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Day 8 Venice
Oct. 11th, 2012 09:44 pmOur hotel last night was actually just outside Venice. This morning we took the boat onto the island itself. Our bus paid a hefty 400+ Euros to get into the city, and that's apparently twice what the price had been two years ago. But given the large number of people on the islands, it doesn't seem like the raised prices has deterred anyone. I guess the money goes to upkeeping, since the water is surprisingly clear of any debris or trash at all, even in the nooks and crannies.
The trip itself to Venice was on a motor boat. From the top, the view was ok and there's less chance of sea sickness with the cold morning wind blowing at you.
Our first stop in Venice was the Murano glass factory, where we got a short demo on glassmaking and then were ushered into the official gift shop. Lots of very pretty stuff there, and the local guide explained the contents and quirks of specialties like Venetian red or the pink-turned-blue-under-lighting glass and the baroque versus Venetian styles and etc. I admit we were a little overly dazzled by the shinies everywhere and ended up buying quite a bit of stuff there, that on later retrospection, would have cost less than half of what we paid for in the shops outside of that factory. *sigh* I should stop thinking about that before I ruin my vacation.
Then we passed by the San Marco plaza and took a short boat ride on the gondola. One of our tour group members paid for a singer, so the entire tour (including the boats before/after that one) got to also enjoy the signature serenade on the gondola. That was kinda neat, and is probably the best part of Italy so far. :p
After the gondola ride, we had about 2 hours of free time to scour the shops. The less said about the prices there versus the prices we'd paid earlier the better. We were also supposed to get lunch. But after tasting a bite of the fast food type things my mom and one of our tour members bought, I decided to skip. My god how much salt do the Italians put in their food? The pasta last night was very salty too. It's incredibly sad that I think the pasta from Giovanni's in Berkeley is better than the actual pasta from Italy. Bleh.
After the motor boat ride back to the mainland, we drove onwards past Florence to our hotel... which I guess is just outside Florence (something about Tuscani?). Tomorrow we're to visit the leaning tower of Pisa and then circle back to do Florence.
Our hotel is a rather quaint one, with actual heavy brass keys instead of the usual key cards so far. I'm not sure if they're just that old or if that's supposed to be on purpose for regional flavor. They also provided dinner, which was a fair bit better than the stuff we've had outside so far, in that it was only a little too salty. Ah well.
The trip itself to Venice was on a motor boat. From the top, the view was ok and there's less chance of sea sickness with the cold morning wind blowing at you.
Our first stop in Venice was the Murano glass factory, where we got a short demo on glassmaking and then were ushered into the official gift shop. Lots of very pretty stuff there, and the local guide explained the contents and quirks of specialties like Venetian red or the pink-turned-blue-under-lighting glass and the baroque versus Venetian styles and etc. I admit we were a little overly dazzled by the shinies everywhere and ended up buying quite a bit of stuff there, that on later retrospection, would have cost less than half of what we paid for in the shops outside of that factory. *sigh* I should stop thinking about that before I ruin my vacation.
Then we passed by the San Marco plaza and took a short boat ride on the gondola. One of our tour group members paid for a singer, so the entire tour (including the boats before/after that one) got to also enjoy the signature serenade on the gondola. That was kinda neat, and is probably the best part of Italy so far. :p
After the gondola ride, we had about 2 hours of free time to scour the shops. The less said about the prices there versus the prices we'd paid earlier the better. We were also supposed to get lunch. But after tasting a bite of the fast food type things my mom and one of our tour members bought, I decided to skip. My god how much salt do the Italians put in their food? The pasta last night was very salty too. It's incredibly sad that I think the pasta from Giovanni's in Berkeley is better than the actual pasta from Italy. Bleh.
After the motor boat ride back to the mainland, we drove onwards past Florence to our hotel... which I guess is just outside Florence (something about Tuscani?). Tomorrow we're to visit the leaning tower of Pisa and then circle back to do Florence.
Our hotel is a rather quaint one, with actual heavy brass keys instead of the usual key cards so far. I'm not sure if they're just that old or if that's supposed to be on purpose for regional flavor. They also provided dinner, which was a fair bit better than the stuff we've had outside so far, in that it was only a little too salty. Ah well.
