March 31st:
On our way once again! This time the adventure led us to Venice. My mother and I woke up early, ate breakfast at the hotel, and I was off to class. As soon as my classes were finished, we went to catch the bus and train connections to take us to Venice. This city is something that no one should miss; the spirits it inspire are unlike anything else. Due to the fact that everything was stressful up until my mother arrived, I made the reservations for our stay in Venice. I was somewhat nervous to see how the hotel turned out. It has been my experience that many hotels in Italy are very unpredictable. Luckily for me, the hotel I picked happened to be perfect. The Bisanzio (Best Western) Hotel, which I did not know was a Best Western at the time, turned out to be perfect for us. The hotel was not far from gondolas and main attractions which was helpful. We arrived in Venice later in the evening, and dropped our bags so we could find some dinner before it got too late. We asked the receptionist for a recommendation, and made a very persistent attempt to find the place. The streets in Venice are very small and never predictable, so we never did happen upon the restaurant. Instead, we found a small, very obviously local place. They were slightly skeptical to seat us, as we would be their last table of the night. When the waiter came over, I tried to speak to him in Italian but he was impatient and just told me to speak English. I was a little put off by his attitude but we had to eat and things were starting to close. As the meal went on, he relaxed a little and, I think, realized we were not going to be complicated for him. After a very well prepared dinner, we made our way back to the hotel for the night. My mother had been interested in going to see Murano while we were there, so we asked the receptionist the easiest way to get there. Murano is a large island close to Venice that is very well known for glass making. My mother was interested in a chandelier. Luckily for us, the hotel had a deal with the glass makers on the island. They would come by boat and pick up any guests of the hotel and take them over to Murano and then bring them back. My guess is that this was the best way for them to advertise.

April 1st:
So the next morning we caught the boat to see the glass making. When we arrived we were given a tour and small demonstration of how the glass was made. It was very interesting to watch, it was impossible to make the glass without at least 3 people helping, the technique was so precise. It took them almost 30 minutes to make one very small round cylinder, decorated of course.

After the demonstration, we made our way into rooms and rooms filled with beautiful glass everywhere. There was a sort of guide with us, he was in charge of showing us around and helping us should we be interesting in buying something. It was funny though, because every time we looked at a piece for too long he was right there to ask if we need the price or wanted to purchase it. Similar to a hawk, watching our every move! Now I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not, but without even knowing a price my mother is somehow always drawn to the most expensive things. I am pretty sure that every chandelier we looked at was “one of the most expensive ones we have.” We looked around there for a little while longer and then decided to explore the island a little more; we wanted to see the other glass makers on the island. As we walked from one shop to the next, she did find one that she liked significantly more than the others. However, she said that she “could spend that kind of money” without my dad seeing it.
We caught a water taxi back to Venice and still had some time left in the day to walk around and see some of the sights. When we walked into St. Mark’s square, I told my mother to look up and see the angel. I told her the story of how Dr. Webb told us all that should we get lost, just find the angel. She thought that surely all of us could find that. As silly as it sounds, that is what helped me in the end. At this point, it was mid afternoon. We had made reservations to see an opera later in the evening, but weren’t sure if we would be able to eat after. We were walking along and decided to stop in a small place to get a drink and maybe antipasta. The service and food were so good that we changed our plans while there. We just stayed and shared a meal. Since we were enjoying ourselves so much, we lost track of time.

By the time I looked at my watch, we had 30 minutes to pay get back to the hotel and then make it all the way to the opera. Tightly squeezed, and with much haste, we made it just in time. The opera was small and not at all like I would have imagined. That particular night they were doing a compilation of a few different operas all in one. It was very entertaining even though I could not understand anything they were saying. Maybe that is what made it more enjoyable, just listening to the tones of the vocals. After the show we were tired from all that we had done during the day that we went straight to bed when we got back to the hotel.

April 2nd:
Friday morning, we still had not figured out what we wanted to do for the remainder of the trip. We packed up and made our way back to Sansepolcro to plan the rest of our trip. It was funny how everything seemed to work out so perfectly even though it was all planned at the last minute.