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Connections

We got some cheap tickets to Venice to reset our visas and see Daniel's cousin Dustin who is stationed nearby. It was a fabulous trip, and so warm compared to Kiev! We just happened to go during Carnival, the famous celebration that starts 58 days before Easter and ends the day before Ash Wednesday. The earliest recorded Carnival was in 1268! Although Carnival is celebrated in many countries, Venice is most famous for its Venetian masks. It is estimated that 3 million people are in Venice each day to celebrate Carnival, and yes, we were there! It was nuts! We did enjoy walking around and seeing all the costumes. Most were in the Venetian tradition, but of course there were a few Jack Sparrows and Darth Vaders running around. Here are a few of the  costumes. Guess which one is Daniel!
Venice is truly a beautiful city; in fact, it's one of the most amazing cities I have ever seen. We loved exploring and taking pictures! We also went to 3 museums: The Doge's Palace (pictured below), the Archeology museum, and the glass museum (where we saw some glass jugs that were 2000 years old-amazing)!
Just another pic for the collection!
Italy is just full of leaning towers.
Classic photo of Venice, and I took it!
Whaaaaaaaaaaat? What are squid chips doing in Venice?
Oh yeah, I made Dustin a gift bag of goodies from Ukraine! Quick clarification: he's smiling because he's happy about the squid chips, not because I told him to!
It's been 8 years since Daniel and Dustin have seen each other, and they had a great time "catching up!" This was my first time to meet him and all three of us enjoyed our weekend together. Plus, Dustin told me lots of military secrets; for example the whereabouts of 8 secret Tang factories.
I got a new hat!
I think we unwittingly started a new tradition. Remember Poland?
Yeah, you'd jump for joy if you were in Venice, too! Unless you're allergic to gondolas, I guess. Then you would be sneezing for joy.
The sunsets were simply spectacular!
We also went to a drama called the Story of Venice, and went to a theater and saw a group perform several opera pieces. As Dustin says, "When you're in Italy, you just got to do that kind of stuff."  All in all it was a great trip and we were glad to have a weekend "away from it all." We enjoyed seeing Dustin and our visas are good for another three months. Hooray! We are glad to be back home, however, and pay normal prices for food and get back to work and give each other hugs again. Oh wait, we did that in Venice, too. But Venice hugs don't compare to Ukraine hugs and Daniel hugs are better than Venice hugs and Ukraine hugs combined. I would know.

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