A Duck Walks Into a Pub: Day 14: Venice

After our first night on the beaches outside of Venice, we started our journey to the heart of the city by boat. But before we could gaze at "the most beautiful place in the world" according to Napoleon, we had a stop at Murano, a small town also located on islands just north of Venice. It is here where they make the world renowned Murano glass. After an impressive glass blowing demonstration by an expert glass maker the same age as my grandfather, we hopped back on the boat to head to St. Mark's square.

Pulling up to Venice by boat, built on 117 islands, is quite an impressive site to see. No cars, bikes, or mopeds in sight, just throngs of people trying to see all of the sights. Stepping out into the square really was amazing and I can see what Napoleon was talking about. We had an hour long walking tour from an older Venetian lady and learned much about the city's long and storied history as one of the Mediterranean's most powerful empires before it bacame a part of Italy 150 years ago.

Once our tour was over we found a really great place with sandwiches and cheap espressos while most of the rest of the tour went on gondola rides that at 25 euros a person were a bit too pricey for us. After our bellies were full again we headed back to the square to visit the Palazzo Dicale. It is the place where the leader of the Venetian empire would live and was pretty extravagant. It also contained dungeons and many weapons used over the centuries, some pretty nasty stuff.

When our visit was done we headed to the main canal to take a picture with the most famous bridge in Venice, the Rialto. It is here where I bought my soon to be favorite beach hat that resembles a gondolier's hat. The rest of the afternoon we wandered the twisting alleys and paths up and down so many bridges you can't even imagine, picking up souvenirs and of course some more gelato along the way.

After the boat ride back to the bus we found out that Mike had a treat for us. A visit to a vineyard less than 20 minutes from our hotel where a family grows enough grapes to make 70,000 bottles a year was a perfect way to end our first full day in Italy. After a quick tour of the wine making process and facility we had a wine tasting of their 5 best wines along with loads of salami sandwiches and cheeses. By the end of the tasting everyone was starting to feel pretty good, especially when the grandfather of the family began serenading the group in typical Italian song and style. Before we left of course there was the opportunity to buy any of the bottles tried for 10 euros a piece. After such a great performance it was hard to say no, so me and Russell opted for a bottle of their Moscato, a very sweet, bubbly and fruity choice.

When we finally made it back to the hotel after a full day in one of Italy's most famous cities, it was time for some much needed laundry service. With a recently bought bottle of Moscato in one hand and 2 weeks of boxers, socks and shirts in the other, we made our way to the nearby laundromat. After a brief 50 minutes and 8 euros we had enough fresh clothes to hopefully make it through the hottest part of the trip through Italy and Spain. Although the jeans and some polos were still a bit damp, there is nothing more dignifying than having clean clothes again and not having to choose which shirt to wear based on the smell emanating from it.

We ended another great day with a 3 euro bottle of wine and hanging out on the beach with some of our new friends and another quick dip in the Adriatic Sea one last time. Oh yeah and then there was the Germans which were quite entertaining to talk to for an hour or too on the beach after which we all headed back to the hotel. It was there that they proceeded to jump and dance around in their underwear in the hallway until the hotel worker came upstairs and yelled at them and us. We weren't partaking in the dancing but we were battling a crisis of our own since the room had partially flooded from our bathroom shower. A long story but to make things quick let's just say the Italians are much better at making wine than designing hotel bathrooms. After the long eventful day we finally laid our heads to rest and prepared for the long all day bus ride to Rome the next morning.

Ciao,

Josh