Musings from Venice . . .

Rather than going on-and-on with narrative, here are some highlights of our most unforgettable moments since last we wrote yesterday evening, thinking that our action-packed day of hiking to Monterossa was about to close (how wrong we were!) . . .

• gelato down at the Mediterranean watching the "locals" play their 11 pm water polo game under the stars on a warm summer evening . . .
• countless encounters with the enchanting natives in Vernazza, both the very young children playing together in the piazza till midnight and the colorful older folks alongside (but way too many speedos than we care to mention!)
• the cool breeze off the ocean as we lazily relaxed while Kara hatched her plan on how to meet the cute waiter from the previous night's dinner . . .
• finally saying goodbye to Lars and Anna (our newlywed friends from Seattle) and reluctantly heading back up to our cozy retreat, but wait . .
• Kara and Kristen (the parent-appointed chaperone) invited to join the cute waiter and his friends (none nearly as cute as you, Danny) at the bar !?!?!?!?
• Kara's short-lived romance with Simon (due to mom and dad's return to the scene), but not before being capped with a kiss!!!!
• 4 hours of sleep later, an early morning train to Bologna, then another to Venice
• checking into this very cool B&B we have all to ourselves for the next two days, complete with wi-fi (thus the long-winded writing!)
• exploring the labyrinth of calles through the town, finding yet another fabulous restaurant to tempt our tastebuds (yummy sardines for starters)
• another late-night hike, this time across canals and over bridges getting hopelessly lost but not minding a bit!
• more gelato
• tired legs but happy hearts (especially Kara's!)

One more day ahead of us in Italy - only wish you all were here to enjoy this with us. We're having such a good time but Dorothy was right, "there's no place like home . . ." Time to finish up and fall asleep listening to the breeze blow in through the shuttered windows up here on the second floor. We thank our blessings for this trip, but mostly for each of you . . .