Venice at last!

Ahh Venice, so much to see and say and do. Mostly I wanted to stand by the canals and watch the best boat handling skills I’ve ever witnessed. (Sorry Rod) They moved those boats like we move cars. I almost can’t call it docking, it was like parking. It didn’t matter if the vessel had a motor or not, they moved gracefully around town without trying. Everything is transported by boat. Cars and bikes are not allowed in the city. You see boats with boxes of supplies, boats with people, garbage boats, and we even saw a boat to move dead bodies. The people are pack animals, hauling everything around in carts. This picture is of the “hearse” boat.



Parking outside a cafe



It was like a dream to wander the streets and see all the canals. It felt unreal.



After a short walking tour, we were left to our own devices. Five of us interpreters stuck together and went in search of lunch. We dined at a restaurant away from the main tourist area. Some of the best pasta ever! Next we were off to shop. We ducked in and out of shops looking at masks and Murano glass for about five hours. It was the only place I really spent any money. We took a tour of the Murano glass factory the next day. I was surprised to learn that there was a time when the skills of making glass was so secret that they moved the factory to an island to protect it. If anyone tried to escape the island they were put to death. It also protected the city from fires caused by the furnaces. I’ve seen glassblowers before but nothing like this. It takes at least 8 years to become a master and not everyone makes it. I was glad I bought a few things the day before in the city because that stuff is spendy!

We all feel like we’ve seen enough churches to last us a life time but one interesting difference I noticed was that Venice was the only place where the statues have halos.



As we looked around for all those hours we knew we needed to end up in Saint Marks Square but didn’t try to find it. We just went from store to store. I found coffee and gelato, of course, and my cohorts found masks. We were supposed to be back on the ship for dinner at 6:00. At sunset we rounded a corner and walked out into Saint Mark’s Square. Perfect!



We caught the shuttle boat back to the ship and called it a day.