Last Glimpses of Italy...

Our return journey to Venice wasn’t as glamorous as we took a public water bus. Luckily, it offered places to stand outside so we could take in the final views of Murano...

...and more views of Venice.

After picking up our bags at the hotel, we caught a regular old bus back to the airport and flew together back to Schiphol.

Darlene had an early flight back to California the next morning, so instead of trekking out to Voorschoten, she stayed at Citizen M at the airport. I was curious to check out this version of the hotel and was surprised to find this very funky bathroom in her room. It was great spending five days in Italy with Darlene. Wonder where we’ll go next?

Beautiful Murano Glass...

Ironically, I bought my first piece of Murano glass at a small shop in Raleigh long before we ever dreamed of living in Europe. While some of the other islands near Venice are supposed to be prettier, we both wanted to do some glass shopping.

Christmas of Light (sometimes called the Comet Glass Star) was created by master glassmaker Simone Cenedese. The star, an iconic image of the island of glassmaking, consists of 500 glass elements, all made by hand and blown by mouth.

Apparently not only tourists were drawn to this sculpture; the ground below the sculpture was covered in broken glass, making it an unusual place to rest.

Infamous Murano Glass...

The water taxi dropped us off at the Murano Glass Vivarini Factory. Since we were considered potential big spenders, we were given a private tour of the glass-making factory (which was surprisingly small).

It was very cool to see how this small blob of molten glass was quickly shaped,...

...bent,...

...twisted...

...and twisted some more.

Eventually it turned into this massive vase...

...before turning into these lovely birds (just kidding). We were then brought into the exclusive shop with massive chandeliers and intricate sculptures. We quickly went around, at times in awe and other times in shock because some of the pieces were really gaudy, before heading to the souvenir shop where we each bought something out of guilt.

A First Class Trip to Murano...

A benefit of staying in a nice hotel was that we were offered a free ride on a water taxi to the island of Murano (granted, they were probably hoping that we’d spend the big bucks once we arrived). Along the way, we saw this boat that was dealing with the linen at one of the other hotels.

It was very cool to share this boat with just two other people.

I thoroughly enjoyed standing up for much of the ride to capture some photos along the way.

Across the lagoon was San Michele, a cemetery island.

Venice at Night...

As soon as we left our hotel in search of dinner, we were approached by these fellows at the restaurant just across the canal. Although we decided to look around first, we ended up there anyways.

The food was pretty good and the setting was quite nice, so we were happy.

There was an amazing full moon, but this clearly doesn’t do it justice.

Piazza San Marco...

All roads in Venice eventually lead to the massive main square, also known as St. Mark’s Square.

We didn’t end up going into St. Mark’s Cathedral, dating from 1073, but did enjoy watching kids chasing pigeons in front.

We quickly did the math and realized that if we sat at a café on the square to eat an ice cream, it would cost us dearly. Instead, we opted to get a cone to go.

The further away we were from the main square, the smaller were the crowds and more enjoyable the experience.

We had hoped to take the gondola back across the canal, but got there after the service had already stopped for the evening. After making many more wrong turns, I eventually found a bridge we hadn’t crossed yet and we made our way back to our hotel. In fact, we spent much of the day lost as I led us astray many times. Luckily, Venice is fairly small and we always managed to find our way eventually; getting lost was definitely part of the adventure.

Exploring Venice...

I was very pleased with the hotel I’d chosen as it was nicely decorated and conveniently located. Here’s the view from our room looking out to the right...

...and looking out straight ahead. We dropped off our stuff and hit the streets...

...or rather the main canal. No, we didn’t fork out the big bucks for a gondola ride; instead we paid just € 2 each for a gondola ride to cross the canal.

We shared our journey, and the next few hours of exploring, with an ex-Marine who was on vacation from his job in Iraq as a security contractor--he sure had some interesting stories to tell!

Off to Venice...

The following day, Darlene drove us to the Venice Airport, where we dropped off the rental car and put our suitcases into storage. We each took just an overnight bag when we caught the water bus into Venice proper. Although the windows were small, it was an exciting way to arrive in the city.

Eventually we turned onto one of the city’s main canals where we saw an ambulance boat...

...and lots of gondolas.

I was so thankful that Darlene had the foresight to make sure we didn’t drag along our suitcases as it was a long walk along various bridges and uneven pavement to get to our hotel.

The Juliet Club...

While wandering around Verona, we happened past the Juliet Club. In the 1930s, an Italian gentleman took it upon himself to start responding to the many letters addressed to “Juliet, Verona.” Despite all of the electronic methods of communication now available, thousands of the lovelorn still send handwritten letters to Juliet.

When we stopped by, these three college students were volunteering as “secretaries” to respond to the letters. Amazingly, each of the 6,000 letters per year is read, translated and answered and then kept in a unique archive that contains thousands of love stories. Very touching indeed!

House of Juliet...

Probably not surprising, it was due to Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet that we were drawn to visiting Verona. Despite these characters being fictional, a tourist site has popped up in an early 14th century house featuring a lovely balcony (rumored to have been added in the 20th century). Entry into the courtyard to see the balcony is free.

It’s believed that if you rub the bronze statue of Juliet, you’ll find your true love. Considering how shiny her right breast is, it’s clear she’s rubbed a lot.

Despite the warnings that this was another tourist trap, we paid the few euros to enter the Casa di Juiletta (House of Juliet).

In addition to getting to take photos on the infamous balcony, we learned about the actual family that lived in the house and saw costumes from a movie version of the tragic love story.

Afterwards, we ate lunch in one of the squares and wandered the small market. That evening one of Darlene’s cousins had us over for dinner. She made an amazing spread of food and we all enjoyed looking at old family photos. Darlene did a great job being my personal translator as only a few of her cousins speak English.

Exploring Verona...

The following day, Darlene and I were joined by her nephew’s wife Grace for a walk around Verona. Our first stop was the Verona Arena, the third largest Roman amphitheater in Italy. Originally built in 30AD, it was heavily damaged by an earthquake in 1117.

Reconstruction began during the Renaissance and operas have been performed since the 1850s. The view was nice...

...however, Darlene and I gave this site a thumbs down because we were disappointed by the lack of a museum for the high entry price.

The main shopping street was quite charming.

We made our way to the Adige River to see the Ponte Pietra Bridge. Originally built by the Romans in 100BC, Much of the bridge was blown up by the retreating Germans during World War II, but was rebuilt in 1957 using any original materials that survived.