it made for an unforgettable day.
Criticized by many in Europe as being more like an Italian Disneyland than the marvel of architecture and city planning that it is, Venice is still awe-inspiring, especially to those who have never floated on its serene canals, walked its tiny, car-less streets and ancient bridges or browsed its quaint shops.
Oh yes it's crowded, even when it's not peak season. Indeed there as many people selling food, cheap trinkets and potentially costly "free" boat trips as in your average Mexican resort.
But the sheer spectacular beauty and unique structure of the island city is enough to override the commercialism and the romantic atmosphere of a city largely unchanged for hundreds of years is something every person should experience at least once in a lifetime.
While Venice is famous for not having cars on its streets, it's actually quite easy to reach the island in a vehicle. We easily found parking space in the Tronchetto, a large facility on a man-made island on the Venice end of the causeway from the mainland and paid 20 euros a day to leave the car there.
It didn't take long from there to experience everything that makes Venice great and you could see by the wide-eyed gazes of our children (aged 13 and 9) as we rode the Vaparetto down the Grand Canal into the heart of the city that this was going to be the absolute highlight of their European vacation.
Honestly, where else is the bus ride to the hotel a major attraction?
Stopping near the magnificent stone Rialto Bridge, which has spanned the Grand Canal since 1591, we managed to find our hotel after a bit of aimless and confused wandering (with some help from a kind restaurateur) and settled in for a few days of building lifelong memories.
The Four Seasons Bed and Breakfast near Campo San Polo, the city's second largest square, suited our needs very nicely with a family suite complete with full bathroom, living room, bedroom and shared kitchen. Considering many hotel rooms in Venice go for $300-$500 per night, the Four Seasons was reasonably priced ($225 per night for a family room) and comfortable.
200 PALACES
From there we were easily able to walk the entire city (at least the part that is on the main island of more than 100 that make up Venice). Through the labyrinth of narrow streets, we made our way to the famed Piazza San Marco and realized as we searched our guidebooks for places to see that the real attraction of Venice is the city itself.
It's filled with churches (125 to be exact), museums, palaces (more than 200 line the Grand Canal alone) and, of course, timeless tourist favourites such as the Bridge of Sighs, Rialto Bridge market, Basilica di San Marco, Accademia and the Doge's Palace.
Lineups can be long for many of those attractions, so we busied ourselves walking amongst the scores of people -- and hungry pigeons -- and simply soaking up every moment of the visit.
No trip to Venice would be complete without a tour of the city on a gondola, and while we had to dig deep in our money belts to come up with the 80 euro fee for a 35-minute ride, it was well worth the money.
The gondoliers are all lifelong Venetians, whose fathers and grandfathers were gondoliers as well. They are the best tour guides imaginable and know the story behind every bridge, building and waterway. Through the inner-city canals, out into the Grand Canal, under the Rialto Bridge and past the one-time home of Venice's most famous citizen, Marco Polo, we travelled, all the while wishing the trip would never end.
On that short tour we learned there are 160 canals in Venice and the architecture is mostly Byzantine (12th and 13th century), Gothic (13th to 15th century), Renaissance (15th century) and Baroque (17th and 18th centuries). Many of the buildings look worn and mossy but are remarkably well-preserved considering they rest in tidal waters.
We learned Venice was once the world's greatest maritime power and of course was home to explorer Marco Polo, who based his famed adventures from the islands. Once its own empire, the city was also part of the Napoleonic and Austrian empires before becoming part of Italy in the 19th century.
It hasn't changed physically since that time although it was sinking annually until it officially stopped in 1983. It's still prone to large-scale flooding of course, which makes winter a dodgy time to visit. Once home to more than 121,000 people, the main island of Venice now has a population of just 61,000 as more and more of the residents are moving to the mainland to avoid the influx of tourists.
After our glorious gondola excursion, we enjoyed dinner in an outdoor cafe on the banks of the Grand Canal and retired to bed hardly believing we had spent only half a day in the city.
PIAZZA VIEW
Not blessed with as fine weather the rest of our stay, we still found plenty to do, including a visit to the Campanile, the city's tallest tower in Piazza San Marco. We rode the elevator to the top at a cost of eight euros per person and enjoyed the brilliant view of the piazza and the lagoon. Amazingly, you can't see a single canal from the top of the tower due to the clustered buildings.
We also discovered that short boat trips to some of the other islands are a must. The Lido features sandy beaches and a glorious Adriatic coastline, while Murano, with its glass-blowing museum, and Burano, with its colourful buildings, are also popular.
We chose to take the vaparetto to Murano and were not disappointed. The entire island is devoted to the art of glass blowing and you can enter some of the furnace rooms to watch the artists at work. It's a fascinating display that is perfect for the family.
After we watched for an hour or so, we hunted for souvenirs in the dozens of shops along two main canals which feature everything from tiny trinkets to $100,000 chandeliers.
With an abundance of monuments, art galleries and music houses, not to mention a famous film festival and many other cultural happenings, Venice is hopping most of the year, but we found the crowds to be bearable in the spring.
One word of caution -- this trip is not for the faint of wallet. It cost us 26 euros for a family of four just to take a one-way trip on the vaparetto. When you throw that cost on top of the gondola, the hotel, the parking and the food, you quickly realize you would have to be made of money to stay in Venice for any great length of time.
Then again, you don't need more than a few days in Venice to have the experience of a lifetime.
