No, not really, it was a great day. The headline was Milly’s idea, she may still be delirious. The girls have rated today as the “best yet”, so it must have been okay. Or it might have been because today was a serious shopping day. How serious? Well, I need to go back at work on Monday, so reasonably serious.
The good news is Milly bounced back a bit and spent the whole day out out with us. She kept going to sleep on the bus and boat, but other than that she was back with us.
We got away early and bussed into Venice to catch the boat over to Murano. I’d never heard of the place but apparently they do a reasonable trade in glass ornaments and knick knacks. It turns out they do indeed turn out some half decent stuff. Who would have thought that I would have been entranced by glass baubles? They are very, very pretty. I even weakened and bought some really swish artistic pieces myself, see below.
Not satisfied with one island, after a short sojourn on Murano we embarked for Burano. Burano’s claim to fame is lace and coloured houses. Michelle bought lace and I took photos of coloured houses, so between us we had that covered.
The coloured houses look something like this:
Back to Murano to buy more glass and then home. Shame Milly didn’t really get to see Venice itself, but she was happy with what she did see.
It’s arrivederci to Italy now, as we catch a train at 8-something tomorrow morning and head for Switzerland. If we haven’t got what we want from Italy by now it’s too late. Next stop the chocolate capital of the world (it probably isn’t, however it’s close enough, so we are eating chocolate).
Some final (fresh) observations about Italy:
- People in Italy might drive crazy, but they can park a car. If the space is longer than the car, they’ll park it. By longer I mean anything longer, 1mm will do. And they usually get it in first go.
- People in Venice can handle their boats, regardless of the size/type. The gondoliers were very good, as you might expect. I was also very impressed watching the fingertip control and faultless manoeuvring of the speedboats. The boat-bus creates a huge swell coming into the terminal that should have thrown the speedboats waiting to dock up against the mooring poles and each other. However the drivers calmly held them steady manoeuvring in and around each other without mishap.
- Anyone who can establish a Jims Mowing franchise in Italy is set for life. I swear I am yet to see any public area of grass in the country that is mowed regularly, if at all. The country makes an absolute fortune in tourist dollars, God only knows what they spend it on, not maintenance.
- Italy has a long hard road ahead if it is ever to match Australian standards with regards to smoking. Inside buildings (and buses) is about the only place no one smokes. People pitch butts as if they were orange pips.
- Most Italians can speak at least a bit of English, for which we are very grateful as I can’t even manage a half decent grazie. Even the Italians who claim that they speak only a little English, and not very well, speak the language better than about 25% of Australians.
- Obese people have been virtually non-existent in Italy. What are they doing right that we are doing wrong? Maybe it’s the smoking reducing their appetites?
Okay, bye for now. Catch you in Switzerland. I feel a bit like James Bond – flitting about Europe, leaving Venice for a rendezvous in Switzerland. Only without the cool car, and no neat gadgets, and no georgeous woman (I have two! Beat that Jimmy!). Other than that….
Steve J.
More photos:
