Sacrements and Soccer Games

Sorry about the late post. We had a few medical emergencies last night so I didn't get around to writing. Don't worry, all is well. I'll explain in a minute...

First I have to mention the marathon. As we walked back from dinner last night some of the squares and streets were roped off. The marathon went through the city but was begun at night. Understandable considering how hot the days are. The course even took the runners right through the piazza right in front of our hotel and down the street. Katie said she saw a cute dad running with his young daughter, holding her hand the whole way. They were at the end of the pack but having a good time together.

OK, so we packed up and left Florence in good time. We had planned to stop at the Piazzele Michelangelo, a look-out plaza over the city with a copy of the David. The plan was to take some last minute pictures of the Florence skyline. When we got there it was fenced off. Because it is the patron saint day for the city there were fireworks planned and that was the staging point. Our fabulous driver Pino took us up a bit higher and we got good pictures anyway!

The day on the bus ran a bit long so we altered the itinerary and stopped in Padova for our lunch break. There is a pilgrimage church of St. Antonio there. We are now so used to walking into a church as tourists that we hadn't thought things through very carefully. Since it is Sunday there was a Mass being held. We were all a bit surprised.

Then we traveled the rest of the way to Lido di Jesolo, the location of our hotel. It is about 100 meters from the beach so the kids tried to take full advantage. It is the most crowded beach you've ever seen. No bubble of personal space here!

The best part of the day was using the soccer field across the street from the hotel. There was a pretty intense and totally fun pickup game for about two hours. The kids got to burn off a ton of energy and got to play soccer in Italy. How many can say that?

Now to the medical stuff since I know those words make parents panic. Howard C. did a pretty good number on the bottom of his foot nearly ripping off the entire callous at the ball of his big toe. Good cleaning, Neosporin, Moleskin and Nona the nurse and all was well. Since everyone was so hot and sweaty they decided to go to the beach for a swim. John H. stepped on a sea creature and got a nasty sting. Good cleaning, Hydrogen Peroxide, Neosporin, Antibiotics and Nurse Nona and all is well.