Well, I should start off by saying “HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!”, because we are a day late. Yesterday we were consumed by Venice, and never had a chance to get online. Hope you had a wonderful day! Venice was unique and beautiful, and pretty much as I had imagined it. I’m so glad we got a chance to experience it before it sinks into the ocean. We first went into the city yesterday by vaporetto (water bus) after our ship docked. The sail into Venice alone was gorgeous, b/c we went by all the high points to get to the marina. We took the vaporetto to St. Marks Square, which is the main tourist destination. After a few minutes there, we took an alley and just started roaming. I bought Shim the cutest booties ever. We eventually ended up near the Rialto bridge, which was one thing I wanted to see. From there, we hopped on the Vaporetto again and just rode for about an hour. We got seats on the back, which was open air, and just took in the sites. It went up the entire Grand Canal, then out to Lido Island and back. It’s a fabulous and quite cheap way to see Venice.

We finally got off, and began to wander again. By this point I was starving and nauseated (always happens with lack of food). We remedied that with more lemon gelato, and tried to decide where to eat. Unfortunately it was only 6pm, and most restaurants didn’t open til 7pm. My only requirement for dinner was that the place had air conditioning, since most places here do not. We finally found a place, and boy was it interesting. It was like coming to Italy and eating at Fazoli’s, or going to Greece and eating at Showmar’s. Honestly, I think Fazoli’s has better food. NOT exaggerating. Our waiter was Indian, and the waitress was I think Korean. However, we spent most of the meal laughing b/c it was honestly just funny. Oh the memories...

We got to go on the gondola ride I’d been talking about forever, and it really was alot of fun. Very neat vantage point to see all the side canals. We saw Casanova’s castle, and where Marco Polo lived. After dinner, we headed back to St. Marks Square to catch the Vaparetto back to the ship, and stopped there once we realized the orchestras were playing. Basically, there are some restaurants that surround the square, and they each have their own little orchestra. They all take turns playing, and it’s just a really cool thing to experience. We wished we’d eaten there, even though it would’ve cost a bazillion dollars.

For those who don’t know, St. Mark’s Square is the famous one in tons of movies, with all the pigeons. I really wanted a picture of me with all the pigeons, but that would involve feeding them, which now carries a fine. Plus, after Eric described them as “rats with wings”, I was a little hesitant. I’m sure they carry a few diseases....

Today we planned to get up and head to Murano Island, which is where they blow the Venetian glass. However, our plans got a little off kilter when we were woken by our room steward at 11:30. Oops. We were a little tired I guess. We showered and ate quickly, and were gonna head out, but I just didn’t feel like it. It was hot, and I simply didn’t feel like walking all day. So, we stayed on board and put Murano on our list to see when /if we ever make it back. It was a good thing we stayed though, because a massive storm came up at around 3pm, with thunder/lightening, etc. I felt so bad for people on land, b/c they had no choice but to travel in the storm; otherwise risk the ship leaving them.

We are at sea tomorrow, and then docked in Sicily on Sunday. We are spending the day at the beach in this cute coastal town Taormina. I still haven’t gotten much of a tan, b/c I’m more into air conditioning than the sun. Shim is well, kicking more each day. Definite soccer potential! Hope all is well with everyone who can sit still long enough to read these long entries!