There and back again: Murano and the Doge's Palace

Yesterday afternoon, after a rest, we headed over to the island of Murano to take a look at the glassworks. Trying to find the waterbus stop from our hotel was again a bit of a challenge, but we finally made it. The island is very small, nevertheless the proliferation of glass shops prevented us from seeing all the island - we gave up after about 20 shops! Stewart found an amazing glass knife that he wanted as a souvenir, and I managed to find several bits and pieces that I liked a lot.

On the island of \Murano

Stewart condescended to be included in this picture of a large sculpture in a public square. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a small fruit stand to buy some oranges and plums. After I had selected a few pieces, the owner yelled at me "No Service! No Service!" I was quite confused, but the other customers said, "No, no, he will get FOR you!" Stewart later assured me that he had said "No self service", but that's not what I heard. Who would guess that such a small thing could get a shop keeper yelling at you!

Overdone - but amazing execution of glass art

This morning we got up and headed towards San Marco as we wanted to buy train tickets for Florence and Rome. When we got to the ticket agent, we found that their system was down, so we decided to do a tour of the Doge's Palace. The line up wasn't too bad, and the price was reasonable comparatively speaking, particularly when you consider how immense the place is. The paintings on the ceilings were truly amazing and Stewart enjoyed the armoury. By that time I had had enough, but there didn't seem to be an easy exit, and we circulated through the prison before the exit. I would have been ok with that except for my tendency towards claustrophobia, and feeling we had done enough already. The prison block corridors are not that small, but there were many people, and you had to keep following, following to trace the one way path to exit.