Another travel day approaches

Short post tonight. It has been bloody hot in Venice, although I have enjoyed my time here. Tomorrow we leave for Heidelberg, Germany, where we will stay with a friend of my father's from many years ago in the Air Force. He and his wife (who is German) are taking us in. We are all looking forward to doing some laundry and possibly eating a meal at home instead of a restaurant.

Not that I should complain, I know....

Our hotel in Venice has air conditioning, but they are using the term loosely. I have had the AC on full-blast the whole time I've been here, but my room continues to be sweltering. Unfortunately, I cannot open the windows at night because there are mosquitoes the size of rhinoceroses that will eat me alive. (I know this from the last time my sister and I were here, in a hotel with no air conditioning, and we left the windows open the first night. The next day we looked like we had chicken pox, or bubonic plague.)

We have been eating very well. I have pretty much gotten enough of gelati, pizza, pasta, wine, and the other delicious things Rome has to offer. At least for this trip.

Almost, that is. After this, my mom and I are going to buy one last gelato, and take it over to the steps of a church where there is a Vivaldi concert going on inside. I was kind of thinking I'd like to go to the concert, but I'm guessing it is very, very hot inside the church! We're better off on the steps like everyone else.

Today we stumbled on an exhibit of musical instruments at a small (relatively--it would still hold a couple hundred people if they were friendly) church. The door was open, Vivaldi music pouring onto the street, and there was a sign saying Free. So we walked in, and there was a display of violin-making materials, and many old instruments, including an Amati bass from the late 1600s. I saw several violas (yay), and two viola d'amores, which are like a viola but have a great many more strings. As a string musician, this was the highlight of my day! Imagine, we had already passed this church twice, and never known the interesting treasures within. But that's what Venice is like.

I will end now, since Mom is finished with her computer and ready for gelato. Take care, everyone, and I'll talk to you soon. I'm not sure whether our hosts have email in Germany (probably--but I'm more interested in whether they have a washing machine since I am out of clean clothes!!), and I don't know what the situation will be like in Sweden. So goodbye for now.