once again….we were NOT kidnapped by handsome Italian counts…or no-counts, for that matter.  We went to Venice for a few days and had poor or no wifi reception.  Even in restaurants that boasted Free WiFi…it wouldn’t work.

We had so much fun.  Took a ‘Fast Train’ from Rome and it only make a few stops…Florence, Bologna, Padova, Venice (mainland) and Venice (island).  We bought our 3 day vaparetto ticket and took off for St. Mark’s Square.  The Vaparetto is like the city bus.  A medium to large boat, I guess depending on time of day and normal rider use.  It goes down the Grand Canal moving from side to side to the Vaparetto stops to let people off and on.  Before going to Venice, I couldn’t get the waterways in my head… how they worked.  Picture the Grand Canal as a big, wide freeway that cuts through the center of the town.  You can take a bus…the Vaparetto, a Taxi…water taxi, or private car…Gondola.  Priced accordingly.  When you get to your Vaparetto stop or taxi stop, you disembark and walk.  There are small canals shooting off the Grand Canal and other canals shooting off the main canals…just like streets at home.  The streets are just made of water, and cars become boats.  You can catch transportation to other islands.  Lots of small bridges in Venice…but only a very few over the Grand Canal.

We found our convent hotel and checked in.  A lovely old building that the nuns have inhabited since 1932.  Only 4 nuns live there now, the others live on the other sideman the Grand Canal.  The building has a small reception area.  To the right are stairs that go to the nun’s offices and a big sitting room where we would have coffee.  From there on the second floor are classrooms and the chapel where the nuns attend Mass at 6:45 every morning.  It is small and fairly simple.    From the reception area you can go into a large courtyard that leads into a big hallway with classrooms off of it.  The convent is a school for children ages 3-11.  They all wear smocks to cover their clothes…white for the littlest ones and navy blue for the older ones.  Passing thru the great hall, there is a tiny courtyard that leads into the area for the rooms on 4 floors.  There are 14 guest rooms with private baths.  Simple, clean and comfortable.  All accessible by stairs and elevator.  Our room had floor to ceiling doors that opened to a tiny balcony.

We left the convent to explore and went to St. Marks Basilica.  And got right in…no lines!  You can read up on the Basilica on Google.  The mosaics are beyond description.  Just stunningly beautiful with gold and brilliants colors.  The floors are all quilt patterns!  Done in marble and stone..all beautiful colors.  After the Basilica, we hit the shops to,see the beautiful Murano Glass…jewelry, vases, glassware, figurines from huge to teensy.  Most made in Murano and some made in China.  Chinese goods being passed off as authentic are a growing problem in Italy.  And didnI mention chandeliers?  Absolutely breathtaking!  I forgot to mention the Murano glass chandeliers hanging in every room of the convent.

We had dinner in a cute restaurant.  Andy had the best spaghetti with seafood she has ever had and I had mussels…again.  We collapsed after dinner and slept with the almost full moon shining in our windows.  Slept like babies!

Standby Folks….
Having trouble getting our 4 posts from the Venice trip to be posted on the blog. Son, Evan is working on it. When 

Today, we had coffee and went for breakfast in a little bar…cappuccino and rice ball with cheese.  Not wild about them, but needed to try it.  Oh, speaking of food, I didn’t have mussels last night, I had a typical Venetian dish of sardines and onions, some type of vinegar and whole peppercorns.  Very good.  We went to the Vaparetto stop to get a boat to Murano.  We were approached by a man who gave us tickets for a free boat ride to Murano and told us he worked for one of the glassblowing factories.  About that time, a man came up and shook hands with first man and offered us a free water taxi ride to Murano.  He is the manager of the glass factory.  This ride would have cost us $100 euros on our own…he said.  When we got to the factory, we saw a demonstration of three men making a glass horse for some Russians.  Two men would get the molten glass from the furnace and roll it on a metal table to get it a bit cooled and the size  needed.  They would take it to the Master glass blower who would add the piece to the horse and shape it.  If it cooled too much he would zap it with a blowtorch to make it more pliable.  There are 25 Master glass workers on the island and the craft is kept in the family.  No outsiders are ever allowed in.  Glass works in Murano are a strongly guarded secret.  An interesting book to read is called The Glassblower of Venice.  How centuries ago, the glass blowers were virtual prisoners on the island, and if they ‘escaped’ their families would suffer.  We then toured the gallery with pieces made by the Masters.  Very beautiful and prices to match.  Obviously, the best of the best.  Went to the church where all the chandeliers are Murano glass and two three-tiered chandeliers flank the sides of the altar.

After Murano, we took a Vaparetto to Burano…the lace making island.  The houses are all painted every color of the rainbow.  We ate lunch…here I had the mussels and then went shopping.  We saw the church with beautiful lace edged altar cloths and then did the Lace Museum tour.  All kinds of ancient handmade laces…on up to modern work.  After the museum, we stopped in a shop that had their own museum…even better than the official museum.  Their collection dated back to the 1300’s.  In many of the shops, there was an older woman making the lace.  Using a hard round pillow on her lap as a table, she has a pattern drawn off and uses a needle and thread to make the lace.  I have seen bobbin lace makers, but these women don’t use bobbins.  We were told that a piece the size of a salad plate would take 7 women a month to make.  Each woman has her speciality…lattice work, loops, flowers, edging etc.  I looked at a pair of booties for 450 euros.  Heirloom, christening type booties!  Just exquisite!  It is a dying art, unfortunately.

After Burano, we went back to Venice.  Dinner and more shopping around…mostly looking. And off to bed.  We asked about Carnivale this year and were told less and less people come every year.  They don’t know if it from lack of money, threats of terrorism or what, but participation is down.  The masks in Venice are works of art..and of course, just some that are junky.  Every animal, real or imagined, classical Carnivale masks and beautiful masks with feathers, lace and jewels.  That was day 2 in Venice.

A lazy Sunday.  We went for Indian food, then took a walk on a beautiful day.  Saw a lovely fountain with four nude women holding up the top bowl that spills into a second bowl that spills into the bottom.  Went to a church..and caught the tail end of Mass.  It was a very interesting church as each of the side chapels was dedicated to a different country.  You could go into the chapel for the United States rather than just stand outside the others.

We stopped by a Coin store, like a small Macy’s…but a bit higher end.  Some clothes were very reasonable, but saw a piece of fluff dress that was 650€.  Maybe 10€ worth of fabric for the whole thing.  They even have a Tiffany’s store within the store.

Back home and we had leftover mussels like I’ve fixed before and grilled salmon.  What a feast!

March 2nd….today we walked over to the police station to see if our papers have arrived.  We have been waiting on a letter…but foundout no letter will be sent.  we go to the police station every week to see if our name is on the list.  If so, they have our papers…if not, they don’t.  We will check again next week.  Had lunch out and came back home.  Bit chilly today.  Oh, we did walk over to the Vatican to get some stamps to mail letters from there.  Since the Vatican is its own country, they have their own stamps and mail boxes.

Tonight, Im trying my hand at Spaghetti Carbonara – I’ve read several recipes on Google and will let you know.