Venice Day-3: Atmospheric Overload

Well the weather cooperated after all by staying dry until this evening. Headed across to the north end of the lagoon this morning on a 45min boat ride to the island of Burano. This is much smaller than Murano (you canwalk across the whole thing in 10 min.) and a whole different environment from Venice. It's a sleepy little town that was just starting to wake up when we landed at 10:30 (my kind of people). The houses line the small canals and are all manner of bright colors (see picture). A very cheerful place and dripping with atmosphere. The main attraction here is that Burano is the lace capital of the world, with the specialty being needle lace. Lacey loved it because "they sell Me without a Y". One of the shops has a huge display of very antique lace - some from Napoleon, some from 15-1600's. Incredible. Watched a lady doing needle lace for awhile. One piece about 14in in diameter takes 7 women about a month to do.

Had a look at their church with the 200ft bell tower that's leaning over at a crazy angle (several like this around Venice given the 4 ft of subsidence over the last century), ate too much lunch as usual, had yet another Michigan Grad ('60) yell Go-Blue! at Miranda with her Michigan sweatshirt on, then headed back to Venice.

With the weather closing in we had one more outdoor thing to do and that was a gondola ride so that mom wouldn't disown me. So after picking a gondola parked near the hotel, and getting through the 30 second business negotiation....

Me: "How much?"
Cool Gondolier Guy: "80 Euros"

Me: "How about 70?"
Gondolier Guy: "How about 80?"

Me: "How long?"
Boat Guy: "30-40 min"

Me: "Gee, how about 55 min. for that price?"
Pirate: "How about 30-40 min?,

Me: "Since we want to go towards Dorsodura how about you go that direction
and drop us off after 40 min instead of coming back here"
Mafioso: "How about 100 Euro and I not make-a you swim?"

Shipowners are all the same.















Well, it felt like that, but it was indeed 80 Euros for 30 min. It was actually plenty long enough (especially if you do the math, which is too depressing) and quite pleasant. We went out onto the Grand Canal for just a couple minutes right by the Rialto Bridge, then spent the rest of the time on the small internal canals. He took us by Marco Polo's house. Every time we went under a bridge the tourists (we are NOT tourists, we're independent travelers and I have the empty wallet to prove it) were taking our picture (so not just enjoying the atmosphere, but BEING the atmosphere). We all smiled and waved. When we passed other gondolas the ladies all smiled at each other thinking "isn't this the most romantic thing ever". We guys also smiled a each other thinking "Hey look! Another schmuck!" And all doing the calculations over being taken to the cleaners for this boat ride, but wondering how we are going to cash in the points scored.

Gondola maneuvering is fantastic and the best part was the total silence. The gondola belongs to the gondolier. He then belongs to a union. I'm not going to explore the business structure beyond that. His boat was beautiful (you can see just a bit in the attached). Built in 1983 it is 36 ft long, 4-1/2 beam and only 700 lbs. Stepping into it was like a big black canoe. The girls wanted to go right back and do it again. Sorry, this ain't Hershey Park.

Finished off the day with a walk through the Opera House, appropriately named the Phoenix Theater, as it has now burned down 3 separate times over the last 200 years, most recently in 1996. The restoration was to bring it back exactly as it was. It took 7 years and is impossible to describe just how spectacular it is. It seats 1078 in 5 tiers + main floor. It is ornate beyond belief. Thanks to Tami for that heads-up as, from the outside, it is totally innocuous and tucked away amongst houses and shops. No grand square or approach, just alley ways to get to it. I'm sure most people walk right by it.

1-1/2 days to go. The hole in my pocket is starting to look like a black hole.

TWG
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent October 21, 2009