I forgot to tell you about our hotel room. It was fairly small, but that didn't bother me. We had a longish narrow balcony that didn't let a breeze in. Our a/c was technically there, but you had to lay perfectly still to quit sweating. Here's a picture of our bathroom. Notice the open shower...And all the tile was slick as glass once it got wet. No shower curtain or anything. Little did I know what luxury that would end up being. (You'll see later)

The next day on our trip to Italy was Saturday, June 28. We got up that morning and ate breakfast at our hotel. We got on our bus and it took us to a parking lot. From there we walked down the street to a ferry. We were going across to the 118 islands that make up Venice. In order to get on that ferry we had to "walk the plank". They had a little plank that went from the ferry to the pier. It was only a very few steps but it was scary to me. The water caused the boat to move up and down. How embarrassing would it have been if I had fallen in the water?? It was so neat to look out across the water and see where we were going. I took a few pictures from the water. We got to Venice, got off the ferry, walked up the pier and I dropped and broke my camera. I was devastated!!!! Without pictures, the whole trip would have been a waste to me.

The first thing we did that day was to go to a glass blowers. It was a very hot, very short and very amazing demonstration. Once the demonstration was finished we went into a show room. This room was full of all sorts of glass. It was beautiful!!! Glass is one of my weaknesses! They had all kinds of drink ware, beautiful jewelry, glass chandeliers, and glass sculptures. I could have spend tons of money in there. Venice is known for its glass. There was glass in all the store windows. Glass rings are a particular weakness of mine. I had one once and wore it constantly until it broke. If I hadn't broken my camera (and had to replace it) I would have come home with a glass ring.

We took a walk with a tour guide around Venice and saw some beautiful architecture and learned many interesting things. One thing we saw were these structures in the middle of lots of the streets. These were wells. The people in Venice were surrounded by water, but it was all salt water. So they collected rain water in wells. The wells were guarded by soldiers round the clock to keep enemies from coming in and poisoning the water system. The covers were taken off the wells in the morning and evening and a guard stood by while the people collected what they needed.

The last big thing we toured that day was the Doge's palace. We went through room after amazing room. There were paintings and amazing architectural details. There was a room full of maps and globes that my roommate, Donna, drooled over. We also saw a couple of rooms of weapons and armor. There was even head armor for horses. Plus some piece of equipment that was used to torture men. All the boys grimaced at that! We walked through areas where trials were held. Some of them were more elaborate that others. Once the prisoners were convicted they were sent across the Bridge of Sighs to spend the rest of their days in prison. We got to walk through the prison. It was interesting and depressing.

Back to the Bridge of Sighs...It was given that name because as prisoners were walking across to prison there was one little area where they could look out and see the outside for the very last time, so they sighed.

That evening we went back across on the ferry. (I still never fell off the plank into the water) We ate dinner at our hotel again that night. Afterward some of our group went down to the beach at the Adriatic Sea.

One very interesting thing that happened on this trip was that Logan ate things I could never get him to eat at home. It was either eat what was served or starve to death. I have a story to tell about that when I talk about our Tuesday night.

Tomorrow I'll talk about our first Sunday in Italy and what it was like worshiping with the saints there.