"Stranded" in New York

We arrived back into the states about two weeks ago.

We were definitely feeling excited and nervous about getting back into the swing of things...real life.

We arrive at JFK airport around 4:00pm and went through immigration and customs. After that process we knew we had about a 3 hour layover. Once we arrived at the gate for our Nashville bound flight....they said the plane was delayed an hour so it wasn't leaving till 8:30pm. Fine...no big deal...text our friends and say we are going to be an hour late to Nashville. No big deal. 


Then...8:30 came and there had never been any boarding. At this point we hear that the "Nashville flight has been canceled". Sooo, I got in THE line and they told us that our flight was canceled and that the next earliest flight out to Nashville was tomorrow from LaGuardia at 10:00am. By the end of the conversation with the impressively helpful Delta agent, we had a room in Flushing, food vouchers (that we had to use in the next 5 minutes at the airpot before everything closed), $100 credit to a Delta flight, and taxis to and from the hotel.

So in the end God knew that weren't completely ready to come back to Nashville Friday night and that we needed one more vacation day...in NYC! :)

Also God knew that the pilot that was flying our 7:30 plane was obviously not capable of flying us home because on the news that evening we found out that our plane to Nashville as it was coming into the gate hit a plan that was empty and the wings were messed up. So we are thankful for the delay.

Our "view" from the Marco hotel. 

It was nice to have breakfast from the local deli in Flushing and gradually ease back into life state side.

Our loot from the JFK food vouchers. :)

This is what we were greeted with when we came home. We have some amazing people in our life! 

This is who were definitely happy to see! :) We had missed our little Lucy a whole lot

Our first real day back to reality was spent with some amazing friends...

Now, what in the world am I going to blog about now? We shall see...

Venice - I know its late...

Venice

I might just be writing this post because this week I have really missed the whole vacation life. :) But also, because a few people have come up to me and asked "why I never finished the blog"? So here it goes.

We arrived in Venice on a Sunday by train (I believe the date was April 29th). Once we knew what vaporetto (water taxi) to get on...we were stunned by the beauty of Venice. It was a lot to take in. The craziest thing to me was how close the houses (ok they were mansions more like) were to the water. It was pretty much water, 3 steps, and then the front door. 

The pictures do Venice some justice but the sounds and the smells are just not captured in photographs. The smell made you think of the ocean, the sounds made you feel like a tourist. :)

We stayed at a great hotel on the island of Lido (which happens to be a beach on one side). I enjoyed taking the water taxis from our island to the main part of Venice. We thoroughly enjoyed St. Marks square with its amazing church, clock tower, and pigeons.

We loved the islands of Murano and Burano. Murano is where glass blowing is very famous. We were able to tour a factory and watch artisans craft the glass into some amazing chandeliers. Burano is known for its bright colored houses and cute home town feel. Side note: when we got home we realized we have had hanging in our guest bathroom a picture of Burano since we have been married. We didn't realize what it was when we bought it but now that we have been there you can totally tell that its Burano. Crazy!

Definitely a highlight for Christopher was going inland and visiting the town of Sacile where the Fazioli piano factory is. Side note here: if anyone wants to bless Christopher with $200,000 here is what he wants...Fazioli F308 :)

Two weeks ago today, is when we left Venice and heading home. Italy has definitely left a special place in our hearts and we are so thankful to have the opportunity to experience such beauty and history. 

My next post I will share about our unexpected overnight stay in NYC! :)

Now for some Venice photos: 

Our view from walking out of the train station...

Venice and its great boats! :)

Beautiful!

On the vaporetto.

St. Mark's Square - the pink square building is Doge's Palace.

Rialto Bridge

That is a police boat! :)

On the right of this picture you can see the "taxi stops" 

It also probably helped that the weather was perfect the whole time we were in Venice!

Lido Beach!

Lido Beach!

The pier near our hotel! :)

Our hotel, Villa Laguna! Isn't it cute?

The name of the restaurant was "Osteria Africa" - however I dont think they knew what Africa meant because this was an Italian mama's cooking! :)

Venice - this part of Italy had a lot more trees than the other cities we had been to. I loved this house.

A garbage boat :)

I loved all of the laundry that was hanging out to dry. I want to clothespin my laundry now! :)

Laundry oever the canals! :)

Laundry everywhere! :)

I saw this place and it made me think of Dave Ramsey...LAMPO! 

We went to this concert and heard Vivaldi's "4 Seasons". Vivaldi was from Venice.

Christopher at the Fazioli Factory!

The sun was so bright I didn't realize I missed part of the sign. :(

Murano Island

Isn't it beautiful?

Burano...the island of bright houses!

This restaurant was referred to us by Jaime Oliver. He wrote a cookbook (see pic below) and he said this is the best risotto in the world. 

The risotto was good...and they knew it was good so the price was quite high :)

Burano!

On the vaporetto

Isn't it breathtaking?

Farmers Market in Venice

They like their white asparagus judging from the price. Thats like $12!

Yum...sundried tomatoes!

They like their masques in Venice as well.

Frari Church in Venice

Frari Church. It was beautiful

This was painted on one of the walls. I thought it was cool! :)

One of the many bakeries in Venice. 

This is the last pic - we took a private taxi (courtesy of our hotel) to the Murano island to see the glass factory. It was really cool.

Until next time...