The Glass Factory

We interrupt this post to inform you that last night I went to the Carrie Underwood concert for my birthday (thanks for taking me, Cheryl!). It was a blast. She gave an excellent show. No wonder she's winning so many awards! The encore was awesome. The only problem was that I was SO sleepy...still having some jet-lag, but I'm feeling better this morning!
Back to Italy-
When we arrived at the airport in Venice, we had to figure out a way to get to our hotel. We were told the only way was by water, which makes sense. We weren't going to swim (Bud could have done it, but there was the whole issue with luggage)! They had a big sign posting that you could take a water taxi for 95 Euro per person. Yikes! After a little looking around, we found a little spot selling public transportation to where we needed to go for only 6 Euro per person! We noticed most people buying the taxi ticket because they didn't figure out the other option. Even better, on our return trip after the cruise, we found the land bus option for only 2.50 Euro per person!
Our hotel concierge asked us if we wanted to see a glass factory. I didn't know at the time that Venice (and specifically Murano) was famous for their glass, but I do now. We were shown what boat to get on, and I was a little nervous about the whole thing, like it was some conspiracy theory to shanghai us away, but my worries were unfounded (of course!).
Here's Bud getting shanghai'd!












We got to watch them in the process of making a chandelier. Almost all their work is custom ordered.
Here are a few pieces that they were willing to sell (hence the whole invitation for asking us to go).
































This is the glass factory. It was a fun outing and I'm glad we got to go. I bought a souvenir for Karen; it was a little orange nativity ornament. How could I NOT buy that for her?