A Message from Pastor Louis on 4/16/10

We have enjoyed 2 full days in Rome with great weather and visits to the National Museum of Rome, Vatican (incl Sistine Chapel), St Peter's Basilica, Pantheon, Coliseum, Roman Forum, Spanish Steps, and a few other smaller sights.

Here we are at the Coliseum in Rome:



And from the Forum:

Tomorrow we take a Eurorail high speed train from Rome to Florence. Here is the rest of our schedule:

4/14-17 - Rome
4/17-19 - Florence
4/19-23 - Venice
4/23-24 - Milan
4/24-27 - Sorrento
4/27-5/1 - Rome (Eileen fllies out of Rome on 4/28, LL flies out on 5/1)

Thanks again for your prayers for safety, good weather and health, and a wonderful time of travel and relaxation!

In His service with you,

Louis Lee
CCC/MESA

Greetings from Venice, Italy!

Eileen and I continue to enjoy our dream vacation in Italy. This is our last night in Venice (actually we are staying 4 nights on the island of Murano, just a short 10 minute ferry ride from the islands of Venice proper). Its sad for us to say good bye to Venice, but this 4 night stay has been terrific.

We are so fortunate that our travel plans were not affected in any way by the volcanic ash which shut down all flights in Rome and Venice the past week or so. Thousands of travelers have been left stranded and desperate for alternate travel plans.

Here are descriptions of the two photos I am sending with this note - 


1. Eileen and me standing on the famous Rialto Bridge which spans the Grand Canal in Venice. This covered bridge is so wide it has two rows of shops in the center of the bridge and pedestrians walks on each side. This entire bridge area is a major shopping region of Venice.

2. Eileen and me standing in the main courtyard of the Doge Palace located on the east end of San Marco Square in Venice. The domes in the background are the St. Mark's Basilica which is next to this incredible palace.

God has blessed us with beautiful sunny and cool weather our entire time in Venice. Today was a bit overcast but we are leaving early tomorrow morning anyway. Yesterday, we were walking around our hotel island of Murano looking for one of the free glass blowing demonstrations the glass factories offer (Murano is world famous for their glass). The first high end glass shop we came to was a very expensive shop. A very nice kind staff person (who may have been a manager) greeted us and we asked if they had any free demonstrations. He politely explained their particular store/factory did not do these demonstrations catering to tourists. We were about to turn away when he called out to us and motioned for us to follow him.

He decided since their store was not very busy and they had other staff to watch the store, he would take us on a personal tour of their factory! He spent about 20 minutes showing us many of the facets of this incredible art form, taking us very close to where the workers heated up the glass material in furnaces that were thousands of degrees hot! He allowed me to video tape the entire personal tour.

This was an incredible blessing for both Eileen and myself. We were very aware that this was a very special personalized tour that very few tourists ever get to see.

And it was all free!

After the tour, we did buy a few smaller items. But even when it was obvious to this manager who gave us the personalized tour that we were not big spenders, he still treated us graciously and with respect. We went back today to buy a few more small items partly for Eileen's birthday (which was this past Sunday) and for a friend.

Tomorrow we take the train to Milano for one night, then on to Sorrento (and the Amalfi coast) for three nights, then back to Rome. Eileen flies out on 4/28 and I fly out of Rome on 5/1.

In His service,
Louis and Eileen Lee