Row, row, row your boat..

gently down the stream.....er more like sea?

The confusing water boat system

Basking in the sun and sea breeze..

Heading toward Burano Island- to see glass blowing skilled craftsmen

From this soft bouncy bright thing..

After some turns and knocks

To a glass horse!super magical!everyone was soo amazed!

Ah..I love these glass roses at the entrance!!!

I need to be very rich to ship this back at 5000 euros plus the cost of 2500 euros for this lovely chandelier!

Glass guitar...how cool..but I am sure its only a display piece!

My very last gelato in Italy!

You need to pay at least 60 euro for each gondola ride!

Rialto bridge

Smelling the air of love...in time for valentine's day!

Why don't they make these shoes for girls!!

Laces from Murano Island!!I bought quite a bit from this shop..

Dodge's Palace

Bearing the big stone on my back...

Leaving our mark at Piazza Saint Marco

I thought Venice will be so magical but it turned out to be very commerical! I doubt any locals live there unless they are in the tourism industry! Everywhere I turned, I see a tourist snapping away or feeding a pigeon...but despite all of the overpriced goods, food and admissions, I left Venice with hope to visit again.

Not because I missed out on the gondola rides, the visits to the dodge palace but I would really want to visit the little streets and the islands around Venice. Better still, to ride a little speedboat round and about Venice!I find it super impressive to see the gondola riders steering their elongated gondola so swiftly whenever they turn into a water lane...while a pair of loving couple stare blushingly at each other oblivious of the danger ahead. And in all the water boat rides, none of us were required to wear life jackets! I wonder how many have died from drowning! Its a city on water!!

But to me the best thing that happened was ending my Italy trip with an Italian mass in St Mark's Basilica before we headed back to Milan. I am so proud to be catholic because the language of Faith is the same regardless of the languages or places I went to. The whole purpose of Mass is to worship God, unite ourselves with him and to elevate our lives to the life of God. We will only get out of this relationship with God what we put into it.

The first Mass was about 2000 years ago at the Last Supper. Jesus and the Apostles were gathered together in what was Jesus' final meal before his crucifixion. During the meal Jesus took bread, broke it, gave it to the Apostles and said, "This is my body which will be given for you. Do this in memory of me."

Afterward Jesus took a cup filled with wine and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you."Jesus offers us a chance to partake in his sacrifice by offering for us his body and his blood. This is the sign of our covenant with God. Jesus' body and blood is the new covenant and Jesus tells us to partake in it in memory of him.

At Mass when we receive the Eucharist, Jesus' body and blood under the appearance of bread and wine (just like at the Last Supper), we are renewing our covenant with God. We are reconfirming our promise to God to live out our end of the relationship.

A covenant, in this context, is a type of relationship. The type of relationship that God has always had with his people is a covenant. Covenantal relationships are whereby each party mutually agrees to something.When we receive the Eucharist at each Mass we are making that promise to God that we will hold up our end of the covenant. We are also unifying ourselves to God and to the other members of the Church through the Body of Christ.

We have Mass to worship and to receive God, unify with him and other worshipers.
Mass is a celebration. It is the active participation of all that come together in the place of worship. We do not come to Mass simply to receive something or to watch a show; we come as participants, not observers.