Day 7 - Venice

I was not feeling well and nearly gave it a miss. Thank God I didn't as it was a wonderful day. I left Peter, our Tour Director, telling another long story as I saw that the line-up to the Doges Palace was growing quickly. I am so glad that I did as it was wonderful. It is hard to believe the ability of the artists and trades of that era.

Last view of freedom as the prisoner crosses the Bridge of Sighs

I had a very good coffee in the cafe on the way out. The coffee and food has improved since we got into Italy. Then I hopped on the queue for St Mark's Basilica. Unfortuately, we were not allowed to take photos inside here. When I got to the entry I was told that I had to put my backpack into the church around the corner before I went in. The doorman sent me off to the cloak room but he said "come back here to me - no queue for you". Thank God.

There was water in the square because the tide was up and it bubbles up through the pipes and starts to fill the square. There were only shallow puddles but there were some lovely reflections. We were in the square early so the crowds were not too huge yet, by the end of the day they would be shoulder to shoulder. I didn't climb up to the top of the Campanile. A few too many stairs for me with my dodgy old knee. I had an ice cream, I feel obliged to have one most days to see that they are up to standard. So far they have been very good.

Reflections

Our next excursion was to the glass blowing factory. The artisan was absolutely fabulous and created the most beautiful fine glass horse in under 2 minutes. Next they explained about the gold and silver on the glasses and showed us how strong the glassware is. A set of decanter and 6 glasses was about 600 euros.

It was all incredibly beautiful but we were not allowed to take photos. Real Murano glass is an artwork, it must have the AVG stamp and certificate and it increases in value.

Next we were on another boat to Burano for lunch. We had the most delicious 5 course seafood lunch. Fabulous. Burano is famous as a fishing village where all of the houses are painted bright colours. The women used to make lace while the men were away fishing. There are only a few older women making hand made lace now and while there is a lot of lace to be bought here, only a very little is handmade and incredibly expensive.

The steeple on Burano is at a lean and the children's playground is right under it.

We did not go out again and it was lovely to have an early night. I feel so much better now. I have come through my cold fairly quickly as I have been taking massive amounts of Vitamin C - it seems to have worked well.