My next post will include my general impressions of Venice, but here are some of my favorite things and moments from our time there...

Bells. There are lots of bell towers (many leaning) throughout the city, which means that pretty much wherever you are, you hear chiming round about the top of the hour. I say "round about" because it seemed to me that none of them were operating on quite the same time. So one bell melody would be followed five minutes later by another, farther in the distance. Lovely. And different from the bell tolls in London, which also permeate the city but ring with the singular authority of Big Ben.

Whenever I'm in a new place, I like to sleep with the window slightly open because I want to hear the sounds of the street. Our hotel was a stone's throw from St. Mark's Square, and waking in Venice to the chimes from St. Mark's Bell Tower was a definite bliss bit.

St. Mark's Bell Tower. We went to the top for a bird's-eye view of Venice. The bells began to ring while we were up there, and it was amazing. The melody starts with one bell and then another joins in and then another and another until all the bells in the tower are swinging heavily back and forth, their pendulums within arm's reach of those standing below. It was loud, but not unbearably so. There was no chance of speaking over them, and so the entire tower of people stood watching in silence, the vibrations reverberating through our bodies. And then the bells gradually ended their cadence one-by-one just as they had begun, each bell swinging less and less until its pendulum no longer struck its sides.

The Alps. They are within view from Venice. I had no idea. Flying in, we were over snow-covered mountains only moments before I saw the coast. And one clear morning in Venice, we saw the snowy peaks rising up in the distance, above the horizon of the city.

Dueling orchestras. I had read about these, and was determined to hear them. In an attempt to get business, a couple restaurants within St. Mark's Square each hire an orchestra to play at their outdoor tables. And each orchestra tries to outperform the other and win the affection of the crowd. There was a clear winner the night we were there, with people circled around and couples dancing. At one point they played "New York, New York" which felt oddly asynchronous to me. (Pictured below is the losing, but lovely, orchestra.)

Laundry on the line. Everywhere you look there's laundry hanging from the line, draped across window sills or stretching across alleys. This obviously isn't unique to Venice, but what I did notice here that I hadn't other places was the distinction of dark and light loads. We saw lines full of only dark clothing, or only light. And interestingly, it tended to apply to an entire area, not just one residence. We'd walk down a street with white shirts and sheets waving overhead, and Doreen would remark, "Today must be whites day."

Shutters. These are also not unique to Venice, but can I just say that I love having shutters that actually open and shut? Why do we attach ugly plastic fake shutters to the sides of our houses in the States? Throwing open solid wooden shutters is such a simple, but significant, joy.

Party in the plaza. There was a small enclosed plaza below our hotel window, and one night it was host to some sort of party. They had event tents set up, so I couldn't see anything, but we lay in bed and listened to the laughter for awhile. SO much laughter. Someone would speak loudly in Italian, telling an animated story I couldn't understand, and then everyone would erupt in laughter. It was so joyful and contagious, I might have even laughed myself.

Water taxi ride. We were given a free water taxi ride for reasons that aren't relevant and I'm not going to bother to explain. And IT WAS AWESOME. It was just the four of us and the driver, jetting down the canals of Venice. We had been on the waterways already, but we'd ridden in the public transport boats which are big and slow. The water taxi was fast, and could navigate the narrow canals. For me, this was one of the best moments of the trip. The drivers of these boats are so skilled, and it's amazing to watch them maneuver. And often they are going slowly enough that the motor isn't very loud, and so they all greet each other or yell curses if someone is in the way. It's like a floating street party. And when the driver cranked it up and darted us through the canals, it felt like we were in one of those Venice high-speed boat chases they always put in movies. Definite highlight.

Fresh market. I always hit up the fresh markets when I'm in a city, and Venice may have had the best one yet. There is a fish market and a fruit/vegetable market, and both are expansive and gorgeous. (Well, as much as a fish market can be gorgeous.) Doesn't hurt that it's situated right along the Grand Canal, either - I'd wager no fresh market in the world has a better location. And the fruit and vegetables were absolutely vibrant. We bought some strawberries, and I don't mean to overstate this point (and I was very hungry so perhaps my perspective is skewed), but I've never had such succulent strawberries. So red! We rinsed them under a nearby fountain spout and sat along the Grand Canal, our feet dangling over the water, as we ate them.

Evening plaza stroll. On our last evening, Rob and I took a stroll before dinner and he guided our route to a plaza I don't remember the name of that was filled with people. It was lined with restaurants and there were definitely plenty of tourists here, but there were also lots of locals. It was a long rectangular plaza, and we watched the activity around us as we slowly ambled through. Some young boys were chasing each other with water guns. Several people were carrying boxed pizzas home to their apartments. A young Italian man was introducing a young woman to an older couple, presumably his aunt and uncle or something similar. It was a fantastic snippet of local life.

Dining along the Grand Canal. Our first day in Venice, we lunched along the Grand Canal. And our last night in Venice, Rob and I ate dinner along the Canal as well. Food is pricier there, so we didn't do it often. But it was worthwhile to do a couple times. The hustle and bustle in Venice is on the water, and so it's entertaining just to watch the boats go by. Plus it's utterly picturesque. Every now and then I'd look around and realize, Holy shit. I'm in Venice. It's hard to be unhappy while sipping a glass of wine by the Grand Canal.

I found out today that I passed the state EMT test. We took the test last week, but I didn't mention it here because I was afraid I'd jinx myself, especially after being all, "Paula and I are so awesome and totally the smartest ones in class." But turns out? We are awesome. And official EMTs!

Since January, I've spent every Tuesday and Thursday evening in class. Tonight will be the first evening without it, and I kinda miss it already. Is that lame? But at least I'll have time now for other stuff. I haven't read any books since class started. Except my EMT textbook, which I read cover to cover. All 952 pages. Even the sidebars. Because I am a nerd. And because our instructor challenged us to read it all. And so not only was I going to read it all, but I was going to be the FIRST person to read it all. Because I get great satisfaction from beating people in completely meaningless competitions that they don't even know they're in.

Last evening Rob and I were catching up on the Grey's Anatomy episodes we've missed, and we were watching the one where the dude got attacked by a bear. He steps out of the car clutching his abdomen, and as Cristina is helping him get to the gurney, he moves his hands and his intestines spill out. And I leaned over to Rob and said, "An evisceration. I know how to care for that." Which, I gotta admit, it feels pretty damn cool to be able to say.

I'm finally getting around to posting photos of our kitchen renovation. Not the photos you most want to see, I'm sure, but we haven't even begun to go through photos from our trip yet. Soon, I promise.

The kitchen project was really more of a refresh than a full renovation. Our goal was to improve the look of the room with minimal effort - specifically, without replacing the cabinets or countertop. This is not because we particularly like them, but because we didn't want to put that much money or effort into this project. We love this house, but it's not where we're going to live forever and we're not convinced dumping tons of money into it would be a worthwhile investment.

This project should have been done long ago (do you see that wallpaper?!), but I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. I really wanted white cabinets, but we didn't want to replace the cabinets and I was unsure how painting white over dark wood would turn out. It was William's herpes-free kitchen that finally inspired me and convinced me that painting cabinets could be done well. I emailed him for help, and he walked me through how he and Lauren had done everything. Thank you, William! You are totally my Bob Vila.

Before

After

Once I had decided on the white cabinets, we chose a wall color that would work okay with the counters, which are flecked with various shades of green. The "after" photo above is most true to the wall color - the one below makes it look a little more kelly green than it actually is.

Rob helped me iron the walls and install the knobs and pulls, but pretty much everything else I did by myself during my week of spring break. All that's left is to replace the floor and we're totally hiring someone to do that.

(I'm sure you'll all notice that Bridget is on the counter in two of the photos. Further proof that I'm a pathetic pushover parent. I'd also like to point out the Yoshi calendar on the side of our fridge. Best calendar EVER.)

Before

After

Hi, we're back! And here's an elephant, made of towels! (Can you see it? It's hard to get the full effect in a photo.) Of all the amazing things we saw and of the 1,750 photos we took, this is what I'm sharing first. Mostly because we haven't even transferred all the photos from the camera yet. But also because this elephant? Fucking rocks.

(Click to see larger.)

Every night on the cruise they do turndown service and leave a little chocolate on your pillow. And some nights they also fold towels into an animal and leave it on the bed. We would return to the room after dinner and there's a swan! Or a bunny! Or this freaking awesome elephant. Made of towels. So much love did I have for this elephant that I made Rob take pictures of me with it and then I placed it in the middle of our coffee table where it stayed the remainder of the cruise.

Imagine my delight when a workshop was offered on how to fold towels into animals. Doreen and I were so there, because who doesn't want to know how to do that?! And so now we can fold our own elephants! Doreen has already promised to leave one on the bed the next time we stay with them.