July 24th Venice/July 25th Venice to Florence

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Yesterday we were up early and took the water taxi to the Island of Burano. Here they are known for their lace making and vivid colourful buildings. This place is a photographer’s paradise! It is also a bit of a tricky spot because I wanted to buy a tablecloth here and I wanted a handmade one preferably one with lace. This was a problem as the lace cloths started at 5000 euro’s. YIPES. I did end up buying one with hand embroidery and I am quite pleased with it. We wandered around Burano and enjoyed the sights, had a sandwich for lunch and headed back to Murano. To get to Burano you have to water taxi to Murano, change boats and then you get to Burano. I am very glad that we went because it is really pretty and quite unique. In Murano I did a bit more shopping and took a few more photos before heading back into Venice.

When we got “home” we had a bit of a rest and then did another walking tour of Venice and revisited some of the sites we had already seen. We spent more time in piazza San Marco and took a water taxi half way back to the Rialto Bridge, we walked through the Calle’s until we found a restaurant at Campo San Something or other. We each ordered a lasagne one with meat and one with seafood and shared so we could each have a sample of both. The seafood lasagne was hands down the best I have ever had. Of course we enjoyed the obligatory prosecco…YUM. While we were eating the music began to play in the Campo. By now we have become accustomed to eating at 8:00 and wandering around the streets for a few hours afterwards. A new strategy to avoid the pound fairies! While we were dining music started to play and people began to start dancing so after we finished eating we wandered over to see what was going on. I was secretly hoping to dance but when we saw these people they were hardcore pros’ dressed to the nines and wearing dancing shoes! It was interesting to watch and quite lovely to have the music playing while we enjoyed our meal.

Venice is such a beautiful city and we have seen all manner of interesting things. We saw a barge carrying a coffin down the river, we saw one carrying a cement truck down the canal. A traffic jam on the canal is actually a bit of fascination and I have to saw that safety on the canals isn’t really evident, there are no life jackets and the water taxi’s are often full to literally squished in capacity. Yesterday one of the boats we were on was obviously stuffed with people as I saw the faces of the people on the shore literally pointing us out. That said, having no cars, no motorized vehicles and no bicycles is truly a stress reducer, walking is good exercise and good for wearing off the gelato, pasta, prosecco, bread, cheese……

July 25^th Today we are heading to Florence by train which leaves the station at 11:30 a.m. We are getting ready to have our morning cappuccino and pack before we head out. Just for information…my outgoing SHAW webmail is not sending. This seems to happen every time we are away. If you need to send me a message use ndyck@wsd1.org or John at plus4@shaw.ca. You are also welcomed to leave a comment here which is private unless we actually publish it. Thanks! nan

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