Viva Venezia

Language and travel are my passions. Luckily, the two go hand in hand most times. Last weekend was one of those cases, and what a beautiful, sunny case it was! Venice, a city I had formerly only sort-of enjoyed (think I was just in a weird mood that day) proved to be the perfect day trip, complete with good shopping, good eating, good site-seeing, the most perfect and romantic language on earth, and great company. For the second weekend in a row we had no matches so I headed over to Klagenfurt to pay Lauren and Taylor a visit. I got to see Rex play for the first time since our BYU days! It was so much fun, even though they lost a tough one, he played well and I was impressed with his team. On Sunday we took the 3 hour bus trip to Venice, the 'city of water'. We couldn't have asked for better weather: a balmy 60 degrees and sunny all day long, which we all delighted in since we never see the sun in our respective cities. I was able to go into San Marco for the first time, which was amazing. I got myself a gorgeous rosary, of Venetian glass in my pink birthstone, to add to my collection. And a few gifts for family and friends.

It was so refreshing to not have to listen to German everywhere I went! Ever since my first day of Italian 101 my sophmore year I have been in love with the language. My speaking skills are rusty and whenever I try to form sentences in Italian the first words to come to my mind are German. Yuck. But I got along ok and it reminded me of my goal to live in Italy for a year and become fluent in Italian. I'll get there, one way or another.

Two amazing weekends in a row! I am so blessed and am grateful for Matthew, Lauren and Taylor for making me happy and helping me to get through these next 7 weeks til I go home.

On the Rialto Bridge

Love you!

Rialto Bridge
Some gorgeous masks. Couldn't get enough of them.
Gondola
San Marco

You can't take pictures inside the church, but this is the mosaic above the entry way.

I was so fascinated with this algae all day. It looked alive!
Love this mask.
Because when you're in Venice you can't stop taking pictures of canals.
La Chiesa Santa Maria della Salute
Wish I had these lanterns for my room
My rosary from San Marco
Light
Friends