Firenza and Venezia

I woke up this morning to shouts and whistles blowing outside. I ran over the the window and looked out over the grand canal here in venice, where I saw countless boats full of protesters. I don't know Italian, so I'm not sure what they are protesting, but I think it could have something to do with the train strike that has been going on for the last few days. We were lucky yesterday to have gotten tickets on a european railway that wasn't on strike. We met a family who had been stranded in Florence for days because the train they were supposed to have caught was refusing to run. Ann and I waited in line last night at the train station to reserve a ticket to Geneva, so we should be good to go to Switzerland today. We've been so greatly blessed on this trip and we are sure that the hand of God has been in our travels. There have been so many wonderful people who we have met along the way. During ride from the London temple to the Stansted airport, our cab driver had a lot of great questions to ask about the LDS church. He had been driving members to and from the airport and temple for years and no one had ever said a thing. We did our best to answer his questions and at the end of the drive we gave him one of my travel Book of Mormons and he promised us he would read it. He was so excited to hear that families could be together forever. We'll follow up on his progress for sure. We also met this great German man yesterday who is is Venice for teacher training. He teaches people how to increase their conficence, self esteem, and self awareness. He was telling us that the structures of our faces and body are reflective of our personality traits. He read my personality dead on. It was pretty neat.
Florence was so beautiful. We stayed at a camping site just 45 minutes outside of the city. It was probably the most posh camping site I've ever seen. All the beds were inside very spacious and clean dorms, there was a market with fresh fruit, bread, and cheese, and their was the cleanest pool I've ever had the priveledge to swim in. I, of course, got fried and I now look like a human sized lobster-doh! I have the lyrics of that song resonating in my head, "and remember, to always wear sunscreen." In Florence we went to the Ufizzi museum which had some AMAZING art-Boteccelli, Da Vinci-you name it, it was there. We also had the delight of eating mounds of gelato, which has become a daily ritual.
Venice is insane. There are so many tourists here. It's annoying, but I am one of them, so I guess I shouldn't complain. There are shops on every corner, all full of glass blown items and masks. The streets are so windy, it becomes easy to get lost. Yesterday we were lost for a good four hours, but we enjoyed the shops and gilato while we were at it. If you're going to get lost anywhere in the world, do it in Italy.
Well, it's my birthday. I had a dream last night that Rachel had her baby on my birthday-which I hope is an omen of truth. How sweet would that be? But then I also had a dream that McKenzie almost drowned, so hopefully all my dreams won't come true. McKenzie, please swim safely. I ate cake for breakfast, and Ann's going to treat me to some gilato (surprise). It's crazy to be twenty-one. Now it's time for all the questions to start...meh.
Anywho, I hope all is well at home. Lindsey, Happy Birthday! I'm so glad we share such a sweet day together. Rachel, get crackin' on that baby!
I send you all my love from Italia!
Love,
Ev