Jun 13, 2017
We were home by 1:PM Sunday. As we unpacked I asked Colin to contact our chiropractor as I was in tremendous pain. Lugging my rolling carry on behind me had set off something in my right shoulder area. I noticed it as we boarded the flight in Venice and it just got worse. Even Tylenol 3 would not touch it, not even wine. I just dealt with the pain as I had no choice. I envied Colin sleeping on the flight from Toronto to Vancouver as I could not even lay back against the seat. Both Venice and Toronto airports are a zoo with miles of walking involved. We are so fortunate to have a chiropractor who will see us at anytime, even on a Sunday at her home office. My muscles had done something and I was bone on bone in one area of my shoulder and I had a rib head poking out. So glad I saw her as the pain has receded but I still have twinges and need to carry on with heat and ice.
We had made a quick stop at Costco on the way to her home for a few groceries as the fridge was bare. Just as we were getting in the car to leave Costco I spotted something silver on the ground. It was a white gold diamond tennis bracelet. I picked it up and brought it home with us. Yesterday morning I called Costco to report that I had found a bracelet in case it had been reported lost. Not fifteen minutes later I received a phone call. The lady described her bracelet between sobs. It was a very special gift from her husband and she was overwrought with the loss.
Not a good photo but still you can see it is a lovely piece.
As is turns out Alvira was coming our way later in the day. She came and it was obvious that she was the owner. She even brought a photo of her wearing it.
She was ecstatic to get it back as you can see by her smile. She really wants us to meet her family so perhaps we will meet one day in a few weeks for lunch. She has three young children and one is graduation in a week so she is busy.
It was such a nice feeling to be able to help this lovely lady. A warm fuzzy ending to the story.
We spent yesterday getting caught up with home and business things. Is a few days I should have time to start posting about our trip.
Jun 11, 2017
We are still not home. All went well from Venice to Toronto except for the non stop crying of an infant right next to us. Boarding our fight to Vancouver was without incident and we endured 30 minutes of waiting before pushing off only to stop five minutes later re a mechanical incident. A repair was done. We were almost at the runway when we had another mechanical light come on. Eventually our flight was determined to be non flight worthy due to a malfunction re hydraulics and flaps. Several hours later we took off on another aircraft. The delay made us miss our final connection from Vancouver to Kelowna. We overnighted in Vancouver and are at the gate right now hoping to catch our final flight home. Fingers crossed………
Jun 09, 2017
The last five hours have been magical. No photos till we get home 🙄 However we started the evening about 7:20PM at a canal side restaurant just off San Marco with a Spritz. From there we moved onto a wonderful bottle of Pinot Grigio ( Laguna something ) and our pasta primi followed by a gourmet secondi. All the while we watched the sunset and the full moon rise over the entrance to the Grand Canal. It was an extraordinary dinner with breathtaking scene after scene unfolding before us. The next table ordered a yellow colored drink after dinner. I later asked about it. It was limoncello, an after dinner digestive. It tasted like lemon meringue pie my favorite. It was very good but we were served a specific amount in a chilled bottle and we just kept enjoying it until it was empty. We only later discovered that it was 20 Euro and 26% alcohol 😯 I won’t tell you how much our dinner cost, but enough for Kevin and Ruth to fly around the world at least once. It got us as far as the Piazza San Marco where we walked from orchestra to orchestra to enjoy the music until they all shut down at midnight. I did say magical! We danced a foxtrot, a rhumba, a jive and most wonderful of all, a Viennese waltz which we haven’t done for years and years. We were not ready for the evening to end. It was fun being the only couple on the piazza dancing around and around. I wish we had enough magic so be able to stay here yet one one day. However it is time for this Cinderella to leave the ball and get back to reality.
It is 1AM Saturday morning, we are packed, I need to shower and off to bed. Up early and off to catch an 8:43AM boat to the airport. Here are just a few random photos that Colin took and has given me to share with you.
We had a very lovely lunch here before heading into a museum.
As we ere eating dinner one evening, we noticed this odd fellow across the way feeding pigeons, note the upper left corner, they would land on his shoulder and everywhere in the shop but worst of all in the weigh scale under his hands which he would then use to weigh fruit for his customers. Yuck!
The best pizza ever in Burano.
Jun 09, 2017
These are just quick snaps for you to enjoy. Proper posts will be forthcoming once I am home and suitably recovered from this whirlwind trip.
We started the day with views from the top of the bell tower in San Marco Square.
So many narrow alleys to navigate through. We have gotten turned around a few times and one particular evening we went in circles.
Colin snapped this of me on our way to catch the boat.
No, not this one.
After several hours of walking around Murano known for its glass we stopped for a lovely lunch. So many lovely pieces and we did buy a few small items. That blue thing under the far umbrella is huge pieces of glass art in varying shades of blue.
DHL delivers.
Next stop was Burano known for its lace and very colorful homes. Colin got rather carried away here with photography. I finally just sat an outdoor cafe and nursed a few glasses of wine. Once he was done we enjoyed the best pizza ever. If it wasn’t so far we would go there again tonight for our final meal in Italy. I’m sure to do an entire post just with Colin’s photos.
The leaning bell tower of the old church off the main square. We stayed late and were able to see the tourists leave and the locals emerge to enjoy their island again. It must be horrible to have to endure an evasion of loud and rude tourists day after day. The transformation was very moving and we were so fortunate to experience it.
Likely my only Venetian sunset.
A shot from a few days ago. Of course this fabulous photo was taken by Colin. Murano and Burano have a very different feel than Venice.
Sadly it is time to head out for our last full day in Venice. The week went quickly but also seemed to be going very slowly as we were able to see so much each day.
