Day 43 2/24/12

2/24/12 Day 43

Today was the very last day I got to spend in Venice. I slept in a little bit since it was still a vacation and not a class. Today we were going on a tour to see the three islands, Murano, Torcello and Buarno. I was very excited because I LOVE murano glass. LOVE is probably an understatement because I want a murano themed glass house and or wedding. It is just amazing to me. Well, we had the confirmation for the tour but we did not have a printer so we could not print it out. We figured since Michelle could get it on her phone that it would be alright. On our way to San Marco square to get to the tour we decided to get lunch first. We just happened to find the Hard Rock Café on our way and decided to eat there. It was nice eating lunch there since they did not have many people there. There was this big red Murano glass chandelier. I got some twisted mac and cheese with a drink of water and Tropical Thunder (alcoholic) and it was quite tasty. We (Michelle, Shelby and myself) spent maybe an hour there or so. It was pretty good and the staff was quite friendly. Then we were on our way to get to the tour that started at 2pm. When we finally found the station we found out that we needed to have a printed copy of the confirmation ticket, which we did not have. So, this guy took us to the internet café that happened to be closed. We walked back to see if there was anything else and we found the actual office for the tour. They thankfully let us print out the ticket but were a bit bitch/rude about it. They were like “ you should know to print it off just like if you were printing out a ticket for a plane it’s the same thing” maybe she doesn’t realize that when tourists come to visit they don’t always have access to a computer and or printer. Thought I would just that but who cares we got our ticket printed off and went back to the station and then the woman there guided us to the boat. The woman who was at the station was quite nice and friendly. We got to the boat and our first stop was Murano. All we did there was watch a glass blower make one glass bowl piece and then make a horse. It was epic! I was dying it was just so beautiful. Then they took us to the store in the factory and I had no idea where to start. It reminded me of my grandma’s house with all the glass animals. I wanted to buy everything! Instead, I bought some pendants and a family of four little blue elephants for my sister. I would love to keep the collection going and maybe one day pass it on to my children. I figured my parents did not want me to spend over 30 Euros on any of the beautiful pieces that were offered due to having to bring it back and such. But, its alright because I plan on going back. Then we headed off to the next Island, Torcello. There really was not much but a church that some people visited but we did not feel like paying for it so we just took pictures on this cool looking bridge and basically waited to get back on the boat. We did happen to see a few cats on the way which was cute. Then our last stop was to Burano. That was known for their lace. We just walked around for a bit. Took some more pictures and they had a lot of beautifully bright colored houses. It was quite amazing to see and their bell tower is on a slant due to the ground sinking. Its quite scary knowing that building could one day fall and you can only imagine what that would mean for the Island. Then we found one of those stands outside selling some gifts and I bought this black masquerade mask which is actually quite pretty and I bought some more Muarno glass to add to the collection. I was happy, I was in heaven. It was hard not to buy all the pieces. Soon enough it was time to head back to Venice. We got back to Venice and bought a water taxi ticket to get to Marco polo airport since we were leaving the next day. Then we headed to back to find a place where we could find a good price for a Gondala ride. On our way, we picked up some Gelato and I got some beautiful shot glasses. While I got the shot glasses Michelle and Shelby had found a person to get a gonadala ride from. It was nice but it was a little scary since I constantly felt as if we were going to tip. I was sitting on the side so that was making me even more nervous. It was a nice ride though and it was beautiful because it was at night. I was happy we got to go on a gondala ride because at least now I can say I have been on one. We ended up by Riolti bridge. We looked to see if there was anywhere we wanted to eat at but we didn’t find anything. We started to head back as if we were going back to the hotel to see if we would find anything. We stopped into some stores to check some stuff out and ended up finding a restaurant on the way. It was not that great of a place in my opinion. The food was not as good as it probably could have been but it was one of the cheaper places we could find. It was amusing that our waiter did not know much English and kept saying, “Thank you please”. That was pretty much a give away he did not speak English well. Oh well. After dinner, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. It was an adventure but we figured it out. Got back to the hotel and we all showered (at separate times obviously) and we relaxed since tomorrow we were going to head back to London!