Murano & Gondola Ride

Check out his hands!

We went over to the vegetable & fish market first thing this morning. Lovely smells! Mom was talking while breathing through her mouth, not to get any whiffs of the sea. This one guy was squeezing ink out of the squid and rubbing it all over them. His hands were black! Disgusting!!! That reminds me...I was looking at black pasta the other day and wondered how they got it black. When I read the package it said "squid ink". Wonder if it tastes fishy. Hmmmm.

Took the traghetto to the market, there and back. The way back was less rocky. Mom stood the first time, thought she'd try that out. I could hear her the whole way behind me, "whoa...oooh...aaaahhh"...she made it. It is pretty weird, gotta balance.


Took the vaporetto to Murano to check out all the glass-blown items. Wow...so pretty! There were so many rings, necklaces, and earrings. Found some small earrings for Bria. Might go back to that store to get a ring. We found the best store and the owner was so nice, not pushy at all. 

Walked around the island a bit to see where they were blowing glass and how they did it. Didn't want to go in a showroom after Mom and Dad's last experience. Mom said she finally had to yell at a lady to open the door and let them out. She wasn't buying anything that day! They were extremely pushy. No thanks.

Ate lunch along the canal at Ristorante alla Mora. Had a new spaghetti with just olive oil, garlic, and pepperoncini flakes/powder. Very good with a little spice. 

Dad was a little bored with all the stores and tired from all the walking.

We went on a gondola ride this afternoon! It was very romantic having Andrea beside me and Mom & Dad behind us. They wouldn't even kiss under the bridge! C'mon Dad! (He's so shy about stuff like that in public.) We weren't looking...trust me! Haha! It was very nice. However, our gondolier lacked in both personality and volume. Every time he said something about a building we had no idea which one he was talking about and what was so special about it.  Couldn't hear a thing! Oh well. It was so peaceful once we were off the grand canal. Took more pics. We did hear him say that it took him 1 year of schooling/practicing before he could start. Now it's changed and they have to work on a traghetto first for 1 or 2 years. He also mentioned something about Marco Polo's house when we passed by.

Anne and I took off on our own and did some last-minute shopping before dinner, including getting Mom the matching cream and sugar set for her teapot she bought yesterday. 


Well, we ended up going back to the same place for dinner that we went to last night. It was really good and they had such a variety of food. Dad got his fish tonight, Mom had chicken, Anne goulash, and I had veal in a Marsala sauce. Delicious. And the hosts (brother & sister) were so nice! Dad took us out for dinner. Thanks Dad! Very nice!

It's our last night in Venice. Heading to Germany in the morning. We're all wiped! Back at the hotel just after 8pm. Dad's checking facebook for a bit. We're all visiting in the girls' room. 


Buona notte! Arrivederci! Ciao!