Beginning of Summer....

Can't believe it's the end of June. Where has the year gone? We've been back from Italy a little over 2 weeks and I've been to Jacksonville, Ft. Myers, then Chicago. I am glad to store the luggage away for a few days/weeks. According to my USAir FF account, I've logged ~44,000 miles since early March.... whew!

Things are good here just busy. We're having BEAUTIFUL weather. It was in the high-70s today and we're forecast for a high of 77 tomorrow. Hey, I'll take that in late June!

Katie is doing good and on 6/11, officially became 'legal', whatever that means... Can't believe she's 21! Makes me feel real old. She's got just 2 semesters of school left..... She had a significant achievement occur this week. A couple of days ago she found out that a photo she had taken a couple of weeks ago as part of a class project, will be featured on the cover of Wilmington College’s fall course catalog. How cool is that!! I’m so proud of her!!!!!

Katie's been editing the near 1,000 pictures she took while in Italy. While we were on that tour, she was approached by a couple of people in our tour group who were interested in purchasing some of her pictures. She's in the midst of setting up a web-site where pictures can be posted and purchased. Already creating a business for herself...

Sending well wishes to call. Keep in touch.

We're Home.....

Can't believe the trip to Italy is already over, although it was good to get home a few hours ago and will be good to sleep on my own pillow tonight! There's lots of laundry to face tomorrow, so back to reality...

We did get the gondola ride in yesterday and it was wonderful. There were a few from our group that opted into the gondola excursion, so there were a group of 3 gondolas. The three followed each other along the canals for probably 45 minutes, but the special treat to this excursion was that we were 'serenaded' with a singer and accordion player in the middle boat. It was so cool!

We started the day today at 4:00 am local time in Venice and had a taxi pick us up at the hotel, but not any old kind of taxi....we took a water taxi from the hotel to the airport....about a 40 minute 'drive'. Venice is a city with no cars, motorbikes or bicycles. You either walk or you take a water taxi. As I've said, only in Venice...

It was an amazing trip. Italy is an amazing place.... As I believe I shared early on, beginning in Rome, it really struck me that Rome IS the place where modern civilization started. The history of Rome, Florence and Venice....the art scattered all over is near overwhelming. I think of sites over the past few days, then have to think....what that in Rome, Florence or Venice??

We met some really great people. Attached are some pictures with our new friends at dinner last night. (me and Katie, Katie and Ana, our new friends..the Soules, Singers and Tuxons, along with a pic of the last gelato outing of the trip, after dinner last night).

Katie and I ended our time in Venice last night sitting out on the piazza facing St. Mark's Basilica with our new friends, Donna Soule and her daughter, Ana, listening to classical music being played by an instrumental ensemble. What a life, huh???? Only in Venice....

Ciao... Abbia un buon resto della settimana.... Have a good rest of the week....

A Full Day in Venezia....

Greetings.... We've got one more full day in Venice. Can't believe this trip is nearly over. We've done so much, seen so much, while trying to absorb the culture and all around us. It's been a marvelous experience that I will always cherish. It's also been such a wonderful thing to be here with Katie. Neither of us are big talkers first thing in the morning, so as long as we've given each other our quite morning time, being together has been a joy!!!

Earlier today, we toured and learned about the city, including the provencial palace. There's a huge square (piazza) facing the St. Mark's Basilica.... amazing architecture. I've made the point to spend some quite time in each of the churches we've been in this week...those we've discovered with the group or on our own. For me, there has been such peace felt while being in these holy places. Can't begin to describe it...

Mid-afternoon, a group of us took a water taxi for an optional excursion to Burano, a fishing village on one of the islands north of Venice. It was an quaint, quite little town with some shops and restaurrantes, and housed painted in bright colors. We had dinner in Burano and then took the water taxi back to Venice right at sunset. It was beautiful... Katie got a bunch of pictures, which we'll share later.

After we got back to the hotel tonight, some of us went back out to an outside restaurant facing the lagoon of Venice and enjoyed the night air along with conversation and a cappachino. Was fun just sitting there, getting to know some new friends and 'people watching'....

Tomorrow, we'll continue to explore on our own, as well as enjoy a gondala ride around the canals. That should be pretty cool.... We'll then have our last 'ha-ra' dinner for this trip tomorrow evening. There's 8 of us who have stuck together during this trip, so will be sad to leave them upon departure on Tuesday...

Pictures include scenes of Basilica di San Marco in Venezia (St. Mark's Basilica), scenes around Venice, a panoramic scene from our visit to the Tuscany region on Friday, and a future famous photographer (Katie....) in action.....

Hope everyone one is well. Have a good start to the week.

Sending love from Venezia....-M

Made it to Venezia....

Ciao..... We made it to Venice. Talk about an experience getting to a hotel. From the train station, we took a water taxi, then walked through some narrow streets to get to our hotel.

This city is amazing.....amazing that it has stood the test of time and literally exists standing in water... There are 118 'islands' that make up Venice. Can't even begin to describe it.

Our hotel room overlooks a canal and we've got a little balcony!! Absolutely cool! We've got the balcony door open and are listening to gondoliers singing.....although, they aren't quite Pavarotti!!!

It's been raining here this afternoon...just light rain, but the sun is peeking out. There's lots of people here. The weekends bring in 7 cruise ships.....7. Our local host, said the crowds will thin quickly tomorrow afternoon. We're meeting for a short walking tour and dinner at 6:30 pm, then have about a 3 hour tour tomorrow morning, which includes seeing glass blowing at the Murano glass making factory here in Venice. We're then taking a boat to an island north of Venice..a little fishing village called Burano mid afternoon tomorrow and will have dinner there.

Katie and I are doing well, just a little tired... just trying to absorb it all. It's been an amazing week. Between the two of us, we've taking probably 1,000 pictures, so there will be a mega-slideshow to share! I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Sending love. Everyone take care and enjoy the rest of the weekend...