Sunday 22nd May
Warm to hot
The day starts at the glass factory with an exhibition of blowing a hollow vase, then a solid horse sculpture,and finally a glass baloon.
The show ends with a ‘bang’ when the blower deliberately smashed the balloon on the floor.
Following the floorshow, there was a tour of the showroom, with many sales assistants hovering, and only too willing to help.
But venice is a city defined by its architecture, canals, and bridges to suit.
And is there really anything that says ‘Venice’ more than a gondola (or make that gondolas)
Then it was time for self-exploration and wandering around the back alleys of Venice.These are very narrow, with barely enough room for two to pass. Every so often one runs into a dead end, or even worse a canal – not a good place to to be concentrating on sending a text or Facebooking – could end in a watery grave.
There is also a network of narrower canals, acting as private roads I guess.
Seems once away from the main tourist paths, you are in a different world. Still it is a total maze, and easy to get confused.
I teamed up with Jess and Mike to increase the indecision making (or maybe sharing the blame is a better description)
After 36 hours of semi-random wandering (the guide maps did not live up to their primary function), either by divine intervention or sheer dumb luck, we got back to St Mark’s Square in time for the trip to Boreno.
Meanwhile back in St Mark’s
Burano is one of the outer, larger islands of the hundred islands that make up Venice.It is a very quaint and clean community. All the buildings are painted in strong colours – it is a community requirement, and needs to be done every two years. Everyone was watching us get on the boat with keen interest.
We arrived in time for a late four course lunch.
And if you have power boats, you need a gas station:
A long relaxing boat ride back for an early night (if you think of 7:30pm as early)
Didn’t catch up with Barry and Raelene, as they were kept in secure transfer and didn’t get let loose in Venice.