The Magic HomeSchool Bus

Day 14 – Piazza di San Marco… and some shopping

Morning really comes too early sometimes. To make matters worse, Italy did their version of daylight savings time last night… so I lost an hour the week before we left… then 5 more on the way over… and now another hour. I’ll get 6 of the 7 back in a couple of weeks… but still. UGH.

Breakfast was somewhat disappointing. Nothing was ready (apparently the staff forgot about daylight savings time), and it consisted almost entirely of hot tea or coffee, pre-packaged toast/crackers, and some orange juice. Definitely not worth the 5 Euro we were charged.

Still, no reason to be down about it now, so we head out and decide our best bet is to venture out to Murano. Murano is an island off of Venice and is where all the famous glass making factories are. 15 years ago the Principal and I found a Millefiori egg on our last day and it was our one souvenir of the trip. 4 years ago we tried to add to the collection, but had no luck.

Today we find out that the factory that made those kinds went out of business about 5 years ago and the only real way to add to a collection like that is to find the item in somebody ELSE’s collection. Still, we keep looking, in every shop… and just before we reach the end of the “small canal” in Murano, we find an egg that is lovely. It’s not millefiori, but it still attracts our attention enough that we make a purchase. J

Back at the apartment and the guys and Sweetie decide to lie down for a while (we’ve had quite the pace these last 2 weeks), but Doodlebug is on a mission. She’s seen a small cross body pocketbook since early in Rome and would REALLY like to find it for a slightly better price here in Venice. I, too, have a little shopping to do, so the two of us head out.

There are MANY leather handbag stores around, and the purse she likes is a Vera Pelle leather purse and nearly all the stores have it hanging in their doorway on hooks. That’s convenient because we can easily check the price and move on. We also window shop down to look for some nice (real) Murano glass jewelry for a few people on our list. I have some good success, but Doodlebug can’t find the purse she’s looking for for less than 20 Euro. She decides to keep looking.

Another vaparetto back from that island to Venice and we stop at the Piazza di San Marco. The thing about this church is that EVERYTHING is a gold background mosaic. Everything is exceedingly old… and misaligned from time… but it still captures the senses as you journey in. We opt NOT to visit the museum upstairs (we did that last time)… and head over to the Rialto bridge.

Personally, it’s just a big bridge to me, but it is HUGE... and definitely one of the easy boxes to check off. J

Since lunch had been a VERY large Margherita pizza (meaning, it was too large to even fit in the store’s box), we opt for making our own Panini sandwiches in the room, so Doodlebug & the Principal head out to the local supermarket (about the size of a 7-11… maybe?) and I take the other 3 back to start packing.

We set the alarm early… read 4am early… and head to bed.