Italy - day 8 (Venice)

 Meet our beautiful Eddie! She was so much fun. 

I woke up extremely sick this day. I was devastated. Of all the places we had visited, Venice was the one place I was dying to go. I decided that I was not going to miss it no matter what. I wanted a piece of venetian glass!! Luckily, the doctor that was traveling with us had a zpack in his bag and gave it to me. He was really worried that after four days I was not getting better. He figured that I had an infection by this time and needed some antibiotics. I thought I was going to die that morning but, sure enough, the antibiotics kicked in and I felt fabulous by the afternoon! Then, it was off to our farewell dinner. We got back to the hotel about 11:00 p.m. and Allison and I had a 3:30 a.m. wake up call to catch our flight. I'm only writing about eight days cuz it's boring to say we were on an airplane or in an airport for 18 hours. We made it home and then crashed for a day before facing work again.

Would I go back? Oh YES!! Who wants to go? When? I'm right there with you. I loved Italy!!! Thank you Allison for inviting me. Thank you John for not being able to get time off work so I could go! Thank you family for letting me go when you knew I wouldn't be home for the rest of the month! This trip just reiterated the trip I've been planning with my fam for several years. I can't wait to take my kids to the Old Country!!

More pics from our final day in Italy. :'(

The grand canal in Venice. Isn't it beautiful?

The line of gondolas. We didn't go for a ride (wanted to spend our $75 on something more lasting).

The courtyard of the church where the choir had its last concert. It was so beautiful here. I would love to see it in the summer.

The bridge over the grand canal. Can you see me under the middle arch? :)

The architecture of the buildings in Venice was amazing. There are so many different influences. Each building has different types of windows, balconies, etc. It was fascinating to see buildings next to each other just like they are best friends.

The outside of the political palace.

This is one of the mouths were people could insert their grievances. It was a a big thing to put up a grievance. Not many people did it lightly as it was likely to come back and bite them. Below are pics from inside the government palace.

 The golden ceiling. :)




Below are pics from the dungeon, which was above the palace. We had to cross the Bridge of Sighs to get to it. Legend says that if you kiss someone while passing under the bridge in a gondola, your love will last forever. Ahhh, isn't that special? Most people think that legend is where the name Bridge of Sighs comes from. However, it is more likely that the people being lead to the dungeon sighed on their way since it was very rare that anyone got to leave this place.

 

Of course, Venice is known for its Carnivale. It's festivities are the biggest and craziest in the world. Below are some pics of some masks and costumes known to be worn during Carnivale.

This is the wonderful lady who helped us pick out our lace and cut work. She was a blast. I loved that I could say, "I want to see pulled thread" or "I want to see cutwork" and she knew what I was talking about!! I love how everything was handmade and so cheap! I could have spent my entire life in this little store and spent all my money and still been happy. I don't have pics but I also found the perfect piece of glass as well. Shopping in Venice was a HUGE success.

Below are some pics of a few of the many palaces and cathedrals we saw as we were winding our way around the outer canals. 

This one was special. Eddie told us it was her church. It is the Spinsters Cathedral. During the summer, they will all come out to the canal for drinks, food, and fireworks. Then everyone goes to this cathedral to worship spinsters. Yeah. Eddie loves that day.

See that little yellow building on the left? It belongs to Elton John.

More pics from the canals below.

 

 

A pic of the planks they put out when the city is flooding.

Below are pics of the cathedral where they had their final concert and some of them singing. This concert was very emotional. They had in their repertoire a Requiem about the 2005 tsunami in Thailand. This concert happened the day after the tsunami in Japan. Almost everyone in the choir lost it during that song. It was so beautiful. They were encored at this concert (the only time) and sang that requiem again. I still get chills thinking about it.

 

 

And, here is our farewell dinner. It was seafood spaghetti. Let's just say Allison didn't eat much food that night. :) 

Allison asked that I NOT share this one..Hahahaha. I just had to put it in. Allison and Lacey were so funny!! I wonder which one was the Lady and which was the Tramp. :)









It is only fitting I end with our beautiful Eddie since I started with her.