A Day in Venice!

Ok, in time I will learn to make the appearance of my blog's more interesting.   We stayed in the Royal San Marco Hotel - found it online using Kayak and we couldn't have asked for a more fabulous place to stay.  The rooms were nice, a little on the small side, but clean with nice bathrooms and perfect for what we were looking for!   They also had a great breakfast and the location was amazing - basically you walked about 100 feet off San Marco square and you were at the hotel!  The staff was really nice and the other guests really friendly.  This is a view out the side of the hotel!  

On this trip we did something that I haven't done on other trips.   We signed up for a walking tour of the city.  It was a great idea.  Our tour guide was a gentleman from Venice and he was thoroughly enjoyable   He took us through the various markets, talked a bit about the history of the city and then the tour ended with a short gondola ride.  Above you see me in a selfie on the grand canal!  

David Hodel at the Grand Canal in Venice!   We had a really good tour that ended with a ride in a Gondola on the Grand Canal!

With our hotel we received a complimentary boat ride to Murano where the glass factories are.  First of all - it was lots of fun to have our own private boat ride to the island - and once there the tour of the factory was great.  Yes, I ended up purchasing a glass that used some of the techniques that they showed us on the tour.  

This glass horse was made in front of us - it looks to be cool, but when he touched a piece of paper to it  the paper burst into flames from the residual heat in the glass!

A video demonstrating Milefiori!