40th Anniversary Trip Day 12

40^th Anniversary Trip Day 12 – Friday in Venice

The hotel offers 2 free shuttles by water taxi – one to St. Mark’s Square and one to the island of Murano including a tour of a glass factory.  Today we’ve decided to take the latter.

After breakfast (more pannacotta and lots of other stuff) we head out the front door to the canal and board the launch, along with an Italian couple.  It’s only a 15-minute trip across the lagoon to Murano where we’re greeted by Peter, a young man who’s part of the family that owns the factory.  The Italians get their own guide.

We’re all taken into the workshop and Peter explains the process.  The fires are kept going 24-6 (rest on Sunday).  When a piece is blown and finished it’s put into a furnace to cool down!  The furnace is at a lower temperature than the glass piece.  If the piece were left out in the air, it would shatter as it cooled.  Despite this, there’s still about a 30% breakage rate.  This explains the high price of Murano glass, and also why the glassware at the inexpensive souvenir shops is probably from overseas.

We learn about how pieces are shaped, and how colors are added (none of which I remember!) and finally the master glassmaker crafts a Ferrari logo horse in 60 seconds.  This is when I discover I never learned how to use the movie function on my camera!

En route to the showroom we meet the “owner”, a very complacent cat who we’ll later see sprawled out on the shipping crates. 

Peter explains that he’s not on commission (Peter, not the cat) and won’t pressure us, but will be there to answer any questions.  We see some exquisite pieces and learn that all of the chandeliers in our hotel were made in this factory.  I worry about accidentally breaking something but Peter tells us it’s OK if I do, because they’re insured.  In contrast, the “trinket” shops around the city are replete with signs telling you if you break something, you’ve bought it.

We don’t ask prices of any of the items - bringing fragile glassware into an RV would be a sure way to break it – but judging from the prices in the factory’s gift shop (100 euro or more for small glass boxes) the large items would be out of our (and most people’s) budget anyway.  Peter is true to his word and doesn’t pressure us (nor does the cat) and the whole experience is fascinating.

We walk through the quiet streets of Murano, eventually finding the anything but quiet main tourist area.  Our plan is to take the vaporetto over to the other large island of Burano, but when we see the queue we decide we’ll head back to the hotel and leave Burano for tomorrow since we have plans for tonight.

We make it back to the main Island and while we could change vaporetti and end up close to the hotel (behind the Madonna del Orto church) we decide to walk back.  I would have got lost, but Vicky has no problem.  We see more of the quiet residential area, and more small canals, and arrive back in time for a rest.  Here are the Murano chandeliers in the lobby and our (part of) our room.

Dinner tonight is a short walk to a little wine bar we noticed before.  It serves finger food but also small plates, so we have a “light” Italian dinner.   We did see a place offering Oriental food, but we never tire of La Cucina Italiana.

Tonight we attend a Vivaldi concert in the center city.  We arrive early so we explore and find the Opera House and the Bistrot (sic) di Venice, both of which are on our itinerary for Sunday.  We even find our way back to the concert hall (a school) for the Vivaldi concert. The first half consists of short pieces by the composer, none of which I’ve heard before, plus Pachelbel’s Canon.  After the break we’re treated to the whole of the Four Seasons.  It’s performed on period instruments by performers in period costume, and the hall also dates back to that era, so apart from the “subdued” electric lights, the whole experience is just as people would have experienced it in Vivaldi’s time.  While it’s not an intimate drawing room experience, the hall is small enough that we can see the artists clearly. This was something on Vicky’s bucket list, and last time we were in Venice it was sold out, so I agreed to it.  I’m glad I did, as it’s a delightful experience.

We get back to the hotel by a combination of vaporetti, the “Line 1” to the train station and then the 4.2 to the Madonna del Orto stop.  Despite the change of boats, this would have been an easier way to get to the hotel than the one we used on Wednesday in the rain, as there are no canals (and hence bridges) to negotiate.  We know better for next time!