This was our first totally free day in Venice and it was our last day in Venice. Our group made plans and invited everyone to go on an all day adventure to the islands of Murano and Burano. I walked to the pharmacy to try to get some things for Emily but the pharmacy didn't open until 9:00 am and we were supposed to meet at 9:00 am at the vaporetto stop. I grabbed a cappuccino and a strange little breakfast club sandwich and ate it on the way back to the hotel.
A large group of us boarded the vaporetto enroute to Murano about 45 minutes away.
Our larger group got split up among the water taxis but we all ended up at the same place eventually. Sean had made the trip before so he recognized the place to get off the boat.
At the foot of the lighthouse there was tiny stretch of triangular beach. This is the sea glass beach of Murano. We hopped down onto the sand and rocks and started collecting bits of glass washed up from around the island. Murano is the glass blowing island and it is packed with furnaces and glass blowing factories. I assume there's someone dumping broken works of art into the water all around the island for this much glass to wash up on shore.
I had long given up on not taking souvenirs back home a this point but I had gathered a respectable amount of glass I thought I could pack so while everyone else combed the beach, I grabbed a water and a drink and walked into a few glass shops.
This glass chandelier almost came home with me. It was clear glass with turquoise flowers and ends and for 750 Euros they would ship it to my house. Very tempting. I texted it to the family as they were waking up and I didn't get a "NO!". I thought about it for a while and decided against it. It was so beautiful though.
Soon Sean followed my lead and grabbed a drink that matched his Burano shirt. He planned to wear his colorful shirt to match the buildings we'd see later. His fan also matched. And that hat! A very nice hat.
We were headed to a glass museum when hunger took us to a sidewalk café. I got to eat at a table alone and enjoy the view as I wrote in my sketchbook. It was a nice little break from people, even though I could hear everyone just behind me.
We stopped in a lot of glass shops to allow everyone to pick up the souvenirs they needed. Everything was colorful and shiny. It was a dream.
We hit a bit of a snag when we found the line to the next vaporetto was over a hundred yards long. These boats hold a ton of people though, so we only had to wait about 30-40 minutes. When we got on the boat to Burano, we ran into Katherine's high school art teacher, Ms Oliver. She was on an Italian vacation with her husband and she recognized us even with masks, glasses and hats.
Once on Burano, I ditched everyone temporarily and started walking down the streets. It was amazing for me. I love color so much and these were MY colors.
I can show you the Sharpies that match most of these. I felt so comfortable here. The light and the color was pure joy.
This was a great spot for a panoramic photo. You may have to click on it or whatever to actually see it.
Sean was quick to tell me he found my street. Pope Street. Perfect.
We took a lot of photos. I took a lot of photos. I think I amassed about 4,000 photos on this trip.
The rainbow peace flag with Mary and Jesus. Nice.
We could have spent many more hours here but it was getting late and we still had some plans for our last night in Venice, so we boarded the next vaporetto and took the long ride back to our hotel.
Kelsey joined us for dinner on the water. This was the best table I had all week, right on the water with a great view.
Katertot and I chose our seats for the selfie backgrounds.
Anne and Sean with the after dinner cappuccinos. And a very nice hat.
There's beautiful Anne in my food photos again. This was the last food item on my list and we totally forgot about it until tonight. Tiramisu. The absolute best tiramisu I've ever had. Life changing. So perfect for the last night.
After dinner and dessert it was time for the bucket-list gondola ride. I was the only one here who had never been on one. They were great friends to go with me so I could have the experience. It was the perfect time of day to go. The sun we setting and it wasn't hot. It also wasn't dark yet so we could see everything from the Grand Canal during golden hour.
This photo made everyone nervous because I had to hold my phone out over the water to get the mer-horse sculpture. I had a death grip on the phone, don't worry.
Every gondola had the same thing on the front.
This was at the end of the ride and everyone was supposed to be fanning me. I don't know what happened. The gondolier was nice.
After the gondola ride we found out Emily was feeling good enough to come down to the hotel courtyard to have a drink with us. We sat there for a while talking and enjoying the night. Then Sean and Katherine had a few more Euros they needed to spend so we took a walk towards the shops and did some last minute souvenir shopping.
The walk back to the hotel was a slow one. We took in everything we could knowing it was our last night in Venice.
Looking back, it's hard to believe we did all this in one day. Everyone was so cooperative and fun. Everything worked out well. It was a great day and a beautiful day at every turn. We got back to the hotel around 11:00 pm and still needed to pack. We had planned to use an empty bag Katherine brought to fill up with our souvenirs and we would just check that bag on the plane. I still had a tough time getting my suitcase to close.
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