Water, Murnano glass and a little good wine

Today was our first full day in Venice, and it felt nice to be in a new city and a fresh start, especially after the events of the night before. We took our time getting up and ready, making it to breakfast with more than enough time for the 8-10 window it was open. 

Our impression of this hotel is already a little negative. Most of the places we have stayed so far have been on the good side. A few little quirks here and there, but nothing off-putting. At this hotel in Venice, it is hot, in fact the heater in Ed and Diana's room is on, and there is no nob to turn it off with. They must get mosquitos, because former guests have smushed them on the walls, and the cleaning staff has made no effort to remove them. And one of the ladies running the front desk in the afternoon is a little . . . unhelpful would be a polite way to put it. When asked how to call from one room to another, she was wrong the first 2 times she told us. When asked for a recommendation to a good restaurant, she responded with "I don't ever eat in Venice". When asked if she had heard of good restaurants here, she said "No". Needless to say, we found her a little useless. 

We decided that since we had tickets for the vaporatto (water busses) for the next 48 hours, we might was well get our use out of them. So we hopped on one headed for Murano, the glass island. It was a slow water bus, taking us a full 45 minutes to get out there. But as we understand it, that is typical. Unless you want to take a taxi, there is no faster way. But it allowed Ed and Diana to continue resting, which was good.

Once there, we tried to find a place that would let you watch the glass blowing technique for free. One place wanted to charge 3 euros per person, which seemed excessive to us. So we found another place that charged 5 euros per family, which was better. And if you bought anything, they would take 5 euros off the price. The demonstration was short, but neat, and since we could not find anything we liked at that shop, we opted to continue on.

We walked along the main waterway and found a place to eat lunch. More pizza! This time one called quatro stazione, which means 4 stations. Litterally it is a pizza with artichoke, olives, ham and mushroom, but not mixed together on the pizza like you would find in the states. The are separated into 4 quarters, so one quarter is ham and cheese, another is mushroom and cheese and so on. It was a good pizza.

We walked around Murano a bit more, did some shopping and had an ice cream near one of the waterways. We left the island and took a 30 minute boat ride back to the mainland of Venice. We went to the hotel to rest a bit, and Tim and Michelle looked into dinner options. 

We finally decided to have dinner at a local restaurant near the hotel that had a fixed price menu, where you have one flat price, and you order in courses, where you can have between 5-10 options per course. Tim also ordered a nice bottle of wine, Brunello di Montalcino, to go with the meal. When the wine arrived the waitress quickly showed him the front, then went to open it. Tim asked to see the front again, and discovered that instead of the 2004 (which was a very good year) in the wine list, she was opening a 2007 (which was ok, but had not aged as long). There was no mention to us that the bottle was different than advertised. Tim questioned her about it, and she asked the owner if they had anymore 2004 bottles. He said they didn't, so Tim asked to see the wine list again. Low and behold, 5 minutes later, a 2004 bottle appears. Shocking! It is a little frustrating that it seems to be the cultural norm to screw with tourists and give them less than what they pay for. We just don't see this kind of thing being ok in the states. To always be on your guard, it is exhausting . . .

The food overall was ok. Diana tried a fish, and it came to her with the head still on. It was one of those moments where you look at your food and you really don't know how to eat it, so you stare at it for a good long while. Then you just dive in. Michelle had a side of spinach that was really good. Other than that, the food was just ok.

Back at the hotel, Tim and Michelle checked on hotels for Lake Como, which was the next stop on the trip. None of the ones they were finding looked good for Ed and Diana, so we opted to stay in Venice for another 2 days. We found a good apartment which advertised having a washer as well, which is great because we are all getting to the end of our clothes. We booked it, and finally went to sleep around 1:30 am.