  I did go to Venice, but I think I was in Milan when I was attacked by pigeons. I never did get a copy of that picture, though I'd still love to have one. Too bad I screwed things up so badly with Jess. Also too bad she's not the forgive-and-forget type. If anyone goes to Venice, they have have to bring me back one of the little stained glass necklaces. I'll pay you back, of course. I should have gotten one when I was there. That and one of the little glass bags with a glass goldfish. And you have to go see Santa Lucia. I still say the Catholics are weird for not burying their saints.
Then again, that's kind of part of being a saint. You can't offend anybody even after you die, and since society hates a rotting corpse... Switzerland is gorgeous. It's very clean and very proper and the people are very polite and helpful. In Italy, you're family to everyone you meet. We got to Milan late one night and we went to this hotel that was recommended by the "Let's Go Europe" (which you should definitely invest in if you're going to be travelling there). Well, it was full, but the guy got on the phone and called his brother-in-law who had a hotel on the next block so we went and stayed with him and got a deal on the rooms because we knew someone in his family. It was great! And the guy who owned the hotel we were staying in gave us a Christmas bread thingy that we ate for breakfast for the next three days. We have them here now, too, but I can't remember what the bread is called. Oh, and we wanted to find a wine shop so we asked him if he knew where one was and he said that if he'd known we wanted wine, he would have brought us some from his family vineyard in Tuscany.
The Italians and the Irish both take you in and take care of you like family, so those are great places to visit. Oh, and if you wanted to go to Ireland, let me know and I'll talk to my cousin about getting a couple of maps of some of the cities that will let you know where not to go if you want to make it to your return flight. Abby is going to be student teaching over there next spring for about 10 weeks and they are giving the kids all kinds of useful survival information.
And truthfully, while I loved Italy, I'm going to have to say that Scotland was my favorite. Yes, I'm completely biased and am quite proud of my Scots heritage, but I think I had the most fun there with Cara and Steph and Jen. It was beautiful and interesting and a few people wore kilts and had great accents and the castle is built on an extinct volcano. A volcano. In Scotland. The mind boggles...:) 
