Sabbatical 2.0

 Hello from Lisbon!  Bridget’s sister, Laura, and her husband Matthew came to Lisbon on a side trip from their vacation in Spain.  We thank them for putting us up for a couple of days in their AirBnB.  Above is not a picture of the BnB, it is the Jerónimos Monestary.  Take a look. If you have to be a monk, I guess this was a pretty place to pray. Famous Portuguese people are entombed here. A lot of stained glass in the world is painted and this is one place. It’s beautiful but I like the piece by piece better. Portugal was an empire and had many colonies. Below is the tomb of Vasco da Gama.  Brutality in the name of exploration was a part of this time period.  Like Columbus, Da Gama is known by many as a great explorer.  The reality of the atrocities enacted in the name of exploration is now recognized.  Da Gama is seen as one of the worst explorers in terms of his treatment of others.  Yet a display, such as Da Gama’s tomb in Jerónimos Monastery, is still treated as an honored space.

Bordeaux is a beautiful city with many streets in which to get lost (speaking from experience).  The picture above is La place de la Bourse, 18th century architecture.  The reflecting pool gives a nice effect. The Port Cailhau, built in 1495, was once the main gates into the city.  Below is a view from one of the windows on top of the tower. Cathedral Saint Andre is open for all to visit for free.  A church of St. Andre has been here forever.  Each century has added changes to the structure. Cool spots and sights to see in a town that has a no-car, walkable center. Walking in this town makes you think you’re on a movie set. However, you know you’re not and the history lets us know how terrible we humans can be. It also lets us know how smart we can be. Now if we can get these things together as a group, we would be awesome.

Alette and Olivier are our friends from Philadelphia who, now, live here in St. Emilion.  Truthfully, they are our friends from Europe (France and the Netherlands) who lived in our neighborhood, in Philadelphia, for a short but wonderful time.  We had to make a trip to stop by and stay with them during our world tour. St. Emilion is an ancient town outside of Bordeaux.  It is where the grapes are grown and the wine is made. The town is from the 8th century and can actually be traced back to the 3rd century when the Romans first grew wine here.  The current building that Alette and Olivier live in is from the 18th century.  So, it’s almost new. A Chateau is a winegrower’s estate.  I somehow had ski lodges in my head when I thought of a chateau. This is a remnant of an ancient door at a gate of the town. That is water in a shallow pool.  This was an ancient laundry.  No quarters needed. You can walk around all day here and find history as it leaps out at you. We visited an ancient church

Murano is an island, next to Venice,  known for its glass.  Burano is another island, close by, known for its lace.  We took the boat tour visiting both islands.  Here are some photos. The houses are brightly colored on Burano, so that each fisherman could find his own home each night. They didn’t say he was drunk, but we assumed as much. We bought something from each island and hope to show them off some day. This guy fashioned a glass horse in about 10 minutes in Murano glass factory.   We had a bakery lunch (cookies and cannoli) which was very good. They have lots of restaurants and art here. It would be a good place to retire. The clothes sometimes match the color of the store. We found this interesting boat in one of the Burano canals. It was a lovely day that gave us a chance to visit two islands that we would have missed.

Today was the commencement ceremony for one of the Universities of Venice.  We randomly walked into the post-graduation picture taking. So, we took a few pictures.  I think the laurels on their heads are pretty cool.  They wear them all day, as they walk through town, out to celebrate and receive congratulations. Yesterday, we spent time touring the big three.  We toured the Basilica di San Marco (Note the water in the picture below.  That is not from rain.  That is from the lagoon. We took in our views from the top of the bell tower. We, also, toured inside the Doge’s palace. In addition to coming upon the graduation today, we saw parents picking their kids up from school (which means walking with them, no cars in Venice).  This was great, as everything was feeling a little too touristy here. Finally, in the most random event possible, we ran into friends of ours, yesterday, in San Marco Square.  Tom and Diane Reilly just happened to be in the square, in Venice, at that corner, at tha