Europe Trip: Venice, Italy

We had a day at sea on Friday and then Saturday morning we left the ship a final time in Venice.
We made our way to our hotel to drop off our bags and then wandered around the city.
Our last cruise began and ended in Venice, so this time it wasn't new to us.
But Venice is always beautiful and this time it was sunny.

{the hotel where we stayed}

This time we didn't go into St. Mark's, but we went up to the top of the nearby tower to get views of the whole city.

{one of those ships was ours, Venice is obviously a major cruise port}

{Venice has the prettiest doors, I'm obsessed and want one for my own}
 

{a da Vinci display at a church}

{the area is known for it's glass}

{these bugs were glass too}

 {Curt is adorable and always carries my purse so I can take pictures easier}

 {our room was kind of vampire-y, I loved it}

The next morning we took a bus to the airport for the 10 hour flight home.

Hard to put into words what being able to see so many places means to us. It's a privilege, one that hopefully helps to open our viewpoints from just our life experience, but it also helps me to appreciate home. We were so happy to have our babies back in our arms and so thankful to mom for taking such good care of them.

 

Europe Trip: Catania, Italy (Sicily)

Catania didn't leave a good impression on my mind.
So I was surprised when I went back to my pictures and saw gorgeous things.
Just know that there were many gross things I didn't take pictures of...namely, dog poop everywhere, pervasive garbage and cigarette butts, and the occasional large splash of vomit.
If you ever happen to book this same cruise, do the excursions at this port that take you somewhere else.
I heard that Taormina was lovely and Mount Etna was interesting to see.

{notice the volcanic rock...this city is at the base of a volcano and has been buried a couple of times, keeps getting rebuilt}

 

We went back to the ship as some people were still just getting off, so we practically had the place to ourselves. And we may or may not have gotten some sunburn to prove it (in spite of the sunscreen we used).

That night was our second formal night at dinner.

And then we're (mostly me) sticks in the mud and instead of going to shows we cozy up with books.

 {me, happy to get that silly lipstick off}