Beautiful, amazing Venice!

Despite my being an average person from a very middle class family, God has blessed me with incredible opportunities to go to amazing places and see amazing things.  I have wrestled with lions in Swaziland.  I have climbed The Great Wall in China.  I have stood on the equator in Ecuador.  I have stood in St. Basil'ls Cathedral in Red Square.  I have even visited the ancient Chinese canal city of Suzhou.  So, I expected to be underwhelemed by touristy Venice.

I was wrong.

All of you were right.

Venice is absolutely the thing of postcards.  It's touristy, and there's a reason.  Venice is fabulous.  What a unique, colorful, wonderful place!  It's so unlike any place I have been before.  We took a water taxi down the Grand Canal to  Piazza San Marco and the basilica.  We saw the wonderful old cemetery.  We took the boat over to Murano and saw the blown glass demonstration and art galleries.  We had lunch in a little back alley cafe (where Papa was happy to see the NBA on the TV).   I would have loved to crawl all over Venice's crooks and crannies!  There was one teeny problem: it was absolutely FREEZING. After less than one full day, we packed it in. It was just too darn cold.  The doctor asked me to watch the weather, and since today was our first day to not have to report to the hospital, I did try to keep in mind that Anna is still recovering from surgery.  With a little sadness, I left Venice, not having seen or done everything I would have liked to, but knowing it was the right choice.  I would love to go back again someday.

 

 

 

 

After Venice, we drove with our military friends to Vicenza.  We got to tour the base, which was very interesting for us for two reasons:  (1)  My grandpa, the one who shares a birthday with Anna, was stationed in Vicenza for two years in the early 1960s.  It was like coming full circle to see where my grandfather spent his days so many years ago.  (2)  I grew up at Fort Hood, which is a HUGE military base.  I grew up going with friends to the bowling alley, movie theater (did you know they always play the national anthem before movies shows on the base?), PX and commissary.  So, for me, it was very interesting to see a base outside the U.S.  When we walked into the PX, it was like stepping foot right back into the U.S.  There was a food court with a Taco Bell (closed!), Subway, and Popeye's Chicken.  The goods sold were things we would find at home.  Oh, yes, and everything was in English!  We really enjoyed getting to spend a little time on the base.

More than anything else today, we enjoyed the good company of friends.  After several weeks of it just being Papa, Anna, and me, I think we all appreciated the chance to be around others.  Greg, Lorene, Sarah and Zach graciously spent their whole weekend with us, and we were so blessed by their friendship!

Since (as usual), our apartment internet is too slow for photos, those will have to wait until tomorrow. 

Blessings and joy from Italy,
Amy