And now we return from hiatus... Sorry we were MIA folks

One more disclaimer... Sorry for the lack of photos but Lyle's computer is not cooperating. Before we continue with the blog in Venice, we thought we would update everyone on our current situation. Because of computer problems and wifi problems we have been quite a bit behind on our blogging. Currently, we are on the greek island of Mykonos and it is Sunday, June 24. A lot has happened in the meantime and we promise to do a full blog on all our adventures. We have checked into our RCI resort and have been speechless concerning the beauty of this place. Imagine white houses dotting the hillside with blues to accent the white. Imagine having a crystal clear blue pool that has an infinity edge with the sea and only the sound of the waves, wind, and Greek music to compliment the awesome view. We will be spending a of time at the pool this week, with Heather getting even darker and myself . . . Well I'll be in the shade most of the time, but I will make it into the sun too. I have actually turned the darkest I have ever been, with a forehead that is still recovering from some burns. We both are in love with Greece and would highly encourage everyone to visit. Whatever you have heard about the country being unsafe or not a good place to visit, it just isn't the case. Smart travelers are in no danger and the people are the most kind and helpful people we have met on our trip to date. The beauty of the country and hospitality is among the greatest surprises of our trip. That being said, we have come to a sort of crossroads in our adventures. We are starting a to run short of money and so we have made some changes to our itinerary. Instead of traveling to Geneva, Ireland, and Scotland, we have decided to stay in Greece because it is so much cheaper than those countries and we have used another week of RCI to help as well. Our plans now include traveling to the island of Crete at the end of this week and remaining there at two different places for the remainder of our trip. We will then fly back to England and then to Montreal as previously planned. We are sad that we can't experience Ireland or Scotland, but now we have motivation to return one day and enjoy their rolling green hills. Until then, we are quite happy to remain the relaxing paradise of the Greek islands and experience a great time recovering from our travels. Just in case we sound a bit mopey about traveling being hard, we walked 10.5km yesterday is the heat of the day through the mountainy roads to get to the grocery store, then I carried 47lbs in my backpack for the way back. Not the smartest thing we have done, but when the only other option was an expensive taxi we thought it necessary. Anyway, we will talk more about our adventures in Greece once we have caught everyone up with the our earlier travels. So until then, here are just a few pictures of Greece to wet your appetite. So, back to Venice! It's now Monday and we woke up planning on taking the 10am shuttle into Venice. We were all ready and in line to buy our tickets, but we failed to realize that checkout time was also 10am. Now in most places I know, if you have people wanting to make a 30second transaction for a bus leaving at 10 in the same line as others that take several minutes to checkout and pay for their stay, you would somehow accommodate those people needing to catch the bus so they don't have to wait another hour. Not here! They only had one person working the reception (despite having to windows and normally having two people working) and they made no effort to make sure those just wanting to get on the bus could do so. So some travelers, seeing that the hour was nearing, budded to the front of the line and got their tickets. We have learned the budding in line for Europeans is either acceptable or not frowned upon and rude like it is back home. However, it did bug me that when I asked if I could also get tickets before the bus left I was told that I had to wait in line. So, being a good Canadian I went back to wait with Heather in line. A few minutes later, after having not moved forward in line at all, the bus left. It wasn't worth wasting time in line now, so we went back to the tent and relaxed for a bit. During that hour however, it started to rain and eventually starting to thunder. We both took it as a sign and figured that today was not a good day to go to Venice. With only one weak umbrella and shoes not designed for rain, we figured we would enjoy listening to the rain hit our tent as we passed the day. We read, slept, watched a movie, and just spent time recovering from our days of walking. I sure do enjoy listening to rain on the tent. It's one of those sounds that allows you to appreciate the simple pleasures of life. We almost ended up with a mini flood in our tent but we quickly averted the water from coming in. Listening to a few groups return from Venice, they weren't so lucky and had their clothes get wet from water seeping in through the door. The next morning we woke up to celebrate our one month anniversary (which came to be known as our Monniversary). It's hard to believe that we have been married one month already, but time sure does fly when you're having fun! We ended up coming into Venice a bit late but we eventually arrived and were very excited as we had planned to celebrate with a gondola ride. We did a bit of walking and exploring before we decided to stop for gelato and then take a gondola. I knew that the best gondola rides were if you found a lone gondolier in a not so busy area so you can see another side of Venice and avoid being trapped in a convoy of gondolas. We found just a spot with two gondoliers and a gelato shop right next to them. So we had some gelato and wanted around in the sun. That may not have been such a good idea, because the gelato soon ended up rolling all the way down Heather's shirt and shorts and onto the ground. The five second rule does apply, but Heather now had a nice streak of strawberry gelato to accent her white shirt for a whole day of photos.haha. We laughed it off and headed for the gondola. Well folks I have pulled myself away from the sun to give Lyle a blogging break. So we stepped into the gondola for our 40 minute ride and settled in to the cushy settled in for our journey. Our gondolier was a man around 50 who ended up singing to us about spaghetti and coca-cola, he was not the type of gondolier to give you history but we enjoyed the peaceful time. We got to see a number of the smaller side canals and did a stretch of the grand canal. It was very much worth it and I had a fabulous time! After our gondola ride we ventured off to find the Rialto bridge. It's one of the larger bridges and has shops up both sides with a walk way on each edge and a large be in the middle. We enjoyed browsing through the shops though the slow crowds of people barely moving and yet still pushing are difficult for me to deal with. We chose a cute little restaurant on one of the canals for dinner. Our table was right on the edge and soon there was a guitar player serenading us through dinner. After the guitar player left a little boy that was seated at the table beside us got up to dance and imitate the guitar player, it was the cutest thing! We chose from the tourist menu and Lyle started with lasagna and I had the seafood spaghetti, both were wonderful. During our main course an American couple from New Jersey sat at the table beside us and we ended up having a great conversation with them, they were celebrating their 50th anniversary! Lyle had wiener schnitzel for dinner and I had a pork chop both with seasonal vegetables that were amazing. We enjoyed our conversation for quite a good length of time and the panna cotta we were served for dessert. After dinner we wandered in circles until we finally got our bearings again and headed for a walk near the canal. While scanning the horizon Lyle spotted a large ship and we went to find out what it was. It turned out to be a military training ship and it was beautiful. We admired for a while and I found a sign that said it would be open to tours for the public in Friday, Saturday and Sunday so we decided we would come back on Friday to check it out. On our journey back we passed a number of artists selling their work (or what claims to be their work) and we stopped at one to buy our "Venice painting". We have picked up some form of picture from each city we have been in. Sadly when we finally went to pack it we found out that it was a print n canvas and not an original as he claimed, but oh we'll it wasn't a ridiculous price and we still really like the picture Ok folks, I am going to post this but we promise to be diligent this week with working n the blog to bring you all up to speed! Love, H&L