11/12 Nov, Week 12, Venitian Isles

I woke early in my cubicle of a room to find the sun streaming though the courtain lighting up the red and gold padded wallpaper. I marched down to breakfast, and was surprised to find that they were offering more than just bread and coffee. After some ham, bread, nutella, and fruit, I grabbed some food for later, and hit the road.

First, I was off to the train station to buy my ticket home (With a reserved seat.) The residential districts of Venice is was calmer today than the bustle of the Piazza San Marco. This part of the city seemed more like a "city." From the train station I took a traghetto to the Island of Murano.

Murano had a little more of the feel of the Venice I was looking for yesterday. With only a handful of tourists, it was easy to meander the streets along the canals crisscrossing the island. I went to a few glass factories where the tourists seem to congregate, but pushed on because I was not interested in waiting in line to watch someone blow glass. I grabbed a panini for lunch, and continued strolling the streets, but now with a purpose.

After watching someone make glass horses, I decided I should by a glass souvineer. -But something more italian than the horses, dolphins, butterflies, or tableware that dominated the shops. I decided that a small soccer ball would be ideal, but I asked nearly every shop on the island without finding a single one. I began to think that the majority of glass for sale was mass-produced as you can see similarities between items in different shops. I suppose there are still some orriginal pieces to be found, but not a soccer ball. I even asked one of the glass-makers to make me one, but he didn't think he could without many failed attempts. Too bad they don't make custom glass like when you ask the balloon clown to make you a particular type of balloon hat, sword, or whatever. Any venitian glass blowers reading this blog may want exploit this business oportunity. You can start the first custom glass factory in Venice!

I had planned to go to another one of the islands off Venice after Murano, but I would be cutting it close to make the train back, so I headed back to the mainland and spent another hour or 2 wandering the streets in the northern part of the city before parking myself in a cafe to wait the remaining half hour for the train. I ordered a spritz, "traditional" drink of venice and tried to discuss some potential birthday gifts for jessica with the 17-year old waitress. She didn't have many interesting ideas.

The ride back was nothing special (as it should be), and I arrived pretty exhausted after a long, but good weekend.