Venice - December 2-3,2006 -#2

Day 2 in Venice...what a great place to wake up in the morning. We had a nice breakfast in the hostel and then checked out of the room. We left our stuff locked in a bag room for the day so we would not have to carry everything around and then we decided to visit the islands, Murano and Burano so we could soak up some more of the culture. Scotland came along with us for the day since he had never been to the islands so the three of us set out on our adventure to get to the islands. We had to get a water taxi to get to the islands. It was cold on the boat. I know that we went in December but when you are on a boat going across water it gets cold. Hence looking at the picture below you can see how red my face was from the boat.

It was still a lot of fun. It took us about 40 minutes to get from San Marco square to Murano on the boat. This is a picture of me at the bus(boast) station on Murano. This island is famous for its glass. We were able to see a demonstration of glass blowing which was fun. I had never seen this is person before so it was cool.

This guy made a flower vase out of this piece of glass and then he also made a glass fish out of the remaining glass which he broke off the vase. It was cool to see how easy it was to mold and shape the glass.

Of course the boats need gasoline to run so why not have gas stations on the water. I know that it is not a hard concept to understand but it was still weird to see a gas station floating on the water.

We did not spend a lot of time on Murano since the only thing there was glass and since the demonstrations were all the same there was no point in going to see more than one. We wandered around some shops and I bought a few small souvenirs and then we were on our way back to the boat stop to catch the boat to Burano. This was such a beautiful island with all the colours.

It almost felt magical walking around this island. However by the time we arrived there we were all a little hungry and getting a little moody so we decided to go and get some lunch and all agreed on this little family run pizza parlour which looked nice. The restaurant was very nice and cozy. The food was amazing. I was a little thrown back when my friend Angela asked for some ketchup to put on her pizza? Who puts ketchup on pizza, and especially when they are travelling to a place where they specialize in a type of food. I told her she should just eat it the way she got it but no. The lady gave her a really weird look. Angela even tried to tell me that all Italians put ketchup on their pizza!? I don't think so...

Anyways...the remainder of our time on the island was great and we were able to see some real cultural stuff in. Burano is famous for their lace. It was gorgeous but I didn't think I would find a use for most of it so I did not purchase any of it.

This is a photo of me on the boat on the way back from Burano. The sun was setting and it was a gorgeous night. I was getting sad because it was almost time for Angela and I to head to the airport. But we got back into San Marcos square with enough time to run around and do some more cool stuff.

We bought some corn and fed the pigeons in the square which was an adventure all in itself. I was very worried that I was going to get messy with all the birds on me but it all worked out nicely and I am alive and clean still! In the picture you can see how one of the birds in on my shoulder so I could not stand up straight. I was not impressed at the time but it was fun to do and I don't think I will ever do it again!

Finally it was the end of our time in Venice and we had to take the boat back to the bus station so that we could catch the bus back to the airport. We passed through the grand canal and the rialtto bridge on the way back. It was all very gorgeous at night. I will be going back at some point in my life. I am just not too sure when that will be!