Italy - Day 7 - Quality Over Quantity

We rose early this morning and had a nice breakfast in the hotel. For breakfast there's typically a spread of various meats (salami, prosciutto), cheeses, breads and croissants. There's also scrambled eggs, some form of bacon, and sausages that are more like hot dogs. They are trying to cater to an American diet as these latter items are not included in a traditional Italian breakfast.

After breakfast, we boarded a boat for the island of Giudecca and had a glass blowing demonstration. Venetian glass is considered the best in the world.

After the demonstration, they ushered us into a huge showroom filled with beautiful Venetian glass chandeliers, drinking glasses, figurines, jewelry, statues, mirrors, and on and on. This place was huge. Once on the showroom, they of course, tried to convince us to buy. The sales pitch was good, but the prices indicated that these were more like investments. Not sure Courtney and Brandon would appreciate an inheritance of Venetian glassware.

After the glassblowing it was back to the main island for a more in depth tour of San Marco Square and St. Mark's Basilica.

Note: I won't  have pictures inside the basilica as photography is not allowed. However,  within the square there were a couple interesting sites.

 We will visit Pisa in a few days, but Venice has it's own leaning tower.

Also, this is a bridge between two buildings. These were traditionally the court and the prison. The bridge is known as "The Bridge of Sighs". This was the place where family members could get their last glimpse of the convicted as they were led to prison.

We had a light lunch as we are planning for an early dinner. We took another boat ride to the island of Burano. This is another quaint island in the Venice lagoon.

While walking the island, we ran into a 102 year old resident. I asked if I could take a picture with him and he obliged.

I certainly don't know this man and he spoke no English. However, he seemed to have a very good quality of life. He got around really well, was well dressed, and exited what appeared to be a very nice home. I never thought I wanted to live that long, but if I can do it like that, count me in.

While touring Burano, I discover they have their own leaning tower. What's with all the leaning towers in Italy?

While in Burano, we had dinner at an amazing restaurant. In Italy, meals are served in courses. We had seafood risotto, black risotto made with squid ink, shrimp, calamari, fish, and almond brittle. Of course we had gallons of wine with everything. This restaurant was just like you might imagine.  It seemed the whole community was there eating together... laughing together... talking really loud together.

It's our last night in Venice, but I experienced what it means to put quality over quantity. They make quality glass. They have quality food. They live quality lives. Ciao Venice.