Venice, Day 7

Today I took a lot of pictures... Unfortunately, not with my phone. We started the day with our walking tour. We met the group at 9 and began. There was a Spanish speaking couple and later an Italian speaking couple so the tour guide had to give three explanations at every stop, which was a little annoying but gave us time to take pictures. The tour took us through the popular areas of Venice and into the Doge's Palace. They didn't allow cameras inside so that was a bummer. There were tons of painted canvas covering the walls and ceilings. We'll just have to find a good coffee table book when we get home. The tour ended at 12 and they told us to come back at 2 for a free tour of a glass blowing shop on the island of Murano with transportation by water taxi included. I thought that seemed a little too good to be true, but it was something we wanted to see. Us and two of the other american families in our group showed up. We got to the shop and saw a really cool glass blowing demonstration. The glass blower made a vase and a horse, but that only took about 10 minutes. Then we found out why we were really there... They took us into a showroom full of ridiculously priced glass items and turned up the sales pitch. Luckily for us the cheapest items were priced at 1000 euros so we didn't have to worry about any haggling. The other two families had deep pockets so they drew all the attention quickly. Unfortunately we had to wait until the haggling and purchasing was all done... It took 2 hrs!! We did have a nice conversation with one of the families while we waited. They were from Texas and had brought their granddaughter for a European tour for her graduation gift.


Afterwards we found out they had a modestly priced gift shop adjacent to the showroom, so we probably could have bought something for all our trouble... oh well.

We got a restaurant recommendation from our new friends from Texas, and went there for dinner. It was good, but would have been better if I knew what I was ordering. The spaghetti I got was lacking tomato sauce... but ok without. We picked up some gelato before heading back to the hotel room.


We have one more full day in Venice, but no plans. I'd like to find a museum or two or just walk around some more. Just no more glass blowing...

Location:Sestiere Castello,Venice,