Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Rainy day in the lagoon

Mileage  = 4.6, intentionally much less than the day before!

Today we took the vaporetto out to Murano and Burano. It was pouring rain for much of the day, but no acqua alta or flooding happened as they call it when high tides and rain come at the same time. We enjoyed checking out both islands. Murano has glass art all over as well as tons of stores that sell intricate and expensive glasswork. We went into one and the shopkeeper trailed us by about 5 feet the entire way through the store. I'm not sure if he was more worried that we were going to break something or steal something! Burano was particularly charming with its colorful buildings. I got to talk to an Italian woman who was making lace by hand. She showed me how she was turning a hem by hand, and seemed to understand me when I told her that I like to knit lace. The lacework they do is so beautiful here and I couldn't resist picking up a hand made doilie for the house. (Damon is laughing at me for talking lace knitting with the locals!)

Rainy day in Murano

Pretty glass art everywhere!

Lacework on Burano

You can buy lace everything on Burano

Colorful homes on Burano

More pretty, colorful homes

Burano was absolutely charming

Too cute!

As a side note, one thing that's really surprised us about Venice is how many dogs there are here, of pretty much every breed and size imaginable. They all look super happy and healthy, and appear to get lots of walks from their owners, which is if course when we see them. Most of them literally prance through the streets!

We had a fantastic last dinner in Venice at a small neighborhood place near our hotel. Italians like to eat salad after their main dish (the theory is heavier food first, then lighter). We found that we really liked their style and might bring that little tradition home with us. But, dinner was not without a drama when the tourist couple at the next table over ordered an extravagant seafood platter for two and apparently didn't understand that the pricing is by weight, per 100 grams. We'd figured that system out on our first night in town (without drama since we opted for other dishes) and felt fortunate that we had when the couple got a dinner bill for 150 euros (over $200). They made a huge stink with the restaurant staff who tried to convince them that this is the way of seafood ordering in Venice (true)! It's not necessarily a rip-off, but you have to know the system and how much the dish you want weighs.

Dinner - this restaurant was decorated with so many beautiful masks


I had tagliatelle con funghi e salsiccia (sausage). Damon had ravioli carne con prosciutto. Yum!

We ended our time in Venice with a glass of wine on St. Mark's Square, listening to dueling string quintets. Tomorrow we take the train to the Cinque Terre!

Music on St. Mark's Square


The clarinet player was particularly good!


Us with our very expensive drinks on St. Mark's Square. It was worth it for the atmosphere!

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