Charm and Fairytales

The Charm of Venice

We had two nights and one full day in Venice. If you have never been there you have to go. It is something that you see in movies and understand that it is a city with only water ways and boats, no cars no roadways, but in reality it is nothing that you could ever imagine! It's so amazing, taking boats everywhere and seeing houses that literally the first step out the door is a wet one if your boat isn't there. We toured the Duke's Palace and met a GREAT group of 6 retirees from Tulsa Oklahoma. These guys were so nice and we tagged along with them touring the palace. (if you guys are reading this we plan on taking you up on your offer to visit you). We ran into them later in St. Mark's square feeding the pigeons and pigeon feed was quickly put in our hands and we had birds ALL over us!!!!! I never thought pigeons could be fun. It was so much fun feeding them that we went back later and did it again. Katie got a great picture of me with a bird on my head. I think the record was 7 birds on my arms. Some guys from Montreal video taped the whole thing, saying their friends will have a great laugh at my expense, great! We did alot of shopping in Venice and got some amazing souvenirs. The souvenirs were the cheapest we've seen but the food and drinks where the most expensive! The belini was born in Venice so we had to try them....at $15 each!!!! That was cheap though, we also had an ice coffee (heaven in a cup) and that was $15 as well!!! Italy is not a cheap place when it comes to food. In the evening we went on our Gondola ride, we had a true "Italian" gondalier that made our 30 min ride very interesting. It was very cool going down the narrow "streets" and down the Grand Canal in a gondola. It was very touristy but a must do when in Venice. It was really hard to leave Venice, one day is not enough. We were supposed to go to Milan for a day but skipped over that to ensure getting enough time in Rome to go to Vatican and see the Sistine Chapel. Skipping over Milan brought us the Cinque Terre a day early.

The Fairytale land of Cinque Terre (Five lands)

The Cinque Terre is an area of five towns that are only connected by a milk run train and walking trails, no cars in the towns. Each town is small and filled with bright colored buildings (red, orange, yellow, white, green, blue) built on on cliffs leading to the Mediteraean Sea!!! The trails lead you on a walk that is beyond belief. The ocean on one side and vineyards on the other. The sea was rough today so we looked down on the massive waves crashing into the rocks below us. At some points we were about 50 above the water and we could feel and see the mist from the waves breaking. One man that we met in a restaurant described it perfectly.... "It's like you are in a fairytale, the views are to beautiful to be true!" At times we were walking through olive groves too. Katie said one part reminded her of the Secret Garden. Another reminded us of the seven dwarfs... as another hiker was whistling whistle while you work. The hike was just amazing... our pictures will do it absolutely no justice. We stopped so many times just to take in what we were seeing and trying to etch it into our minds: The crashing of the waves a constant reminder of God's amazing creativity and power. We have been so blessed in this trip seeing God's amazing creation. We have seen so many beautiful places. And the weather couldn't be better! Last night we were sitting on the beach at 7pm, no jacket needed...actually it was a little warm for pants. haha. We are finishing our hike tomorrow, we got into the forth town (were we are staying) after 5pm, not enough time to hike to the fifth town tonight, so tomorrow morning we will get up and hike to the 5th town and take the train back to pick up our bags and head to Rome. We will be in Rome for two nights and Saturday we'll head to Capri for some rest before we head back home on Monday. Can't believe that we have just 5 days left. Italy has been amazing, a great way to end this trip as it's been so completely different from the other three countries we visited.

We'll see if we can find internet in Rome.... must go now and make some hotel and train reservations.