Murano and Burano

The end of our vacation touring Italy was near, Julie and I were slated to return to Germany on a late night flight out of Venice's Treviso airport.  The activity for our final day was planned, we would take a boat from Villa Laguna to the New Murano Gallery.  After dropping our luggage off at the front desk, we disembarked from the dock around 10:00.  The private taxi was pleasant - the four of us and another gentleman enjoyed a sun-soaked ride to the island of Murano.

Heating glass to be more malleable

Making a vase

Hot glass even as it cools

The small island in the Venetian lagoon is renowned for their production of hand-blown glass.  We scheduled a tour of the New Murano Gallery to the witness the craftsmanship in action.  We arrived to the New Murano Gallery around 10:30 and were introduced to our personal guide for the day, Silvio - ironically, the only other passenger on our boat.  He started with a brief introduction about the facility and history of Venetian glass.

Making a horse

Final product

Our hotel offered us free passage to the gallery and the return fare would be "free" if we made a purchase from the showroom.  Numerous hotels in Venice have the same offer and according to Trip Advisor, the audacious grounds of the return "fare" are nearly as polarizing as reviews of Petite Venice in Colmar.  The "free" trip to Murano is very forthright - if someone doesn't want to make a purchase, visit a museum - or take the water taxi.

Really liked this, but it cost nearly  €5000

Chandelier outside showroom

The tour of the New Murano Gallery is very brief - well, I wouldn't define it as a tour - rather, a ten minute demonstration followed with a visit through the showroom.  The glass blowing display featured a lone gentleman who repeatedly made a glass horse and a small vase.  A perfunctory challenge for him - completing the vase within minutes while the horse completed a wonderfully entertaining dog and pony show.

Island of Burano

A most enjoyable visit

Colorful island

The visit in the gallery quickly changes from glass-blowing entertainment to used-car dealership sales pitches.  However, we knew this was going to happen ahead of time.  Silvio was nice enough to allow us to take a picture while in the gallery - which are not permitted when visiting (except during the demonstration).  Suffice it to say, there was a very small percentage of products we could purchase without having to incur a payment plan.  The pieces range from beautiful to bizarre - and of course, garish.  For example, one room had a large vibrantly colored glass horse decorated with gold accents - the art wasn't as intriguing as the price, €425,000 - for a green horse.  We would have loved to purchase one of the many chandeliers on display, but we don't need one (would be nice for all the dinner soirees we don't have) and there is no justification for spending thousands of Euro on something we won't use.  We ended up buying a small glass horse, similar to the one made during the demonstration - a fitting souvenir for our visit.

Alley

Alley towards the main canal

Our favorite canal

We had a "free" ride back to Villa Laguna, however, that was not our intended destination - we wanted to make our way to another island in the Venetian lagoon, Burano.  Instead, the boat took us to the water taxi dock where we could take a more direct route to our next stop.

No traffic on today's commute

Area where we had lunch

Another alley

The picturesque island of Burano is famous for lace, colorful homes, and small canals - a Piccolo Venezia so to speak.  We ate lunch at Ai Cesendeli shortly after our arrival, each of us ordered an incredible pizza - better than any of our previous continental comfort food.  After replenishing our adenosine triphosphae, we used the rest of the afternoon to walk around the whole island.  There aren't a plethora of attractions on the small isle, therefore; my summary is short, but the experience was great.  We returned to our hotel for our last authentic Italian dinner while the sun set across the sky.  The perfect end to a delightful vacation - a week full of travel, sightseeing, excessive walking, moderate drinking, and street-rat peddlers.

laundry day

more laundry

Venezia: The City of Canals, Bridges, and many other Nicknames

Our day started in crisis - we checked out, returned the key to the apartment, and waited in the street to hail a cab.  However, this feat was more difficult than expected, every passing taxi was occupied with passengers.  Julie volunteered for the daunting task of finding a taxi elsewhere while I stayed back to watch the luggage and keep my parents in one location.  Our cushion to make the train was quickly deflating - the apartment was only ten minutes away from the train station and a half-hour had passed.  My father went on his own taxi mission while my mother dictated the play-by-play of escalated stress levels.  The anxiety amplified when my dad returned with a cab, but Julie couldn't be found.  Then it was my turn to find my wife - after a block and a half of searching I spotted her in a cab en route to our luggage locus.  My parents loaded the suitcases into their cab while Julie settled her fare.

Gondoliers on Grand Canal

Building next to Fondaco dei Turchi

Gondola parking

The increasing pressure to make our departure was palpable and the constricting alleyways were all too allegorical of our situation.  Despite all the trouble of getting to the station, we made our train with ten minutes to spare.  Before we left, another man was also having a stressful morning - shouting on the phone in a Slavic languages (sounded Russian) so the whole train could hear his dissatisfaction with the person on the other side of the line.  The next two hours were rather peaceful and our arrival to Venice, punctual.

San Stae

Ponte di Rialto

Basilica Santa Maria della Salute

We gathered our belongings and purchased two-day passes for the water taxis.  Our hotel, Villa Laguna, was located outside of Venice on the island of Lido.  With a short stay in the City of Bridges, we wouldn't have enough time to see everything.  Therefore, we went with the longer of the two options - an hour cruise down Grand Canal.  Like cattle, we slowly boarded the ferry along with the entire population of Venice.  Fortunately, Julie and I found two vacated seats outside the main cabin after our fifth stop - pouncing on them immediately after the two gentlemen left.  Our opportunism was rewarded with a great position to take pictures along Grand Canal for the next forty-five minutes.

Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs)

Piazza San Marco

Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace)

It was early afternoon by the time we had checked into our rooms and we hadn't eaten since we left Florence.  Villa Laguna has an incredible view of Venice and to celebrate our arrival to the last city on our tour of Italy, we had wine and cheese on the patio.  We planned our evening in Venice and had scheduled to visit the islands of Murano and Burano the following day.  After our small siesta, we boarded the water taxi and set our course for Piazza San Marco (Saint Mark's Square).

Glimpse of Basilica San Marco from Palazzo Ducale

Basilica San Marco

Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs above green lady

We exited the water taxi at the San Marco-San Zaccaria stop, as did half the passengers.  Heading west towards the square we stopped to enjoy our first land-observed attraction of Venice - the Bridge of Sighs (Ponte dei Sospiri).  For a half-hour we admired the sites of Piazza San Marco; Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace), Basilica San Marco, Campanile di San Marco (Bell Tower), and the Torre dell' Orologio (Clock Tower).  Another famous sight of Venice, the pigeons of Saint Mark's Square are regulated by two disgruntled pigeon-guards who have to incessantly inform people to not feed the birds.  Maybe there is good reason for these avian sentries, there was one pigeon casualty and when exiting the Piazza we saw a dismembered anisodactyl foot.

Campanile di San Marco (Bell Tower)

Piazza San Marco

Torre dell' Orologio (Clock Tower)

The rest of our evening we wondered the canals and bridges of Venice.  Limited with time, we thought it would be enjoyable to aimlessly walk the city while foraging for a dinner locale.  We settled on a restaurant a few blocks away from Piazza San Marco with outside seating in a quiet courtyard.  At dinner, there was a unanimous agreement that our stay in Venice was too short - wishing we could have traded a day in Rome for the City of Canals.

City of Bridges

City of Canals

Parrocchia di San Moisé

View from Villa Laguna

Sunset at hotel

Sunset from dock of Villa Laguna

Stair Master - Body by Florence

To close out our visit to Florence, my parents would branch off from us and visit Lucca, the birth city of my father's father. This was probably a prudent decision for them because they didn't show any interest in visiting the Uffizi Art Gallery and it was unlikely that they would join us on our ascent of Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore's cupola.  We parted ways early in the morning, my parents took a cab ride to the train station while we walked towards the Ponte Vecchio en route to the Piazzale degli Uffizi.

East corridor of Uffizi Museum

Alessandro Filipepi Botticelli - The Birth of Venus

Some head off hair for just being born

When we arrived to the Piazza we were greeted with a line similar to the Colosseum - hours long.  As we did in Rome, we found a few private tour guides to facilitate a better means of avoiding the line without overpaying.  We found an affordable option that provided tickets, no wait on line, and a headset to follow the narrated art history.  Our tour started with a foreshadowing theme for the day - walking up several flights of stairs.

Raffello Sanzio - Self-portrait

Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) - Medusa

Raffello Sanzio - Portrait of Pope Leo X with Cardinals Giulio de' Medici and Luigi de' Rossi

We plodded up the four flights stairs to the east corridor where our guide spoke of the history of the museum and the Medici family.  Being a large museum, our tour highlighted the major works from featured artist - Botticelli, Caravaggio, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raffello.  The most impressive of the collection, the Doni Tondo, the only painting by Michelangelo during his epoch in Florence (1499-1505).  The painting was commissioned by Agnolo Doni as a gift for his wife and the work was completed in parallel with the sculpture of David.  After spending two hours in the Uffizi we cultivated enough art and culture in the past day that we wanted to explore the sites - namely, the Piazza della Signoria and Piazza del Duomo.

Michelangelo Buonarroti - Doni Tondo

Impressive light, color, and shadow detail

Leonardo da Vinci - Annunciation*

Tribuna of the Uffizi

On our walk from the Uffizi to the cathedral we stopped in the Piazza della Signoria - the location of the fountain of Neptune, Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus, and a reproduction of Michelangelo's David (original location of statue before moving to Accademia Gallery).  After a brief visit, we continued onward to the Campanile di Giotto (Bell Tower) where we would buy our tickets for access to all the attractions in Piazza del Duomo - including admittance to ascend both structures (sans the Battistero di San Giovanni due to the restoration project).  The line to climb the stairs of Il Duomo was only ten people deep and it wasn't long before we embarked on our journey up the 463 stairs.

Fontana di Nettuno

Replica of David and Bandineli's Hercules and Cacus

Piazza della Signoria

Once atop the stairs and before you see the panoramic view of Florence - we passed through the catwalk below the fresco covered dome of the cathedral.  Giorgio Vasari designed the Last Judgment painting and it was largely completed with the help of his apprentice, Frederico Zuccari.  This was the second ceiling fresco we had seen in three days, the other being the Sistine Chapel - also complete with Michelangelo's The Last Judgement (on the altar wall by the museum entrance into the chapel).  To me, the Renaissance appears to be the height of Catholicism's fire and brimstone intimidation, both frescoes of the Last Judgment observed were fascinatingly wicked.

Giorgio Vasari's fresco seen from cathedral floor

Fresco seen from catwalk

Giorgio Vasari - The Last Judgement

Doesn't look so bad, at least it's warm

We made our way around the inside of the dome and headed outside of Brunelleschi's Dome.  The ascent wasn't arduous, say the difficulty-level of Cerro Chato, but it was indeed dizzying at times.  After climbing the final set of stairs, the top is a literal and figurative breath of fresh air.  The entire city is visible from the cupola, terracotta roof tops dominate the landscape, and the view gives a wonderful perspective of the city's layout.  We spent enough time atop the dome to justify our excursion and prepared ourselves for the nauseating affects of descending spiral staircases.

Campanile di Giotto view from cupola

Piazza della Repubblica view from cupola

Basilica di Santa Croce from Il Duomo

Looking up to Campanile di Giotto

Side of Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Il Duomo)

Halfway up the Campanile di Giotto

When we returned to ground level I asked Julie if she wanted to go up the Campanile di Giotto.  Her facial expression was matched only by her absolute aversion to any more physical activity for the day - specifically more stairs.  We found a cafe in the Piazza where she could sit down and enjoy her water while I completed my Body by Florence workout of the day.  The nice part about climbing the Bell Tower is the exposure to open air, far less claustrophobic than parts of Il Duomo - albeit, the staircases are particularly narrow.  Another 414 stairs and I reached the apex of the Campanile di Giotto.  The view from the Bell Tower isn't much different than Il Duomo's with exception to the view of the cathedral - a wonderful sight to end the day.  Having gone up and down 1754 stairs, combined with an entire day of walking takes a toll on the body.  Nothing a bottle of wine and a good dinner couldn't cure.

Side of Il Duomo

Third level of Campanile di Giotto

Looking up from the ground

We reconvened with my parents, but would part ways again for dinner.  Before doing so, we spoke of our days - it was great to hear how well they traveled and most importantly how much they enjoyed the city of Lucca.  The second stop of our tour of Italy had come to an end - a visit we collectively enjoyed more than our time in Rome.  Next up, our last stop - Venice.

The sun made an appearance, Ponte Vecchio

Plazza della Repubblica seen from nearby ATM

*Leonardo da Vinci - Annunciation

Some cocktail information --- during our tour, we were told that the wing of Gabriel had been modified from da Vinci's original wing.  His design of the angel's wings resembled that of a bird and was smaller than traditional angel wings were painted at the time.  Hence, a slight difference can be detected in the wing that was added later.

Highlight of Gabriel's wing likely done by another artist