Venice Day 2 (10/19)

After breakfast this morning, Doug took off for his internet point. It actually turned out to be exactly what he was looking for, a wifi internet connection. Finally he was able to upload some blog stuff and download some email. Tai and Pascal went off in the other direction to find a hotel for us to stay in the following night. We had only reserved the Hotel Della Mora for three nights and we realized we wanted to stay in Venice an extra night. They were successful but not without a struggle. First they had to find the tourist information place that could find vacancies. Then they had to work the price down. Eventually they booked us into Casa Sant’Andrea (casasantandrea.it)

Venice is a romantic curiosity built on 187 islands connected by brick overpasses with cobblestone streets. Everything is done by boat….delivery boats, construction boats, people moving boats, taxi boats, private boats and when on terra firma specially built dollies are used that move goods from one place to another. It definitely takes a paradigm shift of the mind. We witnessed two boats wanting to maneuver under the same narrow bridge… words flew in fast Italian with the appropriate hand waving… some things don’t change from city to city… water road rage! The streets are narrow with very old, paint peeling, tall, brightly colored buildings surrounding you often with shops at the bottom with window dressings for every kind of vendor that would makes life quite comfortable. Shops for very fashionable clothes, very chic shoes, lunch food, ristorantes, panetteria, cioccolato (my favorite!), tons of Murano glass jewelry, lamps and vases and tons of carnival masks shops. Going from one place to another quickly feels like you’re a rat in a maze of narrow streets that occasionally opens up on to a plaza with a church. Doesn’t do wonders for my sense of claustrophobia. One church or another is ringing it’s church bell every fifteen minutes during the day. Thankfully, they give it a rest at night! Speaking of night… Buonanotte! I’m very tired.…. Tai

We all reconvened at the hotel. Today’s adventure included a boat trip to Murano Island. Here is where the famous Venice glassworks are located. Apparently, all the glass work was moved to this island so that the smoke from the factories and any out of control fires could be isolated. We are getting pretty good at taking boats to various places. It’s a good way to see the sights and to begin to get a sense of Venice. We went past an island which is a cemetery. It would be interesting to stop and visit. How do the Venetians bury their dead. But not this trip.

As soon as you get off the boat, you are bombarded with glass. Shops and people hustling factory tours. We walked on for a hundred feet or so and stopped in a restaurant for some lunch, sandwiches. Then on down the canal which seems to run through the center of the island. Eventually we discovered a glass factory which allowed visitors to watch. They claim to be the only factory to actually allow visitors to watch. And watch you can. Really fascinating. It seems the workers work as teams. A master with a couple of apprentices. They move around the factory holding pipes with molten glass on the end. The object takes shape as they move from station to station. They roll it, blow it, add pieces to it, reheat it, further shape it, cool the pipe in water, heat the glass some more, On and on. Everybody seems to know their task and there is minimal direction needed. There is communication but it seems to be more social then work related. Really a fascinating process to watch.

We went into a couple of other shops and then took a coffee/tea break. Tai found several bead shops and spend a considerable amount of time selecting some really beautiful glass beads. She will have quite a collection by the time she finishes. Nancy, Pascal and Doug went off to find a glass museum. We could find it the first time but after some further directions, we discovered we only needed to walk a few feet further. Doug and Nancy went into the museum. Tai and Pascal went exploring. At 5pm, they closed the museum. There was more to see but they kicked us out. We regrouped and after some lengthy discussion about where to eat dinner, we caught the boat back to the mainland. We had planned to go to another island, Burano, where they make lace, but just ran out of time.

We had planned to eat at a place near the Rialto bridge but we when got there it was so crowded there was no chance. So we headed back towards our hotel expecting to find something along the way. There were many places and we finally settled on one. Yet again, we were really hungry. Somehow we seem to be always a little late. A little late starting out (late morning). A little late getting to the sites (mid-afternoon in many cases). A little late getting dinner (we are starved). Still, we are doing ok. Dinner this evening was very good. Another long day ….buonanotte