Last day in Venice, Italy

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Tuesday, June 2, 2009 ~ Today’s plan was to all meet up at the Rialto Farmer’s Market in the morning so that we could each purchase our ingredients for what we were preparing for this night’s dinner at the apartment. Jeff and I left early as we were both ready to go and it was too nice to just sit inside when we could be outside, in Venice. On the way over he and I both notice that a lot of the shops are open today and the sun was shining and everything looked all glittery and the energy was “happy”. We walked past one of many jewelry shops and I stopped as I wanted to purchase something for Sarah. I found her a couple of inexpensive rings and then also found a bracelet and earrings for myself. As I went to pay, Jeff said - I’ll get this and then said he’d been wanting to buy me something to thank me for all the pre-trip organization I had done for us. I thought that was extremely sweet of him. Half the fun for me about a trip is the planning stage and it’s never a bother for me. I sported my new jewels and we walked over to the Farmer’s Market next to the Rialto Bridge. Anna made her purchase of basil, garlic, etc., to make fresh pesto, Carla bought loads of fresh vegetables to go on pasta, as well as salad fixin's and I planned to make the fresh fava beans with olive oil and shaved Parmesan. Jeff put everything in his backpack and he took it all back to the apartment while the rest of us stayed at the market to wait for his return. Carla and I went up the Rialto Bridge where she had seen a leather purse she wanted to buy. I had no intention of buying an Italian leather purse but they were very beautiful and not that expensive. She pointed out the backpack purse in green which had caught her eye previously and for which she was on a return mission to make a purchase. I picked it up and fell in love with it myself. Carla had fortunately moved onto another, equally beautiful Italian leather purse. Hers was a rectangular, golden orange purse. We each bought one for ourselves. There went all my cash in Euro! I absolutely LOVE my new purse to this day. I am glad that Carla "made" me buy it. After our purchase we went back to the market to find the others. Jeff still had not returned and so we sat down and had a cold lemonade sitting outdoors in the sunshine on a most gorgeous morning in, did I happen to mention, we were in Venice, Italy. Very nice.

We took the Vaporetto to Piazza San Marco so that we could take the ferry out to the Island of Burano. We found the ferry stop and watched as our ferry was backing out of the stop. Wait for us!!! No luck and our next ferry doesn’t leave until 1:00, about another hour later. Carla and I need a W.C. and so Don and Jeff follow us. You have to follow “W.C.” signs that are painted on the sidewalk with arrows showing your direction of travel. We have to walk quite a ways before we finally and desperately get there. It costs $1.00 euro but at this point it doesn’t matter. Good thing is that when you have to pay, the cleanliness is much better and there's always plenty of paper and soap.

Instead of walking back towards the maddening crowds at Piazza San Marco we walk in the opposite direction keeping our eyes open for sandwiches to take out. The further away from San Marco, the less likely it was we’d find any such tourist type amenities. We did however walk past huge ships at dock. There was a very large sailboat that we all lusted after. Soon it was time to go back to the Burano ferry stop. We did manage to find sandwiches near the bathroom stop. Oh well.

We caught the boat to Burano at 1:00. It was a double decker large ferry type boat and we got seats up top on the side rail of the boat and enjoyed a ride in the open lagoon. It was a very hot day and the boaters were out in great numbers, all in their bathing suits and some not in any clothing at all with all types of boats buzzing all around us. It was mesmerizing and so relaxing to sit and watch everything going on around us.

As you arrive in Burano one of the first things you see is a very old tower in the middle of the small island that has a definite lean to it. As you get closer you see all of the buildings are painted in dark, very bright, opaque and vibrant colors. No house standing next to another is the same color. Each house on a block is most likely the only one of that color on their block. The houses are all two storied and are rowhouses with just a straight line of the color of that house butted up to color of the next house which is painted with another, very vibrant color. It was thrilling to see all of the vibrant colors. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love vibrant colors. Many of the houses were hanging out their daily wash in the sunshine creating a scene that no photographer should miss. Fishing boats were all gathered around the island in all kinds of shapes and colors as well. The small, intimate island was much more personal and there was not nearly as many people as we had just seen in Venice. Everyone got off the ship with the plan to either go back on the 4:00 or 5:00 boat sailing back to Venice giving us at least 2 hours to enjoy the island.

I ventured off on my own to discover the Island at my leisure. It actually felt rather strange at first to be all alone as I had not been alone yet on this trip except for my 45 minute sojourn traveling from the apartment to the hotel. Soon though, I began to relish being alone and wandering willy-nilly with only the care to catch the boat back in time, some 2+ hours later. The island is quite small and is easy to navigate. The houses are all built in a row on either a very narrow street or a very small canal. There are no vehicles here the same as in Venice. The day was already quite warm and the sunshine was more than abundant. I walked down one street and then up the next fascinated by all the colors used and enthralled to be here on this very fine day. All of the houses were well manicured with wonderful window boxes filled with bright colored flowers to compliment their house color. It was an Artist’s Paradise! I get happy when surrounded by color which could explain my house. I found a jewelry store where the owner made her own jewelry and it was very different from all the other types of jewelry I had been seeing. I wanted something not ordinary to take back to Elisabeth and found a very pretty necklace with vibrantly colored round ceramic pieces strung on it which will forever make me remember this day in Burano. Perfect! The next purchase was some cold, creamy gelato which was also thoroughly enjoyed to it’s max. as I slurped and walked down the lanes. An older, but very spry woman was selling hand crocheted shawls that had Murano glass beads knitted throughout that I thought were quite beautiful. The fact that the woman was beautiful in her demeanor prompted me to purchase one from her as she was so sweet, I just wanted to do her a kindness by making a purchase plus it was very inexpensive as well. I am a sucker for people like that. I feel that one of the responsibilities of traveling is to help people in other lands to make a living while they share their longtime traits and traditions. As the time to leave was getting nigh, I found my way back to the boat dock and found a park bench in the shade and waited for the others to arrive. I was far enough away from the main sidewalk sitting underneath a huge tree that whenever I saw one of my friends walk past on the sidewalk, I could never catch their eye to come and sit with me. I must’ve looked hilarious waving frantically in the air with no one paying attention to my waves. I saw Carla and Don go around the corner away from me. They soon came back though each sporting a fresh, creamy gelato of their own. Finally, Carla spotted me and the whole group found their way to my bench. It was not much longer when the 4:00 ferry pulled into dock and we boarded the boat to return to Venice. The sun was going down on our return causing some great shadows of Venice as we approached. We arrived in Venice just in time for rush hour, Venice style.

We went to get in line for the Vaporetto to go back to the apartment to cook our dinner. Jeff and John were having none of it though and they quickly decided to walk back instead of standing in the hot sun in a long line. They took off and soon thereafter the Vaporetto arrived at our dock. We had already waited in line for the vaporetto to arrive for about 20 minutes. When it finally arrived we were too far back in line and the boat filled up before our turn came to get boarded. Now we would need to wait for the next vaporetto which would most likely be another 20 minutes or longer. We’re very tired, it’s hot and none of us has patience any more and so we all leave the long line and decide to walk instead. Much, much quicker!

Just before we arrived at the apartment we were just about to pass a small grocery store near it when I saw and heard Jeff and John inside trying to decide what they should purchase as we’d given them a list of pasta, bread and wine to buy on their way home for our dinner. Since this day had been an Italian National holiday, Festa della Repubblica, most of the other stores were closed and they were finding it a challenge to buy what we needed at such a small market. They were relieved to relinquish their duties and Carla and Anna took over the purchasing and we went to the apartment to cook up a great, fresh meal in Italy.

This was our last night together as a group. There was plenty of wine to be consumed. Good thing no one had to drive home, eh? Anna made her delicious pesto and Carla made a salad with Lemon Pepper dressing as well as her yummy pasta with peppers and asparagus and which she later dressed with Anna’s pesto. I sat on the couch and began to take the fuzzy, soft pods off of the fava beans. Soon both John and Jeff were helping out and we got the large bagful separated in no time. Then, I steamed the fava beans for six minutes until I could see the skin becoming opaque and lifting away from the inside bean. Lastly, I sat and took off the second skin of the beans producing a fresh, green and tender fava bean that is now ready to be dressed before munching. Just some lovely Italian olive oil, squeezes of fresh lemon and freshly shaved Parmesan cheese and they’re ready to go. We have plenty of chairs and a couch to sit on in the small living room. Don set up his camera so he can take a group photo. Carla and Anna sat on the back of the couch and asked me to come and join them. I opted instead to lay down across their laps and that created lots of silliness from there on. The boys got in the photo and Don took the photos using his timer.

Dinner was served at the dining table which was big enough for our small group of six. As we ate, we kept our windows and shutters open and I watched as the lady across the alley from us took in her laundry off of the rope strung below her windows. I am sure we were quite loud and I wondered if she’d be making a report to Enrique about our large dinner party considering only two of us were actually staying there. Eventually, it became time for us to part ways. It was sad to give hugs and say good-night knowing we would not see each other again for a very long time after that. Everyone left and Jeff and I prepared our bags to depart early the next morning.

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Photos

Canals and tower
Island of Burano

busy woman
Island of Burano

An odd duck
This was the only non-traditional house in all of Burano.

Comments

[Carla]

Thanks again....
As with all the other entries you've made, I really enjoyed this one as well!! Let's see what I can strong arm you into buying on our next adventure!! Glad you're enjoying that lovely green bag! : )