Being in Italy for 3 weeks has been a great experience and a great way to relax. It ended with a 45-minute bang of fireworks over the island of Venice! The Festa della Redentore is a huge party held every year in July since 1577 to celebrate the end of the plague that killed one third of Venetians. A church was built on the Giudecca Island and every year the Venetians build a “boat” bridge across the wide canal right up to the Church so that they can light a candle and keep the plague away. I celebrated the Festa with a group of friends that had rented a large, flat transport boat and docked it right under the fireworks… we were ducking the ones that hit the water to the beat of the DJ on the boat tied to ours! It was so much fun and definitely the cherry that topped my time here!