DAY 10 BURANO AND MURANO

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Today is our last full day in Italy. Since there is a church in nearly every piazza, it wasn’t difficult to find one. Every church seems to have tombs in the floor, in the chapels and attached to walls. All the churches are huge and have great artwork and lots of marble. But enough!

Today we rode a boat to the islands of Burano and Murano. Our tour guide was Christina who married a Venitian but is from Checkoslovakia. Burano is a fishing village known for its colorful houses. Since it is foggy much of the time, the women of the village decided to paint their houses in bright colors so their husbands could find their way back from fishing. If you were to buy a home you must keep it the same color. Burano is also known for its handmade lace. This is almost a lost art, but we did see a lady stitching lace. Ladies specialize in a particular stitch so you might have 7 different people involved in completing a pattern. Michelle and I looked into the shops while Bobby and Glenn had coffee with Christina. I would have liked to have stayed on Burano much longer.

A larger island is Murano which is famous for its glass. We watched a glassmaker make a vase and a horse. We were then taken to the showrooms where there are huge chandeliers, vases, glasses and every type of glass you can imagine, including mirrors (We learned the Venetians were the first to make mirrors.) Expensive glass is not my thing….I could just picture balls flying around and breaking stuff.

On our way back from Murano our guide pointed out many smaller islands. One island had been a prison, one island was the cemetery, another island had a big church complex which was a convent, but now is a university. She also pointed out a yellow house which belongs to Sir Elton John.

We asked to be dropped off at San Marco Square where we checked out some of the shops and ate gelato. I think Bobby and Glenn have tried to visit every gelateria in each city we visited.

We have done a lot of walking….really, a lot of walking. Our feet and legs have done wel,l no blisters. Bobby is managing some pain in his shoulder and back but we are still enjoying each day.

Our tour guide suggested a good local seafood restaurant, Trattoria alla Madonna. Tonight Glenn and Michelle and Bobby and I had our Italian last supper. The food was great and the company even better. We made great friends in Michelle and Glenn and hope we see them again. They will leave very early in the morning for Marco Polo airport where they will catch their flight to Wisconsin.

We just did a trial run on our luggage weight and we think we will make it without having to pay for extra weight. RYANAIR seems to be very strict on their baggage policy. We will be flying to Brussels in the morning. I hope Dorothy and Henri remember to pick us up!

Ciao Ciao Italy!

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