Venice baby!

I apologize for the lag in blog postings! It has been a busy busy weekend spent in...Venice!!! Our three days in Venice were amazing, there is really no other word to describe it. I will say, however, that Venice is not for the weak stomach-ed individuals (cough cough Mom/Jessica).This is because the mode of any and all forms of transportation there is via water! Good thing boats don’t bother me…although I think this is different for Sarah, she actually still hasn’t even gotten over the plane ride over here! Anyways, Venice aka, “city of water”, “city of bridges”, “city of masks”, or “the floating city” is most renowned for its amazing architecture, which I experienced in the form of San Marco’s Basilica, it’s beautiful artwork, which I was able to see firsthand on the island of Murano with Murano glass, and lastly its striking beauty, which I saw around me the entire weekend. I was sad to find out afterwards that Venice is in the process of sinking, and no one is sure how long it has until it sinks completely! So for everyone out there…go and see Venice before this happens!! Or, read my blog, and look at my pictures, and I’ll illustrate it for you the best I can!
We left for Venice at 5am Friday morning, the plane ride was short and sweet, and we took a half hour bus ride into the mainland, then took about a fifty minuet fairy, to the island our hotel was on…Lido. From there, we were given a walking tour of our island, then afterwards we took a fairy to San Marco’s square (probably what Venice is most known for). This is where you see pictures of the thousands of pigeons, and sometimes pigeons sitting on people’s hands, head, and shoulders. Let me say…I wanted to be one of those people…to be able to feed the pigeons, and have them sit on my hands and arms…but 1. It is illegal now, and you will get fined if you get caught doing it, and 2. I’m pretty sure I would be rejected by my group for the rest of the trip because they all seemed to be completely disgusted with the idea. Regardless, I we spent the day wandering Venice and shopping. Venice is a very wealthy city, it had hundreds of high end stores… of which I shopped in to buy Christmas presents for my siblings.
We went to dinner that night with our whole group, and afterwards enjoyed the Venice night life. On Sunday, we were lucky enough to celebrate mass in San Marco’s Basilica, it is a church that upon first glance seems completely out of place being in Italy. It looks as though it belongs in a palace in India…I later learned it was designed by Arabs who were ruling when it was built. Every day we were there we saw huge lines of people wrapping around the Basilica, waiting to go in to take pictures and see the amazing architecture inside. Sunday morning, we had front row seats to mass, our seats were the envy of everyone in Venice! Although the entire mass was in Latin, I was still able to follow along…one of the beauties of the Catholic faith I realized, it really is universal. The art work and architecture inside it were incredibly remarkable…that’s really the only way to put it. The statues are beyond life size, and the paintings almost come to life when you look at them. I found myself with my head tilted completely upwards the first twenty minutes of entering because of the intricately designed ceilings, plastered with gold and ornamented with hanging candles. It seemed as though angels were singing throughout the mass…because the choir was completely hidden, but their voices echoed throughout the entire basilica, making it seem as if I was entering the gates of heaven! Venice was an awesome experience and I will never forget the views I saw while there.

PS. Tonight we had a Halloween dinner, and afterwards dressed up in our costumes and had a bonfire where we roasted marshmallows and told creepy ghost stories..here are some of those pics!