ITALY - DAY 11

It was back to Venice today to explore the city on water. As we headed to our first stop, Murano Glass Factory, we found out that the public transport was on strike, so getting back to the hotel was going to be interesting.

We sat down and was amazed by the talents of the glass blowers as within five minutes he had created a vase. Then his father a master glass blower, created a horse. It took no more than two minutes from the time he took the glass from the oven to the time he separated the finished product. We were all very impressed.

We were then taken into the showroom and shown some of their wares. The salesman was very entertaining and scared us all with showing how strong the glass was by hitting it on the table. I never realised how they got the various colours in the glass. To make red glass they add gold to it, to make green they add silver and so on. We were then left to wander the floors and hopefully purchase an item at an extremely high price. We weren't in the market for a glass paperweight so we ventured upstairs where the girls were allowed to paint a mask. Due to Ellexis taking so long we almost missed the boat into Venice.

We wandered around Venice, down narrow alleys turning left and right at random. It was like being in a huge maze. It was hot and the temperature was high (or maybe we just felt it was after months of cold, wet days) and interestingly nowhere to sit unless you pay an outrageous price for coffee and sit at a cafe. Around 1pm we succumbed to our hunger and we found a restaurant in a back, back alley, settled down and ploughed through a big bowl of pasta.

We continued to walk around slowly making our way towards the bus terminal hoping that the buses would be running. We walked over the Rialto Bridge, through shops and lane ways and finally got to the bus station. We were informed that the buses would begin running at 4:30pm so we purchased our tickets and stood waiting in the hot sun for the bus. An hour later, the bus finally arrived and we pushed and shoved our way on board.

Venice was fascinating but I certainly wouldn't want to live there. Very tourist orientated and dirty. There were really only a few buildings of any significance and the rest were in major need of repair.