Venice: Part Two! Let there be food.

Ok ok. Strike two. I get it. I'm (again) so sorry that I haven't posted since Tuesday, but for some strange reason, they couple this thing called 'study' with this other thing called 'abroad' and I am forced to do both. So that's real life.

VENICE! Part two!

Saturday was the day of food. We woke up at a reasonable hour and grabbed some breakfast before catching a bus (and by that I mean a boat. It's a boat bus) to Murano which is an island in Venice that specializes in glass. So fancy magees, we eventually figure out how this boatbus system works and wait by the dock for our ride. Get on the boat (sing I'm on a Boat part two) and go for 45 minutes until we arrive at the island. This also involves making sure that we get off at the right stop because our Hostel gave us a special little card for a free glass blowing show and such. We get off at the right stop, wander for about 3 minutes and run right into this seemingly-non-entrance-like entrance.  So, on a whim, we walk in to a completely deserted glass store and marvel and the wonders found within. After a few minutes a woman came in and escorted us to a back room where there were several people watching the glass master and assistants make stunning things. At the moment they were collectively working on a rooster (someone had ordered 24 of them....  good.) but eventually he just made a simply glass horse. But the deal is that one moment it looked like a smouldering ball of hot glass, and the next it was a horse standing on it's hind legs on the table. It was amazing. Then he took a piece of paper and put it on the horse's legs and Whoosh! It burst into flame. Careful children, do no touch.

After we purchased things in the magical glass room, we wandered around various other glass shops until we found a small hidden restaurant.  There I ordered basically linguini with king crab and it came out the most beautiful plate I think I've ever seen.  And it was one of the best things I've had in Italy. Not even a joke. We ended up waiting a long time for the check, but the guy doing dishes kept blowing kisses my way, and although it was kind of creepy, it was funny too.

We shopped and shopped and eventually made our way back to the hostel by way of another boatbus.  Then we met the delightful Bissen family for dinner.  We walked into this Italian place basically down the street from our hostel, and I endeavored to try the black cuttle fish. Remember that guy I met in the airport? Michael? He said to try it if I had the opportunity, and here I was. So there I went.

To be fair, this dish looked like bits of tire chopped up and covered in tar. That is not an understatement. But you know you only live once, and sometimes you just have to eat what you have. And I'm so glad I did. It was absolutely delicious. Granted, it was not much for date food (that whole black teeth thing) but I throughly enjoyed it.

And after a delicious meal with good company, the three of us went out to a wine bar and enjoyed our last night in Venice with red wine and chocolate. Winning? Yes. Then back to the hostel for a hostel game of war.

Fast forward.  Minus that one time that some strange beeping noise went off at 5 in the morning, we slept well and got up and went out to enjoy our last day in Venice. To our surprise, the city had partially flooded. Now I'm talking a good several inches of water coving the piazza by St. Mark's. There were lines of people avoiding the water by walking on these nifty little foot bridge things and we made our way inside the Basilica. Uh, the floor was wet there too. But after about 500 years, I suppose nothing is surprising and mass was still going on. Boy oh boy oh boy was it pretty. This is a place where you just walk around dumbfounded because everything is so amazingly gorgeous. There was a choir, there was incense, there was an astounding amount of art. It was fantastic.

Back out side, do the rouser by a lion statue (no big deal), and play in the rain for a bit and off to buy more gifts and enjoy our last lovely moments in a stunning city. Exhausted but culturally filled, we got on the plane with a beautiful men's soccer team, and headed back to Rome. Unfortunately, they had to make a connecting flight and didn't stay.  That was the saddest part of my weekend.

And now I am walking out the door to go to Florence with my Italian High Renaissance class. Wish me luck, I've got a presentation tomorrow.  I'll try to update you on my life (you know, now that I've escaped the library) on Sunday.