Day 38: Venice

We spent our final day in Italy on Burano and Murano, two lovely islands off the coast of Venice, famous for lace, glass blowing and seafood.  We had high expectations for the lunch, and of course it was always going to fall short of its reputation.  We started early, eager to forget last night and to beat the heat and crowds.  The ferry ride was about 30 minutes to Burano on a decent sized boat, which made for a considerably more pleasant experience than our last boat trip in Venice.  The pontoon that we left from was right next to the ospedale (hospital) which was located inside an impressive old building that stretched a few blocks. We walked past the row of water ambulances (very cool) to the city's edge and waited for the ferry which supposedly came at 30 and 50 minutes past the hour.  It cost 80 euro ($110) for four ferry tickets. Ouch. We lied about Zachie so he didn't have to pay.  We'd missed the 50 minutes past ferry by a few minutes and had a 40 minute wait. Rick and Maxie took off in search of a coffee and croissant while I staked my claim at the front of the line, and sure enough 10 minutes later another ferry arrived.  There were no signs or person saying Burano, but the tourists were piling past me. I took off arms flapping to find Rick, cursing coffee and croissants and left the kids on the pontoon to fend for themselves (so much for my fear of child abduction). Thankfully, Rick was on his way back and we sprinted on-board just as the cranky Italian ferry hand was closing the door. So on that, I have to say the Venetians have not been very friendly to date.  Clearly they are sick of the tourista. On to Burano and it was ridiculously hot.  Hotter than Haiti as I always say and noticeable hotter than Venizia. All the shops were in full blazing sun and shortly after disembarking, the whinging started.  Ricks sole focus was the recommended restaurant from the hotel owner.  So we walked at a pace past all the shops to claim our table (at 10.30 am).  No time for photos kids, that to die for, 5 weeks of waiting, amazing seafood was in sight. The restaurant was expensive, hot and not open until 12.30 pm and again the staff were not so welcoming.  We reserved our table and took off in search of some shelter. We passed a few gorgeous shops, one of which was Emilia Burano.  It was filled with beautiful linens and lace which were ridiculously expensive.  I picked up a linen tablecloth that was 699 euro ($900).  What the?  The shop assistants were oozing European style.  Anyway, I think the owner liked the look of Zachie (he has been a great asset on a few occasions) and she recommended “the best restaurant in Burano”.  So we took her advice and had a look, and it was just like her, stylish and lovely, open and air conditioned (and her sons).  The kids had Spaghetti Bolognese and Gnoochi Bolognese (smallest serving yet) which were 18 euro each ($25 x 3 = $75). Gulp. Rick had a fritto misto with vegetables ($45) and I had polenta, calamari and vegetables ($30).  With a bottle of wine and a ridiculous coperato, the total of the bill was 146 euro ($180).  Far out, it’s a good thing we didn’t eat the night before.  Sadly, it was nice, but not great and Rick came away disappointed yet again.  Back into the heat and we opted to head off because it was just so unbearable.  We stopped at Murano and ventured into a few glass shops including one where a craftsman was blowing glass into the shape of a cup.  It was great to see but bloody hot.  So much so, that Zachie cooled off by tipping a bottle of water over his head after watching a Chinese tourist that we had befriended at the restaurant do it first.  Back on the boat to Venice, with Zach soaking wet and the whinging started again. We made our way home via a shop selling a lions head door knocker that I happily now own.  Home to recuperate before heading out for a light dinner of seafood pasta.  Ricks was pretty tasty (huge tube pasta) but my spaghetti vongole was disappointing. More hot chips for the kids sadly. We strolled past the gelato shop for our last gelatos in Italy which included another menta and basil gelato.  We headed out to the pier San Zaccharia (main harbour) and walked along the front esplanade.  We listened to classical music coming from an orchestra in a beautiful building. The kids laughed and made up more Italian songs like “Linguine, linguine, I like to eat fettuccine”.  It was a memorable moment and one where I stopped to be thankful for the wonderful blessings in my life.  I felt very happy, but sad to think we will be leaving this special place tomorrow.