One last memory from Venice

We woke up on Saturday in Venice to a surprise. At least to us, who can't understand the news or weather reports, we couldn't believe it was snowing. It had snowed at least 4-6 inches. It was actually very beautiful. This is a quick shot from our hotel room before leaving for our drive to Austria. I wish I had taken more pictures of the snow in Venice!

Gondola ride

We found a clip of the gondola ride! Here it is . . .

Video clip from Venice

We had a some really good video of our gondola ride, but they got deleted. We're pretty disappointed. Here is the only video from Venice. It's of the bus/boat service that took us to San Marco's Square.

Our Christmas vacation....first stop Venice.

We left Sicily, and we're on the mainland of Italy. We flew into Venice (only an hour and a half flight) and stayed a few nights. It's an amazing place. I've never seen anything like it. It was freezing, but we had clear skies and sun. The boys did great on the flight and didn't complain about the cold. We did a walking tour of the city, had lunch, and then took the famous gondola ride. I can't believe we are able to experience such amazing places.

Holiday play

Here's a little clip of DJ's school play. He's the 2nd to last kid to get on the stage. :)

On our way to the capital.....

Last weekend, we went to Palermo, the capital of Sicily. It's about a two hour drive from our house. Unfortunately, all of the historic "must sees" were closed. Finding places open in Italy when you'd think they'd be open is harder than you think. Frustrating sometimes. We're still learning.

Here's what we've learned (we think). Just about everything shuts down at 1 pm and then reopens around 4 pm. Restaurants, on the other hand, don't open until about 7 pm. Notice everything is about or around. Things are a little more laid back here. We've had to learn to always pack snacks in the car because our hungry kids aren't use to waiting until after 7 pm for dinner. Many restaurants aren't even open at the lunch hour. They only open for dinner. It's kind of confusing. There aren't fast food places or convenient stores all over to just run in and grab something when it's, well, convenient. Maybe that's why obesity isn't as much of a problem here.

Back to our road trip. We arrived in Palermo and our boys were not disappointed. They had a park set up with fun rides. We did walk around the historic city for a little while and took some pictures.

On our way out of our driveway, there was a little traffic jam . . .

Lots of vacation pictures!

A few weeks ago, we took a mini-vacation to Malta. Our internet has been down, so I'm a little late. Things don't get fixed very quickly here. Everything is done at a much slower pace!!

Malta is only about a 30 minute plane ride from Sicily. It's a Southern European island in the Mediterranean Sea. Honestly, I had never heard of Malta before moving to Italy. If you read in Acts, it's where Apostle Paul spent three months after being ship wrecked. There's so much history on this beautiful island. We had an amazing time, and the weather was sunny and in the mid 70s. Pretty nice for the middle of November. I only have a short time before the boys wake up from their naps and before DJ gets home from school, so I'll stop writing and post pictures.

Here's the public bus we took into the city of Valletta, Malta.

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Buying some snacks.

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Noah chased the pigeons.

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Taxi ride back to the hotel.

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Lunch time

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This is where we had lunch in Valletta.

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Which one is DJ?

DJ and the driver are riding up front. We took a carriage ride through the city.

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DJ had a good view sitting up front.

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Trying to get some shots of Lincoln and Noah sitting in the horse carriage.

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This was the best I could do.

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Outside of St. John's Co-Cathedral

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See the guy in all black in the background? He pushes this cart through the city, shaking a bell, giving candy to kids, and playing his marionette puppets.

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Then the kids drop money into his basket.

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They even have a Burger King on Malta! We didn't eat here, but it's fun to be in a foreign country and see places we recognize!

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We took a tour through St. John's Co-Cathedral.

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Waiting for Tom and Noah to get back from the bathroom. There was a guy standing outside of the bathrooms and he hands you a tiny bit of toilet paper in exchange for a little money.

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Double decker bus tour of the island.

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Pictures we took from our seat on the top of the bus.

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Blue Grotto

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Hagar Qim Ancient Temple on Unesco World Heritage List.

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Eating lunch at St. Paul's Bay.

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Playing together while we wait for our taxi.

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Overlooking St. Paul's Bay and Island where shipwrecked.

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Dessert time. DJ and Noah picked doughnuts. The lady gave a cone to Lincoln.

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Close in shot of island and statue of St. Paul.

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