Third Stop: Venice, Italy

Today's post is about Venice, Italy. I looooooved Venice!

This is a picture I took of the city just as the ship was pulling into the port area of Venice.
Do you notice the green domed roof over on the left side of the picture?



It is the same roof that was in "my painting." It's hard to tell from this picture, but the domed roof that you see is green in "my painting."



This picture is of me just as I got off of the ship in Venice.
(I will probably use the word Venice numerous times....I apologize...It was just so surreal to actually be in Venice.)



Melissa and I were VERY excited to be going to Venice for our gondola ride; so excited that we were having a lot of fun on the ferry ride into Venice.
(Just ignore us in this next picture. Thanks!)




The sun was just setting when we arrived in Venice for our gondola ride.



It was so beautiful!



Did I mention that we were excited to be in Venice?

We had just gotten in the gondola when this next picture was taken. We were pinching ourselves. Melissa looked at me and said, "We are in a gondola in Venice!" And I would look at her and say, "I know! Can you believe it?"



Here we are starting off with our gondola ride. It was unbelievable. The sun had just set, and the weather was perfect.



The couple that you see in the picture with us were so lovely. They were from New Zealand, and they told us they were on holiday. Doesn't "on holiday" sound so much nicer than "on vacation?" (I loved how they talked; they had the most beautiful accents.)

Riding through the different canals in Venice was like something out of a movie. The gondoliers sang to us as we peeked in windows that we would float by. We saw restaurants, stores, and people in their houses. Some of the people would wave at us as we floated by.

The gondoliers had the most amazing voices. Since they sang in Italian we had absolutely no idea "what" they were singing, but it didn't matter because it "sounded" so beautiful. They could have been singing about the algae growing on the bottom of the boats, and it wouldn't have mattered. It was very romantic! I wished so much that Shannon could have been with us. He would have loved it.

For the first part of the ride through Venice we were in very narrow canals, so the gondolas were in single file order. But towards the end of the ride we came out into the Grand Canal, and they put our gondola beside four or five others. So we were all side by side for a little while, and the gondoliers played music and sang some more songs for us. Their harmony was unbelievable. They were just standing in the gondolas singing to us.

I am completely somewhat clumsy, so I could not imagine the balance that it took to stand up in a moving gondola. I had a lot a little bit of trouble just getting in the gondola, so I cannot imagine having to stand the whole time....much less sing or play a musical instrument. Let me just say that if I had to stand up in the gondola, we would have all been in the water.

Well, after our gondola ride, we took another ferry back to the ship.
It was the most amazing night! It was everything that Melissa and I had hoped it would be.

When we entered our cabin for the night, we were greeted by these towel animals...Aren't they cute? Do you know "what" they are?...We weren't exactly sure; we thought maybe they were walruses.



We also spent the next day in Venice, and I will tell you more about that next time.

First Stop: Naples, Italy- Part Two

Yesterday, when I wrote the blog post about Naples, I was in a great deal of pain. I woke up at about 1:00 am with a terrible cramp going from what I thought was my kidney all the way down my leg. (I had a kidney infection while on the cruise.) By 7:00 am I could no longer deal with the pain, so Shannon took me to the emergency room. We spent half of the day there. They gave me some good pain meds that did stop the pain, but for some reason the entire right side of my body is numb. I am going to call my regular doctor today to get an appointment, so hopefully they can figure out what is wrong with me. I left for Europe a seemingly healthy 38 year old, but I feel like I have returned as a frail 83 year old.

Anyway, if you feel led to do so, please pray that the doctor will be able to figure out what is wrong with me. My family and I are all ready for our lives to get back to normal, and that is hard for me to do since I can't feel my leg.:)

Once I returned home last night, and saw my blog post, I realized that I left out several pictures. So today, I will repeat myself a little bit, and I will show you some new things as well.

I will start out with just a few more pictures of the Amalfi Coast. (Trust me when I tell you, the Amalfi Coast is always worth a second look.)



The color of the water was beautiful. It was so clear that you could see right through it, even from very high up.



I zoomed in so that I could show you all just how clear the water is.



And remember yesterday, when I showed you the view from the ladies room in the charming restaurant in Positano?.....Well, I forgot to show you the view from where we sat to eat dinner. One entire wall of the restaurant is windows. They even open them to let in the sea air.

(Just imagine being served delicious Italian food by gorgeous, Italian speaking men, while you are looking at this view.......All I could say while in this position was, "Well done, God!")



Before we went to Positano, we stopped in the town of Sorrento. It was very charming. All of the buildings were different colors, and like every place we saw in Italy, there were flowers everywhere.



This hotel had an amazing view of the entire town.



As we were all walking across a bridge, we looked down and saw this.



It was huge! It looked like an old castle or someone's beautiful home at one time. Now it is a home for birds and wildflowers.

My picture doesn't do this place justice. It is beautiful!



I loved the color of this home, and the tree full of fruit growing right in front of it. Italy has absolutely every kind of tree that you can imagine. (I will have many more to show you in future blog posts.)



I got very excited when I saw my first outdoor produce stand.....It all smelled so good and the colors were so vibrant. It seemed so "quaint" to me to purchase my produce from a little old Italian man on the street. (Like I've told you all before, I don't get out much.)



Look at all of the fruit and vegetables! I wanted to buy some until I saw this lady in the black shirt.



What you can't see in this picture (because of my very sharp editing skills) is what the lady is looking at. She is looking down at her dog, watching him "poop" on the street.......Right in front of all of that colorful, sweet-smelling produce.......Needless to say, I did not purchase anything at this stand. :)

First Stop: Naples, Italy

I'm going to begin telling you a bit about the trip.....I was gone for so many days and so many things happened that I will probably get some things out of order, and I may even repeat myself a lot a little. So I will just apologize to all of you ahead of time for any confusion or repetition that may take place in the upcoming posts. (Especially to Kenny, who I know falls asleep from time to time while reading this blog.) :)

I thought I would start out by showing you the cruise ship that we were on. Melissa took my picture in front of it so we could show everyone. It was called the Carnival Freedom. The Carnival Freedom was absolutely the most wonderful cruise ship that I have ever seen.....I do realize that it is the only one that I have ever seen, but you will just have to trust me when I tell you that I am certain it is the most wonderful.

I'm just saying is all.



Our first port of call was Naples, Italy. (Hi, Aleisha!) This is a picture of Melissa and I getting off of the most wonderful cruise ship. (I should probably also mention and apologize that Melissa and I took our pictures doing absolutely everything; we just wanted to share the experience with everyone is all. Trust me though.....you will love most all of the pictures.)



We basically just drove through Naples (I will tell you about the driving conditions here in a future post) and then on to Sorrento and Positano to be able to see the Amalfi Coast. This picture is me standing in front of Mt. Vesuvius; it was so beautiful. Mt. Vesuvius you may or may not know is the volcano that erupted and destroyed the ancient city of Pompeii in AD 79 (I believe). It's definitely worth looking up if you are not familiar with it.



These next two pictures were taken along the Amalfi Coast. My camera, of course, does not do this place any justice, so once again, you will just have to trust me when I tell you, "This place is breathtaking!"





The rest of the pictures that I am showing you today were taken in Positano. If you have seen the movie Under the Tuscan Sun, Positano is where Diane Lane goes with the first man that she meets and has a romance with. (Just so you know, I am full of all kinds of perfectly useless information like that. It's a gift.)

Positano is as charming as it is beautiful.
Everywhere you look is an amazing view like this one.



And I have never seen so many different types of flowers and trees in my life. All types and all colors.



We were told that all of the houses like the ones you see on the side of the mountain, you have to walk up steps to get to. The people who live in them have to park their cars on the side of the road (like I said earlier, I will talk about the driving conditions here in a future post) and walk up however many steps to get to their homes......Please understand.....It is a lot of steps.



After looking around and shopping in Positano (I'll tell you about that later too) our tour guide drove us all the way to the top of the mountain to have lunch at a local family restaurant. The name of the restaurant is painted on the plate in the next picture.....Imagine a really attractive Italian man pronouncing it for you......Sigh



This restaurant was like something right out of a movie. Nestled at the top of a mountain with an amazing view, full of very attractive Italian men, and more food than you could even imagine. And the whole place was filled with the aroma of fresh baked bread and rich tomato sauces...mmmmmmm! Each dish that was brought to our table was better than the one before; and after stuffing ourselves full......they brought out platters of desserts. It was overwhelming and wonderful.

After stuffing myself to the point of popping, I had to visit the "ladies room." Kenny and Yvette , this last picture is for you. I walked into the bathroom only to see this little picture window opened and overlooking this......



.... a bathroom with a view......only in Italy.:)