A Nice Surprise

   

    Sleep was hard earned last night.  Neither of us found it easy to sleep.  At one point Carlos got up to be productive.  If sleep was not going to come along then he was at least going to research our train from La Spezia to Parma, so that we could figure out when to work in that trip.  We woke up at 7am and Carlos went in search of the crepe stand that made a crepe filled with Nutella.  But in the Italian tradition only the bakery was open at that time, so we settled for pastries.  After coffee we took what we thought would be our last walk around the Rialto Bridge and the fish and fresh markets.   Mr. Fish went along and was not amused by the fish market.   We also found a meat market that only sold horse meat. 



This is the biggest jar of Nutella I have ever seen





Mr. Fish a little traumatized



Mr. Fish inspecting today's catch




Horse meat?  Are you serious??



    There are no wheeled vehicles in Venice.  All transportation is done by boat / barge.  All produce and packages are brought in by barge or boat.  While in Murano we even saw the DHL barge.  Today was garbage day.  Sorry no picture of the garbage barge but it was interesting how it picked up carriages that were pushed by men and dumped them into the barge. 



DHL Bardge



More Cargo



  

    We returned to the hotel to do our final packing and proceeded to checkout.  This is where we received our nice surprise.  Carlos had actually made the reservations for three nights not two so we could either forfeit the last night or stay for one last day.  Well, Carlos doesn’t start work until Friday, so one more day was the choice.  (Life is good!!!)

    So what to do when we hadn’t made plans for another day.  A quick discussion with the desk attendant made it clear that we would visit the islands of Murano and Burano.  Murano is a fine glass fabrication center and Burano is a source of Lace.  We walked out to the ferry port on the north east side of the island and boarded the ferry to Murano.  After stopping at a few shops we decided to watch the manufacturing of glass art by one of the local master’s.  It was truly amazing to watch them work.  In minutes they produced an ornate leaf to a piece we did not see prior to our arrival, a beautiful pitcher and a horse.  We will try and figure out how to insert a slide show into the blog so that everyone can see.  While exploring the town we decided to stop at a restaurant with a large garden patio to enjoy some wine and a caprese salad and a tray of cheese.  (How Italian of us.)  

One of the artisans created this horse in minutes

    We then boarded the ferry to Burano, a sleepy little town on a neighboring isle.  Sleepy, being the key descriptor.  We arrived around 2pm and most of the doors were closed and draped with an exterior curtain that pretty much said, “Just keep walking past we are not interested in your interest.”  Oh well, the lace was pretty but they clearly thought it was significantly prettier than we did.  We stopped for an afternoon spot of cappuccino/coffee and then headed back to the ferry.  The morning walk plus exploring Murano had pretty much exhausted us.   (I believe there are a few Italians wondering what the phrase “uncle” means.)

  For dinner we decided to have pizza, it was full of flavors; it had red and yellow roasted peppers, artichokes, black olives, capers, mushrooms and cheese.  We also had a cabernet that was made here in Venice that was great!!  (I have yet to have any bad wine)