After breakfast today we took a short walk to a place where we could catch the vaporetto to Murano. We purchased a two day pass which we are now thinking might not have been necessary, but maybe we’ll manage to use it more tomorrow just to be sure we get more of our money’s worth.

On the way to the vaporetto (do you see the ambulance boat behind Dan? There was a row of those.):

Murano is the island of glass making, and so much of what we saw was just amazing. There are also a lot of cheap shops, but it’s tourist country so that’s not surprising. The first shop I really enjoyed looking at (through the window only) had chandeliers that were pretty fascinating. I saw a price on one: €6,000! I’m sure that was NOT the most expensive. But what creative and amazing work. We finally went into one shop and I was commenting to Dan about a piece I liked and so a man came and explained how it was made. He showed another, smaller piece — kind of like a very small candy dish or something, and it was €150 if I’m remembering correctly. We saw other, larger pieces that were astounding. No way could I justify buying anything, but it was fun to look at. I’m sorry I have no photos to share of the glass, other than the one of the French horn: I was uncertain if we were even allowed to photograph things. I know we weren’t allowed to in the store we entered. (I do have more photos, but they are on the Fuji camera and I won’t be doing anything with those until I get home.)

We wandered more, had a nice lunch, and eventually headed back to our place.

Later we went out again. It was still humid out, but at least we had shade in some places. In one alley we saw people coming out of a small place and peered in. There were stacks and stacks of books, falling apart, mildewed, and a bit of a mess. We continued down he alley, turned left, and saw the entrance to a bookstore so we went in. There were gobs of books and it was a tight squeeze to get through. Then we saw that same place where the rotting out books were and that was the exit for anyone not purchasing a book so we went through it. Ugh. The small wasn’t pleasant and I really wonder about the health issues — surely books that have clearly gotten wet and are falling apart (and smell bad) can’t be good for a person?!

Continuing our walk we got confused about where we were, realizing we were going down a walkway we’d been on yesterday and thought was in a different location. How typical in Venice! We had a spritz and bruschetta, wandered more, and went back to our inn to drop off anything we didn’t want to take to dinner with us.

We thought about having dinner at the restaurant at the inn, but there was a guitar player and it was already loud so we knew we weren’t up for that. (The restaurant yesterday, with the music that was horribly loud, is also owned by the inn folks. Go figure.) A short walk away we found an outdoor place that wasn’t going to bug our ears.

Now we are back in our room. The guitarist is still playing (with a backing track) and singing (out of tune), as are people in the restaurant, and we can hear it in our room. It might be an earplug night.

But I will attempt not to whine! I still think Venice is amazing, and it’s such fun to wander … and get lost!