Brandon and Missy Come Visit

We had been helping Brandon and Missy plan their trip over since before Christmas, so we were really looking forward to their arrival.  And, we knew Brandon’s secret, so we were extra excited.  The day they arrived, we let them catch up on sleep, and then took them out for an Italian lunch.  That afternoon, we showed them our town, and I made lasagna that night. 

The next morning we caught a 6am train to Venice.  Ben loves trains, and looking out the windows on trains, so of course he didn’t want to sleep.  We got to Venice around 9:30, so we had plenty of time that day and the next to wander around. 

 

We first went to Murano, famous for glass blowing.  We were able to see a demonstration where they made a vase, a pitcher, and a horse.  The vase and the pitcher were neat to watch them work the glass into the perfect shape.  The artists only have about a minute to work with the glass before they have to put it back in the oven to keep it hot, but they did this again and again until it was the perfect size and shape.

 Getting the right shape of the pitcher.

 Adding the handle to the pitcher.

Then they made the next thing, starting with a lump of molten glass, like they did with the others.  This time, instead of blowing into it to make it hollow, the artist just took a pair of tweezers and started pulling pieces out.  We had no idea what he was making for about 30 seconds, and all of a sudden we realized it was a horse.  He made the entire thing in the one minute of time he had to work with the hot glass.

 The finished horse.  Also, the glass pieces some of the items start with.

 Our next destination after Murano was the Rialto Bridge.  We wanted to find the “perfect spot” for a “picture”.  After walking around for 45 minutes and checking every possible angle, we did find the perfect spot.  Brandon and Missy walked out on one dock and I went out on another with the camera.  I couldn’t hear much of what was said, but I saw Brandon go down on one knee, and Missy’s hands flew to her face.  I just kept snapping pictures.

On the boat on the way back to the main islands.

 Crossing the Rialto Bridge.  It was so nice to have someone else to carry the stroller.

 When it was all done and the ring was on her finger (Brandon smartly waited until they were back on solid ground to take it out of the box), they made a few phone calls, and then we broke out the champagne.  

 

 Then they took a romantic gondola ride, and we finished the evening with dinner right on the canal.

 The next day we took the vaporetto all the way down the canal and went to San Marco’s Basilica for Mass.  By the end, there was water seeping in due to “acqua alta”.

We had a great lunch at a little place down a little street.  We had time for just a little more walking around before we had to go to the train station so we could go home and Brandon and Missy could go to Rome.

 They arrived back at our apartment on Friday, after seeing Rome, Florence, and some wineries in Tuscany.  On Saturday, we went to Lake Como.  We started in the town of Como, on the south end of the lake, and took a boat to the popular area in the middle of the lake.  We first stopped at Menaggio for a little while, before getting on another boat to Varenna.  We had lunch at a little café right on the water, then went to Villa Monastero and gardens.

 33 weeks

Sunday we took them to lunch at an agriturismo.  We suggested to them to practice eating a lot throughout the week, so they would be ready. 

 

After lunch we went to downtown Milan, to see the Duomo and maybe do some shopping.  We went up on the roof of the Duomo, since Tim and I had never done that, and got to see the spires and gargoyles up close.

 

On Monday, we did some shopping in Gallarate, and they both got some really cute things.  Brandon even found some button-down shirts in size 3X (Italian cut) that fit him perfectly.  Also, while Missy was shopping, Brandon taught Ben to "Give me a knuck."