Europe: Venice to Florence

Last night was probably the best sleep I have had yet, but I still woke up at 3 AM and was up for maybe 40-45 minutes, including a half hour of drafting an email update to Guh on my iPhone. I got up at 5:30 AM and we were down for breakfast by 6:45 AM. Breakfast consisted of more ham and cheese, marmalade-filled croissants, canned peaches, and deliciously bold coffee. It was the best coffee we have had yet (the same as last night’s post-dinner cup).

This morning, we departed at 7:30 AM for our excursion. Around 8 AM, we rode the Ducale water taxi back to where we were yesterday in Venice. When we ported, we went to our glass blowing factory demonstration at Vecia Murano.

(The green horse is made completely out of glass and is the factory's most expensive piece of work. They didn't mention the price but we definitely weren't allowed to touch it.)

We crammed into the furnace room and watched an expert take a bulb of heated glass, shape it, blow into it a few times to shape a pitcher, and then “cut” hot glass to delicately form two unique handles. Afterward, he dipped it in water and then shattered it (all dramatically…enough to draw a gasp from the crowd) so that it could be melted again to re-shape (for the next demonstration). In the next room, our local guide described what makes Murano Venetian glass so unique. Every piece is hand-crafted and they are never exported. Hence, every piece is unique…and the ones sold outside in the piazza for a fraction of the price are wholesale manufactured, therefore not authentic Murano glass.

He also described how they create colored glass. In general, they melt specific mineral compounds and add it into the glass. Red glass (from melted copper) and cranberry glass (from gold) are the most expensive. Blue glass is made cobalt, etc. Shortly after, the factory guide explained how the millefiori technique (“mosaic”) is done. This, too, is an extremely expensive process because each small piece of glass ranging in sizes (from a pen cap to about a 1 cent franc) is individually cut from thin glass canes and then all of the pieces are melted together to form a unique mosaic.

We weren’t allowed to take any pictures for fear of what would be considered copyright infringement. Afterward, Hubby and I looked around the shop rooms for an hour. We had decided yesterday that if we saw a turtle, we would get one. He spotted a mosaic (millefiori) turtle so I held onto it the whole time. It was 59 Euros so we figured if we didn’t see anything else, we would at least get it. We looked around at all the beautiful pieces of glassware but we couldn’t bring ourselves to spend like $50 for one shot glass (or $500 for a set of wine goblets). All the while, about 3 store people approached me (or hustled me?) about having the turtle wrapped. Hubby really liked the mosaic shell for the pure craftsmanship and uniqueness. I started eyeing a beautiful necklace and Hubby must have sensed how much I adored it. By the time we were ready to leave, he decided to get it for me…and then asked for a matching bracelet and earrings! I insisted I didn’t need a whole set; however, one of Hubby’s pet peeves is having incomplete sets or unmatching things – jewelry, clothes, food. When we go out, he even makes sure that we match in our outfits.


In the end, we got the millefiori turtle. I was about to put it back when Hubby said, “I kind of like it…We have a jade turtle from China so we should get a Murano turtle from Europe to add to our collection.” Our growing collection of two now. Besides, this millefiori turtle is truly unique; one of the floor guys said it must be new because he hasn’t seen it before, and it was the only mosaic one on the shelf, alongside 6 other turtles. This is also when we agreed that we should collect turtles as our souvenirs for when we travel abroad.

On our way back, we shopped some more. We got 5 silk ties for 8 Euros each from Trevizan (no discount; I tried but when the cashier turned to the store owner who promptly said no. Humph.). Hubby chose a black and red one for himself and a purple and blue one for Bro and FBIL. I found a dark gray one that he really liked so we ended up getting it, too. Before our meeting point, we stopped by a cart vendor, and he got a Duff t-shirt for 12 Euros and the guy threw in the 2 post cards that I chose (40 Euro cents each). I think the guy ripped Hubby off b/c a sign said 8 Euros for t-shirts. I didn’t know that xtn paid 12 Euros until we were on the bus. Oh well, he really wanted it and was so excited when he got it. The funny thing is that we ended up seeing many people wearing it through Italy, but not on black. (We saw people wearing red t-shirts.)


We left via water taxi again, got on our bus, and stopped by a pit stop again for lunch. Nothing looked appetizing to us so we snacked on baguette chips (pizza flavored), caramel popcorn, and Coca-Cola, and juice. Mmm, the lunch of champions. Come to find out later that the Italian food actually was delicious.

We arrived in Florence around 4 PM and our local tour guide, Louisa, took us through Saint Marcos’ Square. We did a walking tour of Florence that lasted for about 1.5 hours. We started at Santa Croce Cathedral. Since I was wearing shorts and a wifebeater, they gave me a blue gauze robe to cover up.

(Left corner: Michelangelo's memorial
Middle: Santa Croce Cathedral

Right top corner: Galileo's memorial
Bottom right corner: Galileo's Tomb)

Inside, there were memorials for Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo, and Dante (which was covered up). On Galileo's memorial, there were two ladies beneath them. It is said that they represent Science and Math. On Michelangelo’s memorial, the three ladies represent sculpture, architecture, and painting. In a piazza (square), there was also a replica of da Vinci’s David. In the cathedral were also many tombs. It was truly an amazing place. Santa Croce was another one of my favorite visits.


We walked through many squares and heard lots of history behind buildings, famous family homes, sculptures, and churches. One of the most impressive sites was what used to be the largest church with the unfinished dome, Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. We heard about the amazing history behind Brunelleschi and his bold statement of finishing the dome. When the Basilica was completed, the only thing remaining was the dome. It was to be the largest dome in history at that time, even larger than the Pantheon's. However, no dome had ever been created at such a large scale and all the architects had no idea how to do it without glaring supports (which was a prerequisite). Brunelleschi boldly stated that he could build the dome without any supports. As an architect and brilliant mathematician, he calculated precise measurements and formulas and was the first to use the "fish-bone" structure so that no supports were needed. It is said that before he passed away, he burned all of his papers with the mathematical calculations so to this day, mathematicians and architects are still baffled by how he completed his dome.

(Brunelleschi's Dome)

This Basilica is still considered the third largest church, after the Vatican and St. Paul’s Basilica. We heard lots of history that was so interesting, but it was so hot! We walked by a lot more interesting and famous statues.

(Perseus with Medusa's head by Cellini)

("Rape of the Sabine Women" by Giambologna. Giambologna was one of Michelangelo's apprentices. This work is considered a Florentine masterpiece because of the composition of intertwining three bodies; nothing like that had been done at that time and with such emotion and action. No one thought he could do it so he bought the huge slab of marble with his own commission and went about creating this piece.)

We also saw some scary beggar gypsies. They were dressed completely in white with white paint on their faces and holding red roses that looked so crimson next to their whiteness. They didn't say anything (like, "do you speak English?") but made loud kissing sounds and got right up in men’s faces. So creepy that I couldn't bear to look at them...and neither could the men in our group!

We got to Hotel Raffaello around dinnertime. We started with delicious tortellini but the main course was disappointing, despite it being veal. One thing we noticed is that potatoes are really popular in Italy, but at every meal, they are way too salty. Dessert was a frozen ice-cream cup with black cherry sauce. The hardest part about eating these meals at the hotel dining establishments is that I never know how much of my antipasta to eat. If it's really yummy, I risk eating it all and being too full for what could be a delicious entree. I usually took the risk, let my unfinished antipasta be taken away, and was rather disappointed with the main course. The funny thing about this meal is that I sat next to Rich, an Italian who said the tortellini wasn't very good...but then he later admitted that when he was growing up, his family didn't eat tortellini very often. (Rich and his wife Christina are from Canada. They were such a funny couple. Rich often left his wife behind...like once or twice, our bus started taking off and Richard would start counting heads to make sure everyone was on board. He'd get to Rich and the empty seat next to him and be like, "um, where's your wife?" Gennaro would quickly stop the bus and soon after, we'd see Christina running for us.)

Afterward, xtn and I hung out on the patio of the hotel for a few minutes. As he had his after-dinner nicotine fix, I sat on the swing (not pictured). We went for a walk down the street in search of any open clothing store and cigarettes but didn’t find anything (open). (Our tour guide didn't tell us until yesterday that we would need to cover up for two days, instead of one...and I already ran through my t-shirts!)

Despite everyone's forewarnings of overpacking, I regret underpacking instead of overpacking!