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Published: April 30th 2019
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Today we got to sleep in!! Breakfast was. At 7:30 and departure was 8:30. Exciting to be going to Venice!!
Each place we visit can have its challenges. Besides the language barrier we have had to learn when we can drink the water and when we drink bottled water, of course for the three of us finding butter (Italy only) and ice, and most importantly where to go to the restrooms and how much we have to pay. Typically we have to pay .70 Euros. Yesterday it was 2.00 Euros. That’s a lot!
Food can be a challenge. We are not always given a choice except at breakfast, which is almost always a buffet. Coffee has been tough. I typically drink decaf and that’s not an option here so I have limited myself to one cup a day. Germany was our least favorite food as mostly we were offered a variety of wieners, sausages, bratwurst. I love sauerkraut but so far what we have had was very mild and almost tasteless. The very best meat we had was the spareribs we had in Austria. We also loved our Irish pub in Munich. Italy was our favorite place for food.
We never had anything there that wasn’t delicious.
To get to Venice we had to ride a boat from the bus parking lot. It took about 30 minutes. Venice sits along the Adriatic Sea and is on marsh land and a series of lagoons. It is built on 118 islands with 177 canals and 400 bridges. There are 110 churches. It was evident there were many as on our boat ride we could see various church steeples.
When we arrived we headed to St Michael Square where we met our local guide. She escorted through a beautiful church which dates back to 1060-1100. Sadly we couldn’t take pictures in that church. It was filled with beautiful mosaics that were layered with 24 k gold. The floor was intricate patterns of cut marble. There were 500 columns in the entire structure all made of solid marble. The walls were lined with slabs of marble cut to match. Much of the church was built with products of Greece because at that time Venice was a part of Greece not Italy.
Next we visited the Murano glass factory and watched a glass blowing demonstration. We also got to see various
glass pieces and learn how they mixed the colors. You might wonder what is so special about Murano glass? It is created only on the island of Murano, located within the borders of Venice, Italy. It has been made the same way for over 1500 years. It is still hand made blown glass. We loved the Murano glass and bought several small pieces to bring home.
On our free time we checked out stores and took a gondola ride through the canals. There are no cars, bicycles or motorbikes permitted in Venice. It must be challenging to be a construction worker here as everything had to be brought in by boat. We watched a construction crew unloading scaffolding from a boat. It wasn’t easy.
Following a traditional Italian dinner we boarded our boat and headed back to the bus. It is about an hour and a half bus ride back to the hotel. Tomorrow we head to Switzerland. Night all!
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