Ahhh, Venice Part 2
Thanks for coming back for part two of Ahhh, Venice. If you somehow missed Ahhh, Venice Part 1 you can get to it by clicking here. I'm not really to sure were part two is going to go. To be completely honest, I have a whole lot of photos and I think I might just see where the stream of consciousness takes me and work it all out after that. I'm reasonably certain that I talked about how Venice is an expensive city last time. That is the truth, but it is, of course, known for being romantic. Romantic to the point that it's even pretty romantic when you're alone too.
Now, the lady you see above was not alone but I get the impression that she is really feeling the romance here. Just sitting, staring out into the lagoon watching the boats. This is a pretty excellent way to spend an hour, or more. I also sat at a few different places and watched boats. It's difficult not to, they are everywhere since cars aren't allowed. For some reason it is a whole lot more peaceful to watch boats go by than it is to watch cars.
Speaking of boats, I discussed the Vaporetti last time. They are the water buses. You will need them if you want to get to any of the other islands. Check my last post for prices. I forgot to mention that you can buy the passes for them as soon as you arrive in Venice. There are a few stands, actual official stands, where you can buy the passes. They are by the largest foot bridge that leads from the mainland to the main island. There is also a large Vaporetto stop quite near the ticket stands, funny that.
So I made it to Murano on the first day. It's the home of Venetian glass blowing. I'm pretty sure glass is also made elsewhere around Venice, but Murano really famous for it. If you forget that Murano is the glass capital of Venice you'll remember extremely quickly when you get close on the boat. There are giant glass works everywhere. Because this was really my first day, I hadn't even taken the time to wander around the main island so my first impressions of Venice were from Murano.
Everywhere you look online and in travel magazines, not like I read those, you see the standard images of Venice with laundry hanging from every window. Open a new window and do a quick Google Image search for Venice, I'll wait. Thousands of photos of laundry. I told you. I'll only make you suffer three of those in this entire series. The first one I took was on Murano and here it is:
I did see the lady putting this out, but I decided not to photograph her. A lot of Venetians look a little grumpy when they see a camera pointed their way. I can't blame them. I assume they are a little tired of people photographing them while they hang their undergarments etc. At the same time, if you don't want people to see you hang your laundry maybe you'll find space inside? The outdoor laundry hanging was like Florence times 1000.
The other thing that was very similar to Florence and really the rest of the places I visited were the nicos in random places. As I said in my posts about Florence, which you can read if you click here, I really like this. When you're wandering down some new little street and you see a quiet little piece of wall or a corner where people have been saying a little prayer for generations it makes you feel good. I found this one on Murano also.
What blog post about Murano would be complete without a photo of a glass workshop? A really bad one is the correct answer. So here is the thing, a tour of a glass shop is not free. I hear they used to be in some places, but almost everywhere started charging. I also hear the "salesmen" had some pretty shady tactics where they would entice tourists on the main island with a free glass blowing demonstration and boat ride to Murano. If you didn't buy anything after their ultra-high-pressure sales pitch, you were on your own getting back. So I didn't take any sort of tour, because the cheapest one was 10EUR for 5 minutes. Lucky for me some glass blower nearby left his windows open and went to lunch. I've seen glass blowing at the Corning factory in New York, it's all the same right?
However they didn't have a sculpture like this in New York. It's been a while since I've been there though, so maybe they do now. I doubt it.
Murano is sort of colorful, if a bit run down but the real color is on Burano. Yeah, I know it gets confusing with only the first letter being different, but Burano is a totally different world. It's a fishing village with a hefty paint budget.
Maybe not that hefty, or someone is slacking. The island was peaceful and people seemed to just be working there, like normal people do. Like the man below, attending to his nets. It looks like a beautiful scene with colorful homes to me, but to him it's just another Friday.
As I approached Burano on the Vaporetto I started to notice something a little off. I got the suspicion that perhaps Italy has a tower problem. I couldn't be completely sure until I made landfall.
Yeah, it looks like there is something wrong with this picture. Well, I mean, I took it so there is nothing wrong with the actual picture, but something seems a bit -- off. The houses are beautiful and colorful and a little extra saturated because it's cloudy and there are a lot of shadows because it's cloudy but the tower in the back on the left appears to be listing a bit.
Yes, it is in fact listing. No one seemed to care. There is a school playground right next to it. Everyone when about their business acting like the thing wasn't going to fall down any time soon. I've heard the one is Pizza is way worse, so who cares right? There's cappuccino to drink and laundry to hang.
The last thing I will say about Burano is that the restaurants are extremely expensive. I suggest you eat before you go. Also, I think the place is famous for lace. People where selling handmade lace in shops and at stands all over the central square on Burano. I'm not really a lace kind of guy, so it didn't really matter to me.
Thanks for reading. I have no idea where I'll take this next time but I still have a ton of photos to show you I'm just as clueless about it as you.
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