05-10 Venice: Murano=Glass; Burano=Lace

A Tale of Two Cities - Murano and Burano. We are heading for one city known for its glass making and another known for its lace making. Along the way to the vaporetto we took this picture in St. Mark's Square. It is early in the morning and there are not many people around. It happens.

As we left the docks near St Mark's Square we passed the Grand Princess coming into Venice. It's huge and dwarfs our "tiny" vaparetto. Look at all the people on the railings and in their staterooms as they pass St Mark's Square at 9:30 in the morning. Soon they'll be on tours of Venice.

Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle Software, had his year-old 288' Super Yacht in Venice. It has 4 propellers and the engines produce 16,000HP and it goes fast. It was NOT one of the boats we were allowed to ride with our 7-day Venice Pass.

Here is the inside of OUR boat as we traveled to Murano. Larry probably has more room in his. We had to stand for our ride.

After our 30 minute boat ride we got off on the island of Murano. We were ushered into a glass making demonstration for 10 minutes and then into their showroom. Hmm. I smell a setup.

These were the kinds of sandwiches we had occasionally for lunch. It is bread with ham, mozzarella cheese, lettuce, and tomato in it. Then they smash it between two heated irons (think George Forman grill) for a minute or two. They were great for the first couple of times. After the 10th one we were always looking for an alternative.

While we were eating this was behind us. We are not sure what they did wrong to merit this sort of punishment.

I'm not kidding when I tell you that you need to take going to the bathrooms seriously in Venice. This map and legend tells you where the public bathrooms are and what time they are open for your enjoyment.

We are in Murano, a city known for its glass. Here we see a new glass creation in a town square against the backdrop of a 12th century church.

This is how they assemble the pieces to make what has become the signature pieces of Morano glass. They then heat the whole thing until they stick together.

Here are some finished pieces.

A lot of this glassware is just beautiful. If we have a picture of it Karen thought it was worthy of a place in her house.

This is part of a typical vaporetto schedule. The boat numbered 4.2 leaves 3 times per hour at :03, :23, and :43 of the hour. Another map will tell you WHERE 4.2 goes.

Karen - in her element.

What a great location to shop in.

RICK STEVES in MURANO - he's following us around Italy! Here he is asking how to read the vaporetto schedule from some locals. We thanked him a few minutes later for all of his common sense, time-saving information in his books and seminars. And then we were on our way to catch the next boat to Burano.

SCORE!

We are in the Land of Lace - Burano. They are known for their lace making. More about THAT later.

Karen should get a job selling photos to the chambers of commerce. Another simply beautiful picture of the town of Burano.

What? We're not in Italy anymore? Karen in Neverland. How appropriate.

There is even a Museum of Lace! A museum? Let's go in.

These ladies were demostrating the ancient art of lace making by hand.

Between the 3 of them they make all the lace sold in Burano and in Venice. Uh, probably not. Which brings us to our point. WHO IS making all the Burano lace they sell in Burano and Venice and around the world? Certainly NOT the residences of Burano. There aren't enough of them to supply the need. Figuring the time it takes to make these and what they were selling them for, it comes out to about $1/hour for their labor.

Time for dinner and some spaghetti with meat sauce.

Mine! Mine! Mine! (My Disney friends will think that's hilarious)

We left Burano and headed on a vaporetto for the mainland. We got off on the opposite side of the island from where our hotel was. We were looking forward to our last walk home in Venice and some gelato along the way. This was our last day in Venice. Sigh.