Venice: Sunday

Sunday, we decided to leave Venice proper. In preparation, we had a terrible breakfast in a piazza not far from our apartment.

Then we grabbed the vaporetto (boat-bus) from Venice to Murano. This is a view of the cemetery island from the vaporetto (more later).

We set off around Murano, stopping first to see a glass blowing and forming demonstration. It was impressive. Milena even took a turn blowing a glass bubble.

From here we wandered and shopped.

The girls each picked out a Murano-made (we checked) glass necklace.

We saw the lighthouse. We enjoyed the sun.

Then we hopped back on the vaporetto for the longer (about 30 minute) ride to the island of Burano. None in our party had ever been there before. We started with a glamorous and delicious seafood lunch. Then we simply wandered the alleys and canals of Burano, mostly alone (at least with many fewer tourists in comparison to our other walks in Venice), marveling at the leaning clock tower and the beautiful painted houses that line the water.

We stopped to enjoy some of the famous "esse" cookies (they're shaped like the letter "S") before we got back on the vaporetto.

We took the vaparetto to Cimitero (via Murano), which is an island dedicated to serving as the cemetery for Venice. It's very impressive looking from the outside, but the inside was a bit disappointing, mostly in terms of its upkeep. (Also, no photos allowed, so you'll just have to imagine it for yourself.) We did find Igor Stravinsky and Ezra Pound, who are buried there among other famous and ordinary people.

We headed back to the main island(s) of Venice via the vaporetto. We walked to cross the Rialto once again before spending some time running races in a random Campo just south of the bridge.

We had a dinner of cichetti (small plates comprised mostly of seafood).

We then took the vaporetto along the Grand Canal from just above the Rialto down to San Marco (to see the lights of Venice) and then walked the ten minutes home from there.

While *inside* the boat, Cora claimed she could see the light dancing on the water but she couldn't figure out what music it was dancing to. When we were *outside* on the boat she exclaimed "oh, I hear the music now!" I have no idea what she was talking about. But it was pretty.

We did witness (a very mild case of) the acqua alta ... the water was coming up into Piazza San Marco from under the pavement.

We grabbed a gelato treat before tucking in for the evening.