Day 11: Venezia (day 2) and Murano (date of visit: 6/14/2011)

I LOVE VENICE!!!!! I know I already said it, but it really is the most wonderful place in the world. The houses on the canal, the gondolas, the ridiculous maze that is all of Venice. It’s just so beautiful and so much fun!

Anyway, last night I fell asleep to the sound of airplanes and woke up to the same sound. The hostel is nice, but it’s right next to the airport so it’s also a little noisy. Not too bad though, could be worse. I hopped into the shower only to be very confused by the red handle actually being the cold water and the blue handle being the hot. For a minute I was worried that I was going to have to take a freezing cold shower. Once I figured out everything was backwards it was smooth sailing.

Today was quite wonderful because I had companions to explore with. In addition to my two roommates, we met up with three other girls at the hostel and hopped on the bus to Venice. The rest of the group wanted to do a gondola ride, but I’ve already done that and they’re really expensive so I headed to San Marco square to wait for them.

There are signs every now and again with arrows pointing you towards the square, but even with them it’s impossible not to go down a few wrong streets and end up at dead ends. It never takes long to find your way back to the path though. I was enjoying strolling through Venice window shopping at all the cool little places that sell fun touristy stuff. Every time I pass a mask store I feel the urge to buy just one. They’re so beautiful, and who knows? Maybe someday I’ll get invited to a masquerade ball and I’ll need one. It would certainly be better than the time I tried to make my own mask for a masquerade ball…hopefully, that one won’t be my last.

I crossed the Rialto Bridge, which is probably the most famous bridge in Venice, except maybe the Bridge of Sighs. I just noticed I managed to capture that couple smooching. Ah, candid photos. 

Once past that bridge I knew I was getting close to the square. After walking for way longer than it seemed I should have, I walked into San Marco’s. It was very crowded with people, but it was also just like I remembered it.

I walked through the square and to the giant tower we were meeting at. The tower used to serve as a lighthouse until it collapsed. It was later rebuilt and now you can take an elevator to the top for a really nice view of the city.

I met back up with the girls and half of them went up the tower while the rest of us went into the basilica. The basilica is huge and awesome inside. The domes all have things painted on their ceilings and there are awesome candle chandeliers hanging everywhere. I didn’t get to go in here last time I was in Venice so it was really nice to see this. I also thought it was nice that if you didn’t have your shoulders or knees covered, they gave you a big red napkin to cover yourself so you didn’t have to miss out.

The three of us that went into the basilica finished sooner than the ones in the tower so we sat outside and people-watched. I also pigeon-watched. This picture doesn’t really do the pigeon justice because you can’t tell that he’s enormous. It was the fattest pigeon I’ve ever seen.

While we waited, we also took pictures in front of the basilica. I finally got to be in more pictures since I was with other people!

When the other girls came back down we decided it was lunch time. We started walking towards Piazzale Roma so we could head towards the water bus stop that would take us to Murano. We stopped in a little square that had a bunch of different restaurants, but was most unfortunately right next to a fish market. The smell wasn’t too terrible at our table but it was still present. That didn’t matter when I got my food though: tortellini with a cream sauce and little pieces of ham. Soooooo goooooood. I ate every last morsel I could scrape off my plate.

We finished lunch and continued toward P. Roma, but of course, had to stop for gelato on the way. I hadn’t had gelato in over a week so it was definitely time. I got pistachio and nutella today. Both of them tasted just like they should. Again, I scraped the bowl clean. After all that food, I was quite full and glad for the walk ahead of us. We got to the water bus station and hopped on for a ride to Murano, the island where all the lovely glass is produced.

We found a free demonstration of glass making that was similar to the one I saw the last time I was here. The guy didn’t do any glass blowing, but he did make a pretty cool horse in about two minutes. The furnace is kept at some astronomically high temperature and he pulled some glass out on a metal rod. The room we were in was also stifling because of the furnace. The demonstration was cool though. I took a video of it, so if I have the time to wait for a video to upload, I’ll post it.

 After the demonstration, we wandered around the rest of Murano and went into about fifty different shops to admire all the glass in them. I was trying to find something that I simply couldn’t live without. Or course, the only two things I really wanted were way out of my budget. I finally settled on a nice little glass star charm that I added to my necklace. At only three euros it was definitely well within my budget.

Around Murano there are glass sculptures of different things that are pretty cool. I liked the weird star burst type one the best, but the glass lady was also interesting.

After wandering the island for the better part of the afternoon, we took the bus boat back to the main lagoon. We walked around for a little bit longer before calling it a day, but not before I got more pictures of the canals and the streets.

We took the bus back to the hostel where I’ve just been relaxing and catching up with people. I was trying to get my computer charged while being in an area to use the internet so I was kind of cooped up in a little room. When I came out I was surprised to see that there was a toga party in full swing. Hostels are interesting places, but I think I really like them. There are a surprising amount of people walking around in togas right now. It’s entertaining.

But now I am exhausted. Today was a super fantastic day and I can’t wait for tomorrow. I’m going to hit up some museums and explore more of the main lagoon. My Australian roomies are headed to Rome tomorrow so I’ll be on my own again. It was nice having the company for the day, but I enjoy traveling on my own and being able to do whatever I want whenever I want to. Right now, I’m going to bed! Night chickadees!