Sisterchicks in Gondolas!

by Robin Jones Gunn

  Robin and the suave gondolier

  ENCOUNTERING THE PIGEONS OF VENICE

  San Marco Square in Venice is known for all the fat and friendly pigeons that make themselves at home on and around anyone who offers them a handful of seed purchased from the nearby vending carts. While many visitors find the tame and often aggressive birds to be disgusting or even frightening, I loved them! All I had to do was hold out my arms and the birds flew to me, ate from my hand, and staged a food fight with other incoming pigeons. One bird crawled up on my shoulder and stuck with me like a cartoon of a parrot riding around on the shoulder of a peg-leg pirate. I mean, seriously. Where else in the world can you beckon the birds of the air to come to you for the price of a one-Euro bag of corn? On my Web site I have a short video posted of our encounter with the pigeons of Venice. You can see the “Polly” on my shoulder as well as the one that landed on my head and tried to pick the rhinestones from my sunglasses. Good fun! Come have a peek: www.robingunn.com.

  Robin and the San Marco pigeons

  OUR STAY AT THE CAZEN

  Robin cooking at the CaZen

  We stayed at an amazing place called the CaZen. It was a fifteenth-century refurbished palace that provided the perfect inspiration for where Jenna and Sue spent their unforgettable week in this story. The CaZen is just like the descriptions, and one of the treats of staying there was preparing our own meals. I’m not saying we ate great culinary delights, but all our fruits and vegetables came from the local markets, and our morning bread came from the bakery just down the canal and over a bridge. I loved the evening sounds that came through the big open windows as we cooked. We could hear mamas calling to their children as they played tag around the ancient covered well in the center of the piazza below. Men coming home for the day gave robust greetings to neighbors leaning out their windows. Life was still very much happening in this corner of lovely, decaying Venice.

  Sisterchick statues Robin, Ruby, and daughters

  A TWO-GENERATION SISTERCHICKS ADVENTURE

  The nearby island of Murano is known around the world for its famous handblown glass. When we took a boat ride over to this peaceful island, my daughter and I, along with my Sisterchicks Ruby and her daughter, were captivated by this Byzantine chapel. We had to take the opportunity to make like statues inside the alcoves. One of the treats of this trip was meeting up with my old friend Ruby. She and I were roommates decades ago when we attended school in Austria. Ruby is from Ireland. For many years our connection was only through handwritten letters, postcards, and Christmas letter updates. Then Ruby and her family made a trip to the U.S. nine years ago, and our daughters met for the first time. A few summers later the two girls ended up going on a missions trip together to Austria. It was the second generation of an international friendship being formed for life at a Capernwray Center in Austria. Extraordinary! So when the opportunity came for the moms and daughters to meet up in Venice and have a two-generation Sisterchicks adventure together, we grabbed the chance with gusto. Friends who last a lifetime are hard to come by. They are true treasures, are they not?

  VENICE CHARM

  This was the view from the front bedroom of the CaZen, where we stayed in Venice. Talk about a room with a view! I often use this as my screen saver on my computer and dream about one day returning again to Venice. It’s a place that never leaves you. Its exceptional charm is like that of no place else in the world.

  The view of Venice from the front bedroom of the CaZen

  A TWILIGHT MOMENT IN VENICE

  The Princess Suite

  This is the front bedroom of the restored palace where we stayed. Our daughters took this room, and for obvious reasons we began referring to it as “The Princess Suite.” One evening, Ruby and I went to check on our daughters after a long day of trekking all over Venice sampling gelato at each place we could find. We discovered Ruby’s daughter playing a heart-stirring Mozart piece on the piano while my daughter was seated on the balcony, eyes closed, letting her just-washed hair dry in the evening breeze. Both girls were oblivious to us, caught up in the music and the perfect twilight moment. Ruby and I had planned to ask them to come help prepare our dinner of pasta and fresh zucchini, but it was apparent that what they were doing was more important. How many times in your life do you get to be a princess on such an evening in such a setting?

  You are warmly invited to join in on more Sisterchicky fun online. Here are some of the ways you can get connected:

  Visit www.sisterchicks.com and join in the ongoing forum where you can chat with Sisterchicks from around the world as well as post photos in the gallery of yourself and your Sisterchicks.

  Visit www.robingunn.com and sign up to get my newsletter. You’ll receive encouragement for the journey of life along with info on contests for free books as well as new book releases.

  Visit http://shop.robingunn.com/ where you’ll find the cutest Sisterchicks apparel, tote bag, key chains, and more at great prices.

  Connect with Robin at these social media online locations:

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