Murano

Sorry this is a day late! I wasn't able to post last night as we were packing to head up to Rome, where I'm writing from to you now.

So, kiddos I FINALLY got to go to Murano! Yes, I saw them blowing glass. Yes, dad and I were like little kids, totally fascinated as we watched wide eyed. There are a lot of different furnaces you can choose to watch from, but we kind of just stumbled into one and started up. Sophie, you can't imagine how surprised and excited we were when the artisan created an owl! And Sarah, at the very end, he blew a giant glass bubble and then popped it on the floor, making the sound of shattering glass!

When we were done there, dad and I took a water taxi back to the main square of Venice.  Peter and Abbie were spending the day with friends, so we had some time to kill. We decided to go to a museum, thinking it would take up 20-30 minutes to get through. The entrance price was steep (20 euro) but we only get this one shot at life so we rolled the dice on admission.  Within minutes, Dad turned to me and said "that was the best 20 we ever spent!" We were in the great Venetian Palace. I've never been in a palace before, so the first thing that struck me was the size. Our whole house could fit into one room, and there were so many rooms we couldn't count. We saw an armory complete with all its weapons, prison cells, big council rooms, and each room was adorned with religious art work. Can you imagine me staring up at the ceilings at these beautiful paintins of jesus and Mary? We spent 2 full hours inside and didn't see all of it. I just told dad I couldn't see any more beauty, my brain was exploding!

We left there and had to find a vigil mass, but we werent too worried because Venice has 160 churches. We found a little church with no one inside. There was a side altar that had the relics of St Athanasuis! Dad and I kept wondering if we had read it wrong. We asked the docent and he replied 'si, si, St Athanasius". We asked him again "you mean the doctor of the church Athanasius?" He replied "si, si". Dad looked at me, we both gulped, and then he said "we better go pray some more."

After mass, we went to a little restaurant out in the open streets and I told Dad all about your St Athanasius story from CCM and Mrs Phelan. We got in so late we had to pack up to leave for the early train, which is why I'm only writing now. I'll try to tell you about our first day in Rome next! Miss you all.
Love,
Mom and Dad