Venice, Italy

Our ship passes Piazza San Marco. This is the only typical tourist photo you'll see here for Venice. We didn't venture to the normal tourist haunts, as we were here 2 years ago. This was taken about 6 AM. The light was all wrong, but Gary couldn't convince the captain to arrive in the afternoon when the light would be good.
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    June 21st (Wednesday)- We set our alarm for 5:30 a.m. because we were to sail into the Venetian Lagoon around 6 a.m. It was an incredible way to arrive here though it was too early to have much of an audience.

By nine we were off the ship and by ten we were arriving at our hotel by water taxi. Our hotel, Hotel CA Formenta has a private dock in back on a small canal.We left our luggage but were unable to check in until later today. It was decided that this might be the best day to catch a water bus (vaporetto) to the island of Murano to find the bead shop recommended by Erla.

Beads, beads, gimme more beads...

A canal in Murano
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After arriving on Murano, a very picturesque island in the Venetian Lagoon, we stopped for some espresso and water at Trattoria Busa alla Torre in Campo S. Stephano.

I was like a kid in a candy store when we arrived at the bead shop, Linea Arte Vetro SRL (Cooperativo) located at Fondamenta Rivalonga 30 (Murano). Gary kept leaving to wander around taking photos and each time he returned, I still wasn't finished :-) There are some beautiful beads there if you are ever in Venice. I highly recommend it.

A Carnivale mask, from Murano
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We stopped for lunch on our way back to the vaporetto stop. I had one of my favorites, Prociutto and Melon. Yummy! The restaurant was named Ristorante alla Vecchia Fornace. It is located on Fondamente Vetrai and was outdoors under huge umbrellas. We stopped in many of the art glass shops and galleries in Murano to browse. They have some very pretty things there....

It was very hot and humid today which shouldn't come as a surprise as it's summer! :-) Arriving back at the hotel, we checked in and went to our room (#204). It's a nice room in blues and yellows and has a window overlooking the lagoon.

A Murano vegetable store... we saw a bunch of these vendors in Murano
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Unfortunately, they are building grandstands near our hotel. We asked what they are for and were told that there will be a new cruise ship christened there. We just don't know when but we hope it's after we are gone.

With a wireless internet connection here, we may finally be able to catch up on email and be more prompt uploading my journal entries.

We had dinner at the neighborhood restaurant just one building down from our hotel, La Nuova Perla. I had a green salad, shared a pasta dish with Gary and had a cheese, tomato and onion pizza (with extra onions :-). It was great.

Resting in Murano
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We finished dinner at 10:20p.m. ( remember, this is Italy :-). We were pretty sure that the Royal Clipper was to sail at 10p.m. so we walked over to the bridge next to the restaurant. Sure enough, we saw it coming down the lagoon and it sailed past us with all the light on the masts lit. I'm sure I could have become emotional but luckily a couple from New York came over and were watching with great appreciation so we were both able to share about "our" great ship. I even was wearing my Royal Clipper t-shirt.

Bonnie found the Bead Store!
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June 22nd (Thursday) - Our hotel has an included breakfast which we discovered this morning was more than adequate and was made more special because we ate at one of the two tables outside in front of the hotel. As this is more of a neighborhood hotel rather than one in the crowded touristy area, it was very pleasant  and was supplemented with a view of the lagoon.

First on the agenda was a visit to the Pharmacia a few doors down for antobiotic crema for my foot. With all this walking, my blister from the other day has not healed and is still very painful.  We then walked down to Piazza San Marcos and walked right through on our way to one of my favorite stores here, La Cornucopia (thank you again, Gayle!) I also needed to pick up some Venetian lipstick cases and discovered another bead shop. I picked up seven more beads.

Bead transaction completed! Victory! But wait, there are more bead stores...
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On our way back to catch the vaporetto, we bumped into Emily from the cruise. She was the lady Gary first met in Rome when he was taking the panoramic picture. It's really fun to be wandering through a large city with many tourists and occasionally bump into someone you know.

We caught the vaporetto for Burano. Burano is  located in the very northern part of the Venetian Lagoon and it was supposed to take 45 minutes to get there from our stop but it actually took more as we took the line that stopped at the Lido and Punta Sabbioni before arriving finally at Burano.

Some Murano glass art
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Burano is a small island of fishermen and is also known for the ladies there who are lace makers. It is also very picturesque as the homes are all painted in bright colors and there are canals also making it a little Venice but much more colorful.

We stopped at 2p.m.for lunch at a little sidewalk cafe named Dal Baffo on S. Martino Destro 359. We each had Insalata Caprese and shared a fried fish plate. I ended up with all the calamari as Gary doesn't like it :-).

After taking lots of pictures, we were heading back to the vaporetto when we bumped into another couple from the cruise. It's really very amusing when you think about it....

The facade of the Arsenale in Venice. We passed this on our way back to our hotel from Murano. Our hotel is very close by.
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It has been very very humid and hot today. I was really very wilted by the time we returned to the hotel around 5p.m. for a little rest and to cool down. We grabbed some dinner at another restaurant only about three doors down on the other side of our hotel tonight. It was a trattatoria and I had Prociutto and Melone , Insalata Mista, and Fettucine with Scallops and Asparagus. It was really quite good and very filling.

The local flavor of this area is very nice and there are several restaurants on this street all within ten minutes walk at the most. The World Cup was playing at the place next door and every time something bad happened to Brasil, there was great cheering (they are one of Italy's strongest rivals) who won their game over the Czech Republic today. The kids were playing their version of futball on this wide street while their parents watched the real thing. Nice.