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.

Italy - day 7 (Bologna on our way to Venice)

Here we are a week into our travels and Allison started to get homesick. :) Today, we drove two hours to Bologna, stopped for lunch, and then traveled two more hours to Mestre (just outside Venice). Some of our group wanted to go into Venice but the bus drivers were on strike so they didn't make it. We thought about going but by this time, I was extremely sick and I didn't want to go out at night when it was so cold.

Here are a few pics from Bologna. The first is a pic of the leaning tower of Bologna. Not nearly as impressive, or as leany. :) The other is a pic of the sidewalks. This city was cool because all the sidewalks were covered. Made walking a little chilly but we didn't have to worry about the (nonexistent) rain.

 

Italy - day 6 (Pisa and Lucca)

We wandered around Tuscany today and then went to eat in the wine cellar of a family farm in Monte Carlo (the original Monte Carlo...the one in Monaco is just a copy!). First, we stopped by Pisa and saved the tower. The sun was shining and the grass was green and we thoroughly enjoyed our walk around the grounds. Other than the tower, there is not much to see in Pisa so we meandered to Lucca. Lucca was another favorite. It is the rare city that still has its original wall. Most of the other cities in Italy tore down their walls to build roads, but Lucca kept theirs. More about Lucca below. After Lucca, we traveled to a family farm where they grow olives for olive oil. We got a lesson on what makes olive oil good and bad and where NOT to buy it (cough, cough...Pisa) and how to put it on everything. Wow, the food was the best meal we had all trip. We couldn't get enough. We had olives, sun dried tomatoes, bean soup, potatoes, sausages, chicken, ribs, salad, and I'm sure much more I can't remember. I almost had to roll back to the bus.

More pics!

 The leaning tower of Pisa!! About 10 years ago, they closed it down so they could "shore it up." During that time, no one could climb to the top. Now it is all fixed and you can climb it again. Nope, didn't do that either. I wanted to but didn't. I guess when it comes to climbing stairs I'm a wimp. This is a pic of the tower and the cathedral.

 The cathedral and the baptistry. These buildings are HUGE! look at the people at the bottom of the pics.

A close up of one of the mosaics on the cathedral above the doors. I'm not sure what story this one is telling but I loved looking at it.

A pic of the doors and the mosiac. These doors were 3D. Very amazing. There were eight panels, telling eight different stories. 

The pillar to the side of the door. Engraved stone.

 LUCCA!! This place was amazing. So, the history is that they were very, very rich but they had royalty on their side so no one actually invaded to take over. Once that happened, they (the people of Lucca) decided to become invisible. So, they started acting like they were just farmers and didn't let anyone know how rich they were. About 150 years ago, the King of Italy came and said "Lucca, you are part of Italy! You are Italians!" and they said "We are??" Our tour guide was hilarious.

  

So, Lucca had a Colosseum! How random is that? It held gladiator games, was a stable, was a market and is now shops and housing. Here is a pic of the outside and the inside.

It was one of the first sunny days we had had all week. We thoroughly enjoyed just sitting in the square and enjoying the sun. I actually take a nap. I had my scarf over my nose cuz the cold air was hurting my lungs. So, here are some pics. First is a girl playing in the square. She was so randomly dressed it was CUTE!. Allison and I sleeping in the square. Our point of view from our nap spot.

 




Lucca still has its original medieval wall. Most walls were torn down to make roads, not this one. It was awesome! I just needed Kaitlyn's cloak to feel truly epic. Here is what you are seeing below. First, on top of the wall. It is about 5 miles all the way around and people are constantly walking, jogging, and biking on the top. It was so big! Next, is a view of the wall from the top. Finally, the flowers that grow up there. So pretty.

  

Pics of the family farm where we had the best meal of the trip.

  

 

Did I mention we had to climb five flights of stairs to get to our room in Montecatini? Here are the stairs and the pillars on the stairs. They were gorgeous but really tiring to climb.