SHIP to BARCELONA to VENICE, Sunday, Mar. 25th

Early awake, in fact one hour earlier than planned because of our misunderstanding the change of hours, we had dressed, eaten breakfast and waited for our luggage on board, caught a taxi, and got checked in and were ready for take-off by 9:00 a.m. We flew Barcelona to Venice, the airport where we spent a long time on the way to Barcelona. Since we knew the Venice airport well, we stashed our big suitcases so we could travel more freely.

The hotel that we book sight unseen on line, ended up being a great choice that we would recommend to friends in Venice – The Tritone. You can buy a 24-hr. public transit ticket at the airport, and take bus 15 to the Mestre train station. The Tritone is right there by the “Mestre Ferrovia” bus stop. There are two fast food restaurants right there, too, a pizza/lasagna place and another which sells Middle Eastern kababs or swarma. The hotel breakfast which is included was a classy buffet with everything you could think of for European fare. We were very happy with the hotel.

And we were delighted with Venice! Mestre is on the “mainland” of the island of Venice and the transit passes took us everywhere we wanted to go in this charming city of famed canals and channels and historic churches, palaces and homes. It shot up to near the top of my “most favored cities” list. I think Rio de Janeiro is still at the top of the list, Seattle is second, but Boston, Lisbon, Sighisoara, Johannesburg and now Venice tie for third, all for different reasons. We took dozens of pictures. We’re ready to bore you with them ;) The art, the theater, the masks, the architecture, the romance, the gondolas all beckon our children to visit Venice as soon as possible.

It was nice to sleep together in a nice double bed after sleeping on comfortable cots on the ship. After breakfast, we took Bus # 15 to the airport, picked up our overnight stashed luggage, then flew to Paris where we are now. We’ll fly Paris to Seoul. I have a terrible time remembering how to spell “Seoul” but I’m learning. A young Asian women in front of me is taking pictures in all directions. Reminds me of the Hungarian lady on the water-bus-boat yesterday taking pictures of everything!

Next stop is REALLY adventure! We’ve been to Europe, we’ve been to islands before and they are wonderful. We have enjoyed them immensely. Now Korea for a week, then Australia. Whew. Newness awaits us for sure.

 Our reading today from “40 Days with Jesus” is/was rich in imagery and meaning. Jesus says,

”Wear My robe of righteousness with ease. I custom-made it for you, to cover you from head to toe. The price I paid for this covering was astronomical – My own blood. You could never purchase such a royal garment, no matter how hard you worked…When your behavior is unfitting for one in My kingdom, do not try to throw off your royal robe. Instead, throw off the unrighteous behavior. Then you will be able to feel at ease in this glorious garment, enjoying the gift I fashioned for you before the foundation of the world’ (27).

On the plane, I picked up the Fashion magazine, full of colorful, funky, lavish European clothes. These are rags compared with the robe of Jesus’ nature that He wraps around us.