We are in Rome now ... arrived a few hours ago and many of Penny's friends are here including our nieces and grand nieces, and we all went out to eat at our place, Luzzi's.






Just a few words on Venice:

One has to stay here long enough to have time to get into the infrastructure. We took the wrong boat yesterday and got a chance to see what keeps Venice working. All the loading zones. The variety of boats that perform all the things that need to be done, like bringing in the food and taking out the left overs....all the construction equipment, the many polizia, including the Finance Police...which is what I think Geitner needs. It seems much more intimate to see all these things being done in open boats rather than in enclosed trucks and semis...true transparency. We watched two men...one operating a crane...,pound huge stakes into the water rebuilding a pier. Such skill. Wonderful reverberations of clanking and smashing and banging.

And also yesterday was....THE FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION. At the railway station we came upon a ceremony of little children carrying flowers to a Mary statue; five red and gold costumed adults carring baroque trumpets and many polizia guarding everything.

We also visited Ca' Rezzonico Palazzo where Ami read the information and relieved us from the burden of looking at Art.

One of our unexpected pleasures was the television programs from BBC. The whole night presents a variety of fast moving Hospital Dramas. Dazzlingly graphic, complex and layered and every show has the same plot line. These offerings plus East Enders must employ every available actor in Great Britain. As the saying goes, "Visit Venice ---- See BBC." I loved it!!!!!