Buon giorno! Italy…..il dolce far niente which is the sweetness of doing nothing. That’s their motto. Although we have lots to do and can’t do nothing, the laid back attitude is there. We’ve laughed, joked with waiters and locals, said ciao, and played classical music off our balcony. Mamma is home!!!
Venice! Venice was amazing. I’m like a kid in a candy store. Arriving into Venice by train was so exciting. Todd and I have never been to Venice, so I could hardly contain myself. We took a long train ride from Luzern (7 ½ hrs). The children and Todd watched movies, worked and did some school work, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the window. I didn’t want to miss one thing. The train ride was a blast. We had a fantastic lunch in the restaurant car, and the time flew by. The children said it seemed much quicker than our plane ride over to Europe! Arriving into Venice made my heart race! We got off the train, and we were met by Francesco who took us to our apartment. Thank goodness for Francesco! We would have never found our way. Venice is something to see. No cars, not one, just boats! Our apartment was awesome. Our favorite so far. We were on the corner of the building, so we had canals on 2 sides. We had a small balcony patio that ended up being the card and game place and Todd’s office. We had plenty of room and a washing machine, thank heavens! How do you describe Venice? Words can’t. It’s a must see and should be on everyone’s list. They say that in 2 decades Venice the city will be more of a museum. Yes, it’s supposedly sinking, but they are working on that. The problem is that it is so expensive for the locals that they are having to move. The people were very nice and helpful. Italy is such a fun country! I am so thankful that we made it a part of our trip. We had great food, listened to Vivaldi (he is from Venice), rode in a gondola, took a taxi (that’s in a boat) around the grand canal, saw St Mark’s square. I could go on and on! St. Mark’s bascilica was beautiful. And, being near Mark the apostle was overwhelming. Knowing that he walked with Jesus was so powerful. Of course we sat and prayed!
We are on the way to San Gigimanano for 3 days. We’ve got a rental car (help us!), so we are going to make day trips to Siena, Pisa, Assisi, and Lucca. And then we go to Florence for a week. And now, for one of the funny stories of Venice: apparently there was a school across the canal from our apartment. Chancellor discovered this the first morning when he saw all these cute Italian girls in the window. Chancellor quickly brushed up on his Italian and started yelling out the window. Within 10 minutes they asked in very broken English if he had a facebook! He has spent the last few days continuing to try to learn Italian (such a surprise to learn what motivates a 16 year old boy to learn a new language…..much like the Rosetta stone magazine ads). Eventually, the school teachers began monitoring his activities and limiting his cross canal cultural exchange program. Like I said, same story just a different country!
Miss all of you and hope you are all well!
Love,
Callie and Todd
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