Fantastic Day In Venice April 9, 2010
Posted by tiffany in : Venice , add a commentWe purchased the 12 hour mobile pass today and it turned out quite well. The pass covers all forms of public transportation(so regular buses too!). We took the water bus to the Murano and Lido islands. The water bus was also useful as a cheap boat ride after sun set. It was very nice and a lot cheaper than a water taxi.
It was exciting, we got to see how they make Murano glass. All of the glass is blown on this island only because of the risk of fire, so there are quite a few factories to visit. There is a lot of shopping on the island too, and it is a good idea to shop there if you are in the market for a large piece of murano glass for a reasonable price. We looked in the shops and saw many items that showed off their maker’s talent.
Lido Island allows road vehicles, unlike Venice or Murano. We decided to walk to the free beach on the opposite side of the island (
we forgot our bathing suites in the hotel). We walked up the beach and looked at the shells (very high shell to sand ratio) for a good hour or two before using a short cut back to the road. When we got the road, we realized that we were walking on a military base (pretty vacant one at that).
Later, we watched the bag sellers scatter and set up shop with the passing of the police (buying a counterfeit product is a felony/up to 10,000 euro fine in Italy, so I only imagine what the punishment is for selling them). 
We did some shopping today (mostly looking around), played with the masks, and bought ourselves a mask each. Haggling is the way to go when shopping around Venice; we got one down to 15 and settled.
Welcome to Venice! April 8, 2010
Posted by Chris in : Venice , add a commentVenice is so not an island but a town built on a sandbar. It is quite nice though, today we walked through probably half of the city on our way to Saint Mark’s Square. Despite knowing our initial goal when we set out, we still spent about 2 hours getting there, wandering through alley-like streets and through streets lined with shops while we followed signs to the square.
We’re staying in a hotel across the water on the mainland but it’s only a short bus ride across the bridge to the city proper and there are water busses (boats) running around the island and through its Grand Canal. We arrived in Venice and decided to walk to Saint Mark’s Square because Tiff had been there before and said that it was a great place to see.
During our walk, we crossed many picturesque waterways crisscrossing the city and thoroughly occupied with gondolas and other boats. We finally stopped to have lunch at a pasta shop and pizzeria just off the Grand Canal where I had pasta with mushrooms and Tiff had lasagna, both were fantastic and we left very satisfied with the food but disappointed with the mediocre service.
Along the path from lunch to St. Mark’s, we passed through a couple of different streets filled with shops on both sides and I think I could go another month without seeing another of the masks, despite their intricacy and their occasional outlandishness. There were masks reminiscent of the black plague, cyborg masks, and the traditional opera mask.
On one of these streets, there was a bridge over a canal that was also covered in shops, all the way over the bridge. The shops were, alas, the same type of shops along the rest of the street. Farther through the day, we saw shops selling blank books with custom leather bindings that were very gorgeous.
Upon reaching St. Mark’s Square, the first thing I noticed wasn’t St. Mark’s but the large bell tower built in the same square. Apparently it has been rebuilt no less than 3 times since its original construction because of lightning strikes destroying parts, cracks running up the entire tower, and more.
The church was a large and gorgeous building covered with intricate carvings and paintings. The square was very open and filled with people and more shops. The shops around the square were more clothes shops, jewelry shops, and even a Faberge store; however, we didn’t see a Faberge egg on display there.
After wandering the square, we had some gelato while wandering up and down the water looking at the great old buildings, enjoying our gelato, and watching the fake purses avoiding the Police. We’ve decided that those men resemble rats, they scatter when they are trying to sell the bags but they group up to run away from the police; it’s a thoroughly entertaining dance to watch.
