Merry Christmas!

Where can one go after Christmas Eve at King's College? I mean, how much better can it get? Alot! Tired and content after Cambridge, we slept in for once back at our friends, Michael and Todd's flat. Although we were told that Christmas would be quiet and that they didn't do much for the season (to which we said, "Fine!"), the flat was decked out for the holiday. Now it is hard to out-do the already gorgeous Georgian interior at their place but everything was warm, cozy, and festive.

The centerpiece of Christmas day was the feast that Michael worked hard to make perfect! The table was laid out and ready for the onslaught of food that was to come!

While in Paris in November, I stumbled on a small wine shop that sold a specialty champagne which I thought would be nice as a start to the meal. It was really delicious! If only we could get some here but they have such a limited production there is just no way.

Once the food started coming out, it just kept coming. We had brie and cranberries in phyllo pastry parcels. There was a seafood terrine with a french mayonnaise and toasts. The main course is shown in this picture! There were two (!) whole beef en croute from Fortnum and Mason, roasties, brussell sprouts, carrots, and french green beans. I made a gravy which was yummy as well. Though we postponed eating them until Boxing Day, I should tell you there was also a whole game pie and a ham to go along with this! Then came Michael's Christmas pudding, flaming with brandy, and served with a brandy sauce.

At this point, we were all stuffed! To keep from passing out, Jim, Todd, and I took a walk around the neighborhood as the sun was going down. We wandered to Primrose Hill, which Jim had never been to, and we joined the throngs of others from the neighborhood who had the same idea. From Primrose Hill, we had a grand view of the whole of London and watched the lights come on across the city as the sun went down behind us.

When we got back, though we hardly needed it, we ate again. I had Jim bring over the last quart of last year's mincemeat and made my mince tarts for everyone. They have heard about this mincemeat for years and they finally got to taste it. There were also delightful cheeses and a delicious port to wash it all down with. Ah Christmas....

This was among the most amazing Christmas holidays coming at the end of four of the most unusual and marvelous months of my life at Harlaxton. We left England to head for home the day after Boxing Day. It all seemed (and still does to some extent) surreal to be back in the United States. I loved my time in England. It wasn't always easy and things at Harlaxton weren't always pleasant. But it was four months in Lincolnshire...wandering the Burghley Horse Trials, climbing the steep hill of Lincoln, walking across the countryside, hanging out with members of the Belvoir Hunt, finding food at the Grantham Saturday Market, going to Orkney, France, Italy...eating at Harry's Place in Great Gonerby, Chequers in Woolsthrope, the Market in Camden...so many experiences...so much to remember. I hope you have enjoyed following my adventures here. I have enjoyed sharing my memories with you.

With warm regard,

WAM

Christmas Eve at King's

It seems like another world now but Jim and I spent Christmas Eve in Cambridge awaiting the chance to join the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College. We have listened to this service for nearly sixteen years when it has been broadcast live on the Indianapolis public radio station at 10 am on Christmas Eve. Despite the challenge of the snow, the chilly and damp weather, the need to be up very early to get to King's Cross for the train, and the prospect of standing for hours on end, we were committed to being there to be a part of the congregation at King's this year.

So, shortly before 6 am, we launched out onto the dark streets of Belsize Park in London, armed with smoked salmon sandwiches, Tyrrell's potato chips, and Oyster cards heading for the Chalk Farm tube heading to King's Cross for the 7:15 am train to Cambridge.

The train got in promptly just past 8 am and we bundled into a cab and headed to King's. It was cold and damp, this being England and there having been snow on and off all week. The snow of course made everything look picture perfect and added to the holiday spirit in the air. We marched through the gate and right to the end of the queue. We asked the porters if they knew how many people had already were there and they guessed close to 400 (of the 650 total that are allowed in). You can see the start of the queue in the second picture. There is a man, a former fellow of the College, who got there almost two days ahead to be the first in line. Six or seven others spent the night in line...all to be part of the first 150 people who can then sit in the quire of the Chapel. Since we were nowhere near the front, we were just happy to be there and even happier to discover everyone had access to the College Commons where there was coffee, tea, hot chocholate, food, and most importantly...toilets!

And so the time passed. They would not be letting people into the Chapel until 1:30 so we have a little over 5 hours in line. I thought the first 45 minutes went the slowest...it was chilly, we hadn't met those around us, and we didn't know how things would play out. But then as we did begin conversations with the delightful people around us in the queue, the time began to pass quickly. I wandered down toward the river for a little exercise and was able to take this lovely picture! This is England! What you can't see is the group of Japanese tourists who were punting down the Cam! It was a bit cold for that!

Back in line, we shared stories, food, Christmas traditions, and jokes with those around us. The family in line ahead of us were down to join their daughter who was working on a nursing degree at Cambridge. The man ahead of them had been coming to King's for this service since 1969! Now that's commitment! He and I concurred that the 2008 service was awful...too much modern music, too dissonant...apparently many people who heard or were at the service had complained so he was interested to see what they would do this year. The guys behind us just moved to Cambridge and were now living in a house about a ten minute walk from Kings (They also had a house in Yorkshire...as you do)! Lucky men!

There was lots of activity around us too. The choristers came marching by at one point in their top hats, scarves, and robes.

Around noon, the adult members of the choir showed up. That's them in the picture below. They all had Santa-style hats or in one case a hat with reindeer antlers. It was wonderful. They were wandering up and down the queue singing all the old campy Christmas songs, like Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Rudolph, and many others. What a treat to hear them doing these types of songs when we kneww they would be taking us to the heights of Christmas ecstasy with the traditional religious carols in just a few more hours.

Before we knew it, it was 1:30 pm and the line was marching toward to the Chapel. We had amazing seats. We had only a partial view into the main part of the chapel but who cares! It was King's College Chapel! We stood for the Mayor and other officials as they entered in procession. Then came the choir led by the crucifer and tapers and the service got underway at 3 pm. There we were...knowing many of our friends were listening to the service back home. We were together for Christmas through that service across the miles. The service was everything one could every want. Apparently responding to the public outcry, we were given an ultra-traditional service with all the favorite carols. Even the unusual and contemporary pieces fit in with the others. There was nothing that sounded out of place...it was a choral Christmas banquet and we were there for it!

This was a Christmas experience of a lifetime and was one of the centerpieces of this year's Christmas season. So while we are now home and getting ready for the next big liturgical season of Lent, I look back and think wow...I was there.

Roman Holiday

The final segment of my Italian excursion was three days in Rome...the Eternal City. This is one place I had never been to before and it was totally overwhelming. Though I had planned to spend all of my time exploring Imperial Rome, I found myself on our first afternoon in the middle of the Vatican watching them put up the Chirstmas tree and (behind canvas tents, hidden until Christmas Eve) the giant nativity scene.

I was amazed first by the lack of crowds since in any picture of St. Peter's Square I have ever seen there are always thousands of people. Ian, Michael, and I decided to go to Mass there but had some time to wander through St. Peter's and see the amazing architecture (Michelangelo's dome) and art (Michelangelo's Pieta and the 13th century statue of Saint Peter). We walked through the crypt where the popes are buried. Under the Baldiccino and high altar is the tomb of Saint Peter. It was amazing to stop and say prayers there. Also down there happened to be Prince James, the son of James II of England who was forced into exile and eventually died in Rome. When we went to Mass in one of the side chapels of the Basilica, it happened to be the place where, by tradition, Saint Peter was crucified. Pretty cool, huh?

The next morning we were off early to get to the Vatican museum to spend the morning. Once again, no crowds. We walked right in with no wait. The Museum is almost beyond belief. It has Etruscan, Egyptian, and Greek antiquities, tapesries, Roman statues like that of Neptune above, maps, painting, and on and on and on. Of course the highlights of the museum are the frescoes by Raphael and the Sistine Chapel, the latter having frescoes by Raphael, Boticelli, Signorelli, as well as Michelangelo's famed ceiling. It was great to be able to sit along the stone benches along the walls in the Sistine Chapel and just take it all in. I spent about forty-five minutes just trying to look at each of the intricate paintings. All I could think of was the movie, 'The Agony and the Ecstasy," with Rex Harrison yelling "When will it be done?" at Charleton Heston who replies "When I am finished." I should say that outside of the Vatican is an amazing pizzeria. You buy the pizza per 100 grams...about a 7" square of pizza of every conceivable variety." They cut it into small strips and you took it outside on the street to eat while trying not to be pestered by the people pushing faux designer clothes and handbags on the visitors.

Okay so after wandering the Vatican Museum for the day, we found an unbelievable place to eat dinner: "Ristorante da Vincenzo" not too far from the train station. This was a family-run place specializing in seafood. We walked in and were grateful to be seated considering that the place was packed! Now we had passed many other restaurants on the same street that had one table of diners at most. We knew we made the right choice. The antipasti was mixed seafood salads: a small taste of five of their cold dishes including fresh anchovies in olive oil, tiny squid, a crab salad, prawns and tomatoes, and octopus. Each was unique and beautiful. There was a pasta course, a main course of turbot, and a dessert called a Mont Blanc...like a giant circular eclair without the chocolate on top. It was great, as was the tiramisu. We went back to the hotel very very happy!

The next morning we were off again. It was raining just a bit when we started so we decided to start with a tour of some key churches. We went to Santa Maria Maggiore and San Pietro in Vincoli. Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the grandest basilicas of Rome with Byzantine mosaics, medieval bell towers, and the Renaissance ceiling. Gorgeous. The real treat was San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains) where, sure enough, there was a golden shrine with crystal sides containing the shackles that by tradition were those that Saint Peter wore in prison only to be released by an angel. It just seems to keep getting more and more over the top!

After popping into a couple of other churches, the sky cleared and we headed to the center of Imperial Rome: The Colosseum, the Forum, and the Palatine Hill. So, on one hand, I expected the Colosseum to be much bigger but the longer I wandered around it inside and out the more striking it was. Trying to imagine it as I had seen it portrayed in all those movies about ancient Rome...full of screaming people, the clash of swords, and the noise of animals. Again, it was a place where you could just stand still for ages taking it all in.

From there we wandered up the hil to what remains of the Roman Forum. This is just one vast collection of the ruins of old Roman buildings and temples. It gave me chills to walk in all that history. There are two pictures here just to show you something of it. The first shows what those wacky Christians thought would be a good way to get everyone to swap out the old gods and goddesses for the new ones...build the church to the new god right inside the temple of the old one. Everyone is coming there anyway so what's the difference. As we read the tour books and talked, we learned that most of this was underground and was in fact still being excavated. That might explain why the door to the church (it is that blue-green door) is so high up!

Since it was almost the Saturnalia (the feast of Saturn the Roman's celebrated in December), I though it was appropriate to go say a prayer at the Temple of Saturn. When in Rome, after all...

We did wander up the Palantine Hill where the old Imperial Palaces overlooked the city. From the gardens at the top, you get this amazing view back down to the Forum.

By the time I had taken in as much of Imperial Rome as I could, I headed back to the hotel for a nap and then went back to Ristorante da Vincenzo yet again...alone this time...for another lovely meal. This night, I had the Italian equivalent of sole meuniere. I needed more of the mixed seafood antipasti too. I forgot to say earlier that one of the things that made the place so special was the mother and father who moved around the dining room checking on how the customers were doing and sometimes helping to serve. Their adult children were also serving so clearly this was a family business and they cared about what they were doing!

On our last day in Rome, we began again with churches. We started with the Panthenon, the temple to all the gods and goddesses that Hadrian built after the first century BCE temple on the site burned down. The picture above is the oculous...the only source of light. The dome was once covered in gold which has since gone on to be recycled in the various churches and basilicas of the city over the centuries. Again, in a moment of reflection, all of these ancient sites were raided for their marble and gold which are now visible in the Christian churches and buildings. It made me wonder what it must have looked like when it was intact!

I wandered off on my own to see a few other ruins in the city and to go to the Roman National Museum which is where all of the Roman statuary, ceramics, tile mosaics, and other art is housed. On the way, I passed the massive monument dedicated to Victor Emmanuel, the King of Italy who is credited with unifying the country. The momument is awesome and does give a hint at what all of ancient Rome must have looked like when all those ruins still had their facades of while marble in place. This is also where the tomb of the unknown soldier is located so it is a central national memorial.

Continuing on toward the museum, I passes Trajan's colomn and his markets which are one of the wonders of the ancient world.

One of the last sites I went to were the Baths of Diocletion. These were right in front of the train station and were a vast set of buildings that were turned into a monastery and church (imagine my surprise). Now, the Baths house a collection of statuary and these just seem to go on forever. This last picture was taken in the cloister behind the Baths just as the sun was going down...the signal I needed to get back to the hotel and get ready to head to the airport and back to London. What a great last view to take with me.

Postscript: I learned that a group of male students spent 190 euro drinking all day at the Hard Rock Cafe...ostensibly because they didn't have money to go to any museums or other historic sites. Can you believe it? That's how you spend your last day in Rome??? We also were delayed leaving Rome so got back to Heathrow at 11 pm only to discover there were no baggage handlers in Terminal 4! People who had arrived two or three hours before were still waiting for their luggage which did eventually come out but seemingly at a rate of one plane every three hours. If you decided you wanted British Airways to forward your luggage to you in London (yeah right!), there was a two hour wait in the queue. It was sheer chaos! Meanwhile our students resorted to elementary school taking rides on the empty conveyor belts and playing some sort of makeshift kickball game. We were trapped without any way to get food or drinks since those things were all on the other side of the customs door and we couldn't get back in once we left. I kept my hopes up that the luggage would appear before 2 am and I'd be able to get on the tube at Heathrow and get into London before the trains stopped running. My luggage appeared at exactly 4 am! I couldn't wait another hour just to get the first train back into London so I thought I'd bite the bullet and get a cab. Bad idea! A cab at 4 am on a Friday night runs at a higher rate than during the day. My ride to my friend's flat cost me a cool 84 pounds...you read that right...$140! But by this point, bidding farewell to the students and getting back to sanity was what mattered most so there you go.

Florence

After the scrumptuous meal at Pegasus in Fiesole on Saturday night, we had two glorious days before us in Florence, or Firenze in Italian. As with Venice, the last time I was here was in 1986, so I anticipated the chance to visit alot of the places that I remembered seeing on that trip. After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we wandered down to the River Arno...something I never did actually see on that first visit. Of course before we got there, one inevitably must make a pilgrimage to the Duomo, the architectural and spiritual center of the city. As it was Sunday, the bells of all the churches were peeling, calling everyone to worship on this the third Sunday of Advent.

We resisted their call and got ourselves to the Ponte Vecchio, the old bridge covered with jewelry shops. As you can see in these pictures, we have a lovely sunny morning. Ian, Michaela, and I wandered along the Arno enjoying the sights. Ian and Michaela were going to wander through the Uffizi art gallery but as I had been there once before I decided to seek out the antique shops I learned that were on the south side of the Arno near the Pitti Palace. Peaking into the jewelry shops along the Ponte Vecchio was amazing too. Gold everywhere. I fell in love with what appeared to be a small ivory cameo of Diana, goddess of the hunt. It was gorgeously carved. I went into the shop to get a closer view. The piece was from the middle of the 1800s and turned out to be a piece of egg-shell colored piece of lava rock. I would have snapped it up in a second until I found out it was a little out of my price range...to say the least. I decided from that point not to get my hopes to high at the idea of finding some small antique to take home.

As I wandered through the narrow streets, I discovered the parish church of St. Mark, the Anglican Church in Florence. It was a lovely gothic revival chapel and Mass had only just begun. I decided to stay through the service. They had an English vicar who was new but enthusiastically invited everyone to sample some mince tarts after the service. It has been easy to forget that Advent is moving along while we are traveling so it was good to have this moment to stop and reflect. All of the antique shops were closed when I got to them after the service but I did stumble on a flea market in front of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Holy Spirit (Sancto Spirito). They had all kinds of things for sale...from junk to antique prints and engravings to local cheeses and antipasti makings. It was alot of fun to wander through.

From there, I wandered back over the Arno and found my way to Santa Croce, the famous church where Dante, Michelangelo, and Gallileo are all buried and where the famous frescos of Giotto adorn the chapels of the church. That's the front of it in the photo above. All I could think of was the scene from "A Room with a View" with Helena Bonham Carter. Her character, Lucy Honeychurch, is being pestered by one of the tour guides and then guided through Santa Croce by Denholm Elliot who, when the English vicar comments that the church was built by faith that: "Built by faith indeed, that just means the workers weren't paid properly."

Outside the church, Dante presides over the piazza where there was a wonderful Christmas market taking place. There was food for sale, butchers, bakers, confectioners were all there in force. There was mulled wine for sale and plenty of boths hawking items to help fill Christmas stockings.

The picture here is the front of a palazzo on the south shore of the Arno. I wandered back there the next day still trying to find an open antique shop. Isn't it incredible? The intricate murals were so amazing! You could have just sat down on the street and gazed up at it for hours looking at the designs.

On the Monday, I took off by myself and wandered through the Central Market to see all the fresh produce, meats, fish, and flowers available to the residents of Florence. I watched a man in one booth bring out a huge stuffed pork roast, probably 5-7 pounds, and start carving it into crusty rolls for the people, mostly local workers on their morning breaks, who could have it with a slathering of either tomato sauce or pesto. It smelled incredible. I was in sensory overload after just a little while. I couldn't even decide on anything to buy...balsalmic vinegar? cheese? olives? dried tomatoes? wine? prociutto? salami? How is one to choose? I just savored the views.

From there, it was out into the market of San Lorenzo. The smells change from those lovely foods to the intoxicating smell of leather since that is one of the things this famous Florence market is known for. It happens to be the place I bought myfirst leather jacket all those years ago. This time, I enjoyed the sights and settled on buying Jim a new wallet for Christmas. He loves it! I strolled down the streets, popping into a small shop to have an expresso and drool over the sweets in the cases feeling quite like a true Italiano. From there, I was at the heart of it all: the Duomo! Here are the lovely views of the white, pink, and green marble facade! I remember sitting on the steps out in front back in 1986 singing old Bob Marley songs with a bunch of young people gathered there. Memories!

I end this entry with a view of the street toward the Piazza Vecchio at night. It was beautiful. We wandered here after dinner and came upon a free Christmas concert in a small church. An early music group was performing a variety of choral and instrumental works for Christmas. It was such a treat to spend a night in Florence with this musical treat!

Fiesole

After two days in Venice, the Harlaxton tour took us on by coach to Florence. It was a lovely three-hour ride down through Bologna and into Tuscany. We got in to Florence around 1 pm and had most of the rest of the day to ourselves. Once again, I tagged along with Ian and Michaela who suggested visiting Fiesole, a village up on the northern hills overlooking Florence. It was Ian's 46th birthday and he wanted to return to a restaurant there to celebrate. I naturally agreed and we got on the Number 7 bus in the Piazza San Marco and off we went.

Sadly, on our way to the bus, we passed a group of Harlaxton students...all boys, leaving the train station with bags from McDonalds, heading back to the hotel. That said it all. Here we were, our first day in Florence, and the only thing these kids wanted was to eat a Big Mac in their hotel room. One hopes they will grow up to regret that decision! Sigh.

Amazingly, Fiesole was settled but the Etruscans about 4000 years ago. It was their most important city and there are still walls and two tombs there. The Romans also settled the area and built villas, an ampitheatre, and a massive bath house up on the hill side which we spent our time wandering through as the sun slowly set in the west.

While I have seen the ruins of Roman roads in Provence and plenty of Roman antiquities in museums, this was my first encounter with seeing the remains of ampitheatres and villas in situ. We could wander around the old pools, the cauldarium (the hot baths), the tepidarium (the lukewarm rooms), and the frigidarium (the cold rooms. We stood on the stage of the ampitheatre and tried our best to recite bits of Marc Antony's "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" speech.

Over near the villa, there were two old altars. Ian was under the misapprehension that the Romans sacrificed humans so he decided to offer himself on the altar. Michaela and I just shook our heads.

After the ruins, we wandered back to the town square and followed the signs up a steep hill to the Convento di San Francesco, an old convent with a spectacular view down into Florence. Interestingly, the convent was built on an old acropolis, the foundations of which you can see if you visit the convents museum. The museum was quite a surprise. It contained a huge collection of Japanese porcelain from the days one of the Franciscan friars was a missionary. There was a pair of plates with exquisite winter scenes on them that I would have grabbed in a heartbeat! I was beginning to sense how important it was to go off the beaten path and find these kinds of surprises.

By the time we got back to the Piazza, the sun had set and the local ambulance service was having a Christmas fund raiser...roasting chestnuts and selling Christmas breads and cakes. The whole village seemed to have turned out just to spend time chatting over some mulled wine. I am guessing we were the only non-residents in the bunch. When they turned on the Christmas tree and the children all gathered to sing Christmas carols you felt you were in a movie...an Italian one of course.

Dinner at Pegusus was everything Ian promised. We had beautiful antipasti...a pate spread on crusty bread, a pasta course of delicious seafood, and then the main event. Ian wanted bistecca , a thick porterhouse style steak for which this restaurant has a reputation. What came out was a steak that had to be close to 3 pounds. They put it down on a cutting board and artfully carve all the meat off the bones before presenting us with all of it. The steak was rare...they only just show it to the flames according to Ian and there was probably enought meat for 4 or 5 people realistically. I ate as much as I could but there was still at least a 6-8 oz portion left. I could manage it. I knawed one of the bones but that was it. I accepted an expresso but feared having one more bite of food...yes, think Mr. Creosote from Monty Python's Meaning of Life. We rolled out of the restaurant...more than sated and waited in the now cold wind for a bus that we thought would never come. We headed back down the hill into Florence content that we had really found the locals and enjoyed a village's pre-Christmas celebrations up in the Tuscan hills! No McDonalds for us!

Venezia

At long last...I am returning for a few post-script entries to the Harlaxton story. It seems amazing that it is nearly a month since I last wrote here and even looking at these pictures from Venice makes even this short trip to Italy seem to have happened lightyears ago. I apologize for the delay but as you can imagine, by the time I returned to England, the Christmas festivities were upon me and there was no time to get back to story-telling.

So...I pick up our tale from our last conversation beginning with a little drama. The coaches departed on schedule with only one unfortunate incident involving four very intoxicated students who were allowed to board the bus despite being explicitly told that no one would be allowed to do so if they even had the faintest whiffs of alcohol on their breath. One of these students was so out of it that he left his backpack holding his passport, cell phone, wallet, and who knows what else at Harlaxton. This all happened for reasons I will not discuss here but let me say that I am glad I didn't have to endure that coach trip to Heathrow with them. This delinquent's backpack went on our coach which left the manor at 3 am and he was instructed to meet us at the airport or else his pack would return to Harlaxton again. Imagine our surprise when he didn't turn up. As planned, the coach left with his stuff aboard. When he did show up later than he was told to...and now more sober and panicked...he begged us to do something but all that could be done was to call the coach driver who thankfully hadn't gotten far out of London again and have him turn around and bring the student's stuff back to Heathrow. I assume he eventually got his things back and so could leave the UK for home. From then on I had my sights set on my nine days in Italy and our first stop: Venice!

As I hope the opening picture communicates, Venice was one of the most beautiful places and December was clearly the time to be there. Although the weather can be quite rainy, we had a reasonable amount of sun and no rain. Given the time of year, we shared the city with the locals and relatively few tourists.

We got into town on Thursday (Dec. 10) afternoon, were checked into our hotel, and set off to explore. I spent much of my time wandering with Ian, the Harlaxton staff person who was "in charge" (he is in the picture with me here) and his daughter Michaela. We walked the circuitous streets of Venice...over bridges, down alleys, always following the yellow signs that directed one to the Rialto bridge, San Marco, or back to the train station. If you have not been to Venice, it is a small city but you can easily lose your sense of direction (one bridge over a canal looks like all the others) so seeing these signs always provided a sense of comfort that you were going the right way.

Now I was last in Venice 23 years ago on my post-college grand tour of Europe in 1986. I was with two women classmates of mine and we had all of about six hours in Venice...enough time to get on a boat, go down the Grand Canal to San Marco, and then wander the church before heading back up the canal to catch a train to Florence. That was in June. There were mobs of people and pigeons everywhere. Imagine how surprising it was to see the piazza empty! It was wonderful! Walking along in front of the beautiful doors to the church under the Campanila virtually alone in the late afternoon was just spectacular. We decided to go into the Doge's Palace, the old center of political power, to see the beautiful rooms with their grand murals. Once the sun began to set, the temperature dropped so we set our sights on dinner. Of course, after three months of Harlaxton, I was ready to dive in to the cuisine of Italy. We took it slow on the first night: collecting an assortment of things to have a bit of a picnic in the hotel. Lovely prociutto, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, cheeses, and crusty breads washed down with delicious wines from the Veneto (the region around Venice) made a perfect first meal. Of course we topped it off with gelato! Ah how I had forgotten how wonderful it can be. I chose scoops of 70% cocoa-dark chocolate and pistachio for my first round. A combination made in heaven!

Our first full day in Venice started early with a boat ride down the Grand Canal toward the island of Murano, known most as the place where Venice glass is made. There a shops and galleries all over the small island but the further away from the docks you go, the less touristy the shops become and the less expensive the glass gets as well. I only took one picture on Murano it is the one with the bell tower standing behind a blue star sculpture. The star is made entirely out of handblown glass. The shops were full of the most amazing glass pieces...from the sublime and intricate to the tacky and absurd. Everything could be had for a price though and most dealers were happy to haggle with you. I tried my hand at this in the shop where I purchased a small cobalt blue vase with a tracery of grapes and ivy handpainted in gold around the edge and was promptly told that there was no cost reduction in that shop...I at least tried!

We took the vaporetto (one of the water taxis) the long way back around the far edge of the islands to San Marco again. As you can see in the picture, there was just an amazing view of the gondolas in their blue covers that just made a gorgeous view out toward the other islands and San Giorgio Maggiore which is also the view in the last picture...taken just before sunset.

Venice was a wonderful city. In hindsight, I think one of the other things that made Venice special was the lack of automobile traffic. One either walked everywhere or took the vaporetto. Of course the food was also wonderful. The fresh thin-crust pizzas, the seafood dishes, and the regional wines were all stellar. It was a perfect beginning to life after Harlaxton.