Venice, Italy
Well last night had to be my worst night so far on this trip. Seemed to have acquired a little bit of food poisoning and not feeling so great this morning (or most of the night). Luckily I am a nurse and carry drugs for all possible occasions so will be able to carry on today…..very over medicated. I guess I should be knocking on wood that I made it this far with really no illness (except for that cold in London). I did spend 15 days in Egypt......all in perfect health.
Needless to say, even with the drugs I did not feel like doing much (which is ok since I did not have much planned for today). I slept through breakfast. As predicted my usual walking shoes were still wet this morning so I decided to hit up the shorts and flip-flops again. I figured the streets would be flooded again so I took the chance. I actually woke up to sunshine (and no rain….yeah) but that sun was deceiving and it was not actually that warm. I had to head to the Fed-Ex store to send home another package of stuff (and don’t even ask me how much it cost because at this point I am no longer keeping track of prices). Of course it is down by San Marco and the square was completely flooded again. I was in no mood to wait in lines of tourists so off came the flip flops and I simply waded my way through the water…and yes it was up to mid-calf….and a little cold but it really was faster.
Then it was back to return my audio guide and pick up my drivers license. Once again I avoided the tourist lines and just walked through the water. I am sure it is really dirty but whatever. I learned this morning that it is high water season in Venice (something to do with the lunar phase). San Marco is at a low point so if anywhere is going to flood it will be there. It certainly annoys the locals but I think it is just a little amusing to all (or at least some) of the tourists. The water is usually gone by the early afternoon and then all goes back to normal. Of course the city does flood more often than in past years due to rising waters (global warming....melting ice packs......you know the story).
Out on the island of Murano. The yellow house just seemed random to me.
Since I had the whole day and had yet to be on the water I decided to head out to one of the islands. I chose Murano as it is the one most people talk about and I knew there would be some good shopping. Murano is of course home to all that fancy blown glass that you see all over the place. Basically the entire island is involved in the industry. The glass industry on Murano has been around since like the 13th century…..obviously it has changed. It was moved to the island around 1921 to protect the rest of Venice from possible fires (the city was made up of mostly wooden structures at the time). I had to stop by the Museo del Vetro which gives the entire history of the glass industry on Murano and has a great display of glass from over the years. I also stopped by the furnaces to watch them a make a few things. It actually was pretty neat to see.
One of the large pieces of art on Murano. Of course this is made of glass that is produced on the island.
Of course I completely missed a step, as I did not mention how I got to Murano. I took the ACTV boat which is like a bus, except since there are no streets in Venice that you can drive on and there are a whole series of islands around Venice, they are boats. It was about a 45 minute ride out with a few stops along the way. Murano is much quieter than Venice but lots of amazing little shops. I really wish I could spend a little bit more money and carry more glass with me but I only bought a few small pieces as everything I have now will be with me for a bit. There is only so much space in the pack.
This is Comet Glass Star by Master glass maker Simone Cenedese, made at Christmas time 2007. Simone still has a studio in Murano so you see his work almost everywhere.
The trip back to Venice was a little quicker as I caught a direct boat. Back to San Marco…the water gone but still a lot of people.
The weather certainly has cooled down so I totally needed to head back to the hotel to put some pants on. I still needed to hit the train station to get a reservation for my trip tomorrow. I was thinking the ticket office did not open until after 0700 and it was actually 0600 so it was an unnecessary trip but it found me a nice restaurant that served my tender stomach some nice plain pasta.
So the plan for the next 2 days is to make my way to Greece. I have about a 4.5 hour train ride to Ancona before boarding a ferry to Patras, Greece. The ferry trip will last about 21 hours. It is set to sail at 1330 so hopefully I make that ferry cause if not I will have to make some serious itinerary changes. I am sure everything will be fine though as that is how this trip has been going for me thus far.
Julie
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