No Momento's from Murano.......

Day 4 in Venice, so we are off to see glass blowing on the island of Murano. We get a private water taxi across that was very nice, & we see how they make glass chandeliers.....This was interesting but not what we where expecting at all.  We saw about 10 mins of them working & the rest of the time looking at their showroom. We were told not to feel pressured to buy anything, but 9 out of 10 people buy something as a token... We liked a silver & red glass canoe shaped bowl & thought this might be our token, oh... no no no it was $2500 yep & that was excluding tax!!! So we get shuffled up the cheaper end & reminded not to feel any pressure to buy anything & if you don't we are still friends just like before, the more he said it the more pressure we felt. So at last I see these cute little drinking glasses (and you can only buy a set of 6) thinking, well this is our token, yep not our token as these were $1400 not including shipping... So we didn't buy a token & remain in that small percentage that didn't buy anything. We then were told we could get a free ride back to Venice, so we sit & wait & wait, I guess this is what they do when you don't buy a token lol.... So finally after about 20mins of waiting we are told your ride is here, so feeling like cheap skates we jump aboard & head for Venice. We get dropped off to a spot we have never seen before the furthest end of Venice & are told to head left & eventualy you will get to St Marco its only 5 mins away. after about 90mins later we get to St Marco...what a morning!!!!

On the way to the Murano Island....

Glass blowing.......

We spent the rest of the day just looking around finding more places we hadn't seen. Venice has been very relaxed as we didn't have much planned thought we would play it by ear, & a frozen ear at that. You certainly want to be heading back to your hotel around 4pm as the night cold sets in very fast, & unfortunetly for me so do all the handbag men selling cheap authentic/stolen hand bags lol....I have decided that no handbag is worth getting frost bite over. I still have Florence & Rome to go, so fingers crossed I find something I like & more importantly can afford. Our holiday budget is still on track, which is great.

I had to laugh today as Paul (my Google tour guide) stopped some strangers looking at a statue & told them about the history & the story of it..... When they asked who were the people in the statue, his reply was dunno??? lol... So here is the history of this statue- The Statue is of the Tetrarchs, in an attempt to stabilise the Roman Empire after the crisis of the 3rd century, the Emperor Diocletian imposed a new Imperial office structure: a four co-emperor ruling plan called The Tetrarchy. This porphyry statue represents the inter-dependance of the four rulers. it was taken from Constantinople, during the Fourth Crusade in 1204, and set into the southwest corner of Saint Marks Basilica- The missing foot (bottom right) was discovered in Istanbul (near the Bodrum Mosque) in the 1960's, where it remains on display.

The Tetrarchs......

Paul has just come back from the supermarket grabbing some essentials, as its too cold for me to go out at night. He came back to the room & told me to close my eyes tight & hold out my hand, so I did He got me a cute little black & white handbag, very nice he did well... So i finally have a genuine leather handbag from Italy...Yay. Paul approached the dodgy street seller & asked how much, he said you tell me... Paul replied NO you tell me, he looked left & right & he said $75 Euro, Paul replied no way mate, my wife has been looking at these types of bags for $30 Euro!!! He looked left & right again & said OK $35 euro don't tell anyone... Paul handed him a $50 & he tried to sell him more bags instead of giving back change. Paul stood his ground & after about 5 mins got his change back.

From our room we can hear the chimming of the bells from the Church of San Moise, it chimes on the hour & every half hour... 24hours a day. This church was rebuilt in the 9th century, & the facade is covered in carvings.

 Masquerade outside the church....

St Mark's Square on Dusk...

My tip for Venice is be home by 4pm & stay in the warmth of the sun as much as possible...

Paul's tip for Venice is to wonder the streets & lane ways & get lost, it truly is fun...