Goodbye, Venice. Hello, Scotland!

 Zoe and I woke up early to get ready to go to Murano, the island that Luca had recommended to see glassblowing. (YAY).

The day before I had searched for a glass-blown horse for my sister, Alison. All I could find were unicorns. 

Plans changed a bit and we ended up meeting up with Melanie earlier than expected. The three of us took the long trip to the island, with only a slight unease at the fact that our departure flight time was creeping closer...

Again, only unicorns! When I asked this guy if there were any horses sold anywhere he said, "Ma'am, We like our unicorns." Oh well.

Luca told us that all the glass-blowers would try to charge us money to see demonstrations, but that it was illegal. He told us to ignore them and continue in, and they would not ask again. He was right. 

We walked around and went to the demonstration through the side door, and no one asked us for money. The demonstration ended up being really cool (it took this man maybe five minutes to finish the entire sculpture!) so I did leave a tip:

(And yes, he made a unicorn.)

After the demonstration we headed to one last island:

As you can see, Burano is relatively far north...(compared to San Marco) we used our travel pass so it was not expensive but took a decent amount of time. 

This place was SO COOL. The island had a completely different feel:

oh. the. colors. 

 We spent the short time we had there exploring the stores and walking down the streets. The middle picture (above) illustrates just how crowded some of the roads were (not even sure if I can call something so narrow a road!). The homemade lace and paintings were absolutely breathtaking.

 

Tiny openings between buildings to form pathways to walk. 

Laundry hanging from the line...just an ordinary home :)

 Vibrant colors make a good backdrop :)

And nothing like a reminder of home for a good shoe picture:

I have no idea what this actually stands for :)

Our journey back to San Marco was a bit rocky, but we did eventually make it back in time for our flight. 

And just like that, I was back in London.

And back to studying for finals. 

"City life without elevators is exhausting."

I had one final due that week. My journalism feature article. That Monday I had my last interview with The Orchard Project, gathered all the pieces I had gathered over the semester, and sat down in a cafe to put it all together:

I felt like a real journalist for the first time. It was awesome. 

And then, with that out of the way, I headed North:

(T.k. Maxx isn't just a Stirling thing. All of Europe has the 'k' variation. Weird? Yes.)

More about Scotland, The Orchard Project, and this girl coming soon!

Ciao for Now

As far as favorite cities in Europe go, Venice is definitely at the top of the list (second only to Krakow). I absolutely loved how quiet it was. Without automobile traffic, this water-canal-wonderland is pretty much perfect. 

Zoe, Melanie and I traveled by bus from the airport, arriving in Venice by mid-morning. Zoe and I could not check in to our B&B until 3ish, so we spent the day exploring and trying not to get lost (no easy feat for three exhausted Americans!) 

I got very excited about this "Lucy World" purse and ended up getting a bag of the same brand later that day :) Then lost it. Then found it again the next day on the streets. 

Then we stumbled upon this random mask shop and ended up talking to the owner and taking pictures for a good thirty minutes:

And THEN we realized they offered a paint-your-own-mask class. (Score!)

  It was so good to be in an art studio again!

Two older American women were also in the studio with us (which may mean it was a bit less authentic than we thought!). But we had a blast. 

It took me the duration of the semester to realize two important facts about travelling:

1.) The people you travel with make all the difference. 

2.) Where exactly you stay is pretty important as well.

Venice only solidified these revelations: 

After our disastrous Helsinki adventure, Zoe made sure to book THE BEST Air B&B she could find. It was a little bit expensive, but totally worth it. We had the "honeymoon suite" just for the two of us. No cats allowed! As Luca, the owner, showed us around, we kept getting more excited. Then he took us into the bathroom and said, with his thick Italian accent, "This will be the best shower you've ever had." #smitten

The only picture I have of Luca is from breakfast (below right). He was awesome. We were served breakfast in this room (below) along with the other guests. One family we sat with was from Mexico. Luca spoke Spanish with them, English with us, and then Italian on the phone when his wife called one morning. It was fascinating to watch him interact with his guests; I could tell he truly loved being a host. 

He also loved Venice. I learned so much about the city from him:

"The best way to really see Venice is to get lost in Venice." 

"The richest people in Venice are the taxi drivers (taxi boats)."

"Never trust the gondoliers."

It's a good thing we listened to him, too, because otherwise we would have spent way more than we needed to. For half the price of one trip on a gondola (no wonder they are so rich!), we bought a 24 hour pass to use public transportation. It took a little while to figure out the boat system-- I called it "The Tube" because I was used to London--but once we got the hang of it, it was a lifesaver. 

That's another thing London has taught me: how to master public transportation. Even in different languages, the maps in Italy, Scandinavia, France, Spain and the UK are all very similar. 

We explored San Marco area, planning to cover most of the main land before heading to the other islands the next day:

 The square was build around St. Mark's Basilica (above). There were all kinds of shops around the edge of the square, including vendors set up on the streets:

I got most of my Christmas presents here. This place (above) sold real leather journals made in Florence. I got a tiny journal (all I could afford) for Rachie :)

The sculptures in this art gallery (above right) were insanely cool. 

And for my favorite Venice moment....I bought/bargained my first piece of art!

I am 87% positive I saw the artist who paints these near my hotel on the first day I was there, because I remember admiring his style...and then saw these here! This lady is the artist's brother...we had a good 15 minute chat as I bargained with her and convinced her to sell to me for less. 

Leah doesn't handle decisions very well...

I settled on one of the paintings in the middle pictures.

Excitement is an understatement. 

Yes, I made Zoe take a picture of me with it...she wouldn't let me take it out of the package (which was probably smart of her!)

By evening we were very very hungry. We wanted to have an authentic meal, though, and Luca told us not to eat in the "tourist trap" of St. Mark's Square...so we held our hunger in and traveled to the Jewish ghetto (according to Luca it has the most authentic food). I did not even realize that there was a Jewish ghetto in Venice, but there is:

An interesting ode to American elections:

We found this on the way to the ghetto...judging by the sign we gathered that we had not reached the 'authentic' ghetto yet :)

But once we finally found a restaurant, it was SO worth it. Best meal by far. Here are some highlights:

(The owner's cat jumped up onto Zoe's lap. She was delighted.)

We got back to the B&B late that night. It was a good day. 

(Coming soon: Murano Island!)