Gondola! Venice! Need I Say More?

Today was my favorite day.

We got into Venice right on time to experience Acqua Alta or "High Water", the flooding that occurs in the winter months in Venice due to high tides. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acqua_alta

I was prepared and had brought along galoshes, unfortunately they are kid's galoshes (I have small feet and children's shoes are cheaper which I sometimes take advantage of).  So, they were too short for the peak of Acqua Alta and I very nearly got wet feet on the side streets.

It was an experience.  And one that if you have never experienced yet, you never will.  Venice is building flood gates to prevent feature flooding that will be in place by the end of 2015.  In the meantime the Venetians cope by walking around on risers wearing gumboots or full waders.

After a little tromping around in the water we headed to a Murano glass factory to watch a glass blowing demonstration.  It was pretty amazing watching this guy whip out a vase and a horse in under 10 minutes like it was a piece of cake.  I imagine glass blowing is a lot like the pottery wheel - it looks easy but is a complete disaster for the rest of us (most of us).

 
We then saw the Basilica of St. Mark - flooded and under restoration but still beautiful

We did a little touring around St. Mark's square and near vicinity

And then went for a ride in a gondola

It was amazing.  I had that big dopey smile on my face the whole ride.  Riding in a gondola in Venice was pretty much the whole point of the trip for me.  One item on my bucket list checked off.

As if that was not enough experience for one day.  After our gondola ride it was back on the bus to head to Florence.  As we made our way we stared into the rolling hills of Tuscany.  It was so beautiful I am very sad that I wasn't able to get any good pictures from the bus. 

We wrapped up the day with a tour of Machiavelli's house and winery followed by a fantastic dinner.

I don't think this day will be beat for a long, long time.

They Tell Me I Visited the Top of a Mountain

This morning was yet another early one.  We had to be on the bus by 7 so that we would be on the train platform to Mt. Rigi for the 8:10 train as we are in the German part of Switzerland and the Germans are never late.  Except for this morning apparently as the train left at 8:12 am.

It was very foggy out, we could barely see 20 feet ahead of us let alone the top of the mountain.  Jelle assured us that the fog should lift by mid-morning that the view would be spectacular.

The train was heated, so the 45 minute ride to the top of the mountain was at least warm.

Getting to the top was pretty anti-climatic.  The fog prevented us from being able to see anything.  We were joking that we could have been anywhere since we couldn't actually see the top of the mounting.

Unfortunately the fog never lifted, so no spectacular views.  The highlights of the trip were seeing people who have never seen snow play in the snow and that we made a new friend - Cow.

We took a cable car down the mountain.  That was admittedly a little fun, it would have been more fun if we could actually see anything through the fog.  At the foot of the mountain was a lake and a cute mountain town.

 

Then it was back on the bus for another long ride to Venice.

Right after the Italian border we stopped at a rest stop to get some lunch.  Our driver's wife met him with clean laundry and took his dirty laundry back with her.  That was pretty cute.

We received our first taste of Italy - chaos.  Chaos combined with loud passionate-sounding talking and no respect for lines.  Whatsoever.  Lines in Italy are a wide and a few people deep.  The parking situation is also chaos.  They park wherever they want - sidewalks, medians, blocking people in.  If there is 6 feet of open space, there is a spot to park.

Our hotel in Venice was OK.  Unfortunately we were staying were 80% of Venetians actually live - not in the lagoon.  So, after a 1/2 boat ride in we finally got to see the real Venice, and it was beautiful.

We first took a ride down the Grand Canal.

Then we walked around St. Mark's Square.

Tomorrow we come back to see glass blowing and GO ON A GONDOLA RIDE.  So excited :)

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.” ― Charles M. Schulz

Today started out pretty early again, especially after not getting back to the hotel until almost 1 am.  While Mark and I were able to drag our tired asses out of bed and get on the bus on time, again, a large portion of our group (even ones that DID NOT go out with us last night) were not able to do so.

Jelle was not happy.

You see, the tour directors are not horrible assholes that just enjoy torturing everyone by making them get out of bed early on vacation, they are making everyone get up early because we have another really long travel day ahead of us and we are trying to beat morning traffic out of Paris.

Due to our late start we failed, and we failed miserably.

There was an accident that delayed us another 30 minutes.

Now Jelle is really not happy.

You see, the buses are equipped with a black box of sorts that tracks speeds and break times.  The drivers are not allowed to speed to make up time and there are very strict laws governing the driver's total driving time and required breaks.  So, it is not like there are really opportunities to make up time that is lost in traffic or not leaving on time.

We finally rolled into Lucerne around 5:00 pm (only about an hour later than we were supposed to).  After a VERY luggage drop off at the hotel and a quick drive around town and a quick look at the monument there, we headed downtown so that we could do a little shopping.  We arrived downtown about 6 pm.  This wouldn't have been a big deal except for the fact that ALL OF THE SHOPS CLOSED at 6:30.

The worst part was that Mark and I thought they closed at 7 and we started at the crappy tourist souvenir shop.  When we left there are 6:30 we passed window after dark window of what looked like really neat little shops with antiques, chocolates, lace, and other things that we would have bought if only those shops were open.

That sucked.

It was cold and drizzling when Jelle rounded us all up again to walk across the covered bridge and back to the hotel.

What little we saw of Lucerne seemed charming and like it was a place that we would like to visit again.

Another Two Week Wait Begins

We received an email this morning from India.  It contained our transfer report.

Yesterday they thawed our remaining two embryos in India and today they transferred both to our surrogate.

Between yesterday and today they both divided once - I hope that this is a good sign.

I am trying to be hopeful, but it is hard.

I am also trying not to really think about this right now since it is our vacation and I would like to continue living in my happy stress-free nonreality for a few more days.

“We'll always have Paris.”

Today was a great day.  It was one of the only days that we got a later start (yay!!).  It ended up being a bit later than it was supposed to be due to some of our group being late (again).  We started by sightseeing and photo ops.

We then went to the Eiffel Tower.

Our trip was complete with a trip to top (yay!), but the bar was closed so we couldn't have a glass of champagne (boo!).  Acutally I guess that we were lucky to be able to go to the top as apparently it is not always open.

We were told to be on the bus by noon.  At noon we noticed that several people were not on the bus.  Slowly people started filtering on.  Hmmm....there's the couple that was left behind on our London tour, apparently they have not learned.  It is now 12:15 and Jelle is not happy.  He is now headed back to the Eiffel Tower to try and round people up.  At 12:30 we (finally) left 4 people short.  We are now 1/2 hour late for our tour of The Louvre, meaning that we just missed 1/2 hour of our tour.

The Louvre was amazing.  We saw the Mona Lisa (although from a ways away), the Venus De Milo, and Victory.  Plus, the lunch that we had there was amazaing - complete with wine :)

After The Louvre we ditched the group and headed out on our own for important business.  We needed to put our padlock on the "Love Lock Bridge" and throw they key into the Seine to signify our everlasting love.  OK I am a bit of a romantic.

After that we headed to Notre Dame.

We stopped at a bistro, had a glass of wine, and headed back to the hotel to get ready for a big night out at Le Moulin Rouge.