Breakfast its different in italy

We had breakfast on day 2 at the same little bakery/restaurant as day 1 which was only a half a block away from our hotel room. Alice keeps reminding me, Italians don’t look at breakfast the same was as Americans. It was difficult for Alice to give any kind of “custom” order to our waitress who spoke no english. I knew her order would come out wrong for the second day in a row. I smiled at her and told her it would be safer to just point at an item on the menu. I had bacon and eggs both days with some really yummy pastries. The “bacon” seemed more like a thinly sliced up HAM. Our capachino both days was luke warm at best. Many Italians eat a late breakfast standing up comprising mostly of a pastry and coffee.

Murano Glass - World Class glass blowers

Following breakfast we got on another boat (almost the only way to get around in Venice) to Murano Glass to watch the world famous glass blowers create works of art including chandeliers, glasses, statues, etc. Truly an amazing experience. I was wondering why the hotel offered this wonderful trip up for free.

That’s one hot oven, how about cooking a pizza?

This guy created this horse from start to finish in less than 5 minutes

Finished product… less than 5 minutes and probably sells for $500

There is no such thing as a free lunch

Sure enough after observing the glass blowers do their thing we were then escorted to a huge show room escorted by a private HIGH end salesman dressed to the nines. Their stuff was amazing, and we were not allowed to photograph nor video the showroom because they were one of a kind pieces of art. Price range up to tens of thousands of dollars for a piece. Of course we were offered a 30% discount. Now I know why the trip was for free.

We meet such nice people on vacation

We boarded our boat with a couple other really nice couples, one from Dubai and the other from Kentucky and or California. I observed the woman from Dubai with her Canon camera taking photos. I knew she was very good with how she framed her shot. We connected on the boat ride home and I think they may even read this blog.

A very nice couple from Dubai, she is a great photographer!

Couple from California on their honeymoon

Off the boat from the Murano Glass blowers and back to the courtyard we went to walk the streets and take photos.

We entered an Art Museum in the courtyard called: Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Venezia

Marc Quinn’s HISTORYNOW (220 - present) surveys the increasing digital interdependence at a vital point in history.

Quinn’s ten year History Paintings project, which upends the grand tradition of history painting bussing recent images of crucial global moments drawn directly from the media, enlarged and painted with oil on canvas, or woven in silk and wool.

Alice was clearly disturbed the the awkward combination of the grandeur of historical paintings and sculptures combined with large paintings that often times either overwhelmed the room or covered up the great work behind them. Me, I just went with it. Here are some photos of our experience in the museum.

I am NOT Italian size large

Now it’s time to go shopping for Tom’s T shirts. Why, because it is all about me.

We located a t-shirt shop we had seen earlier with shirts we both liked very much. After trying on many shirts, I discovered my body was not the 18 year old Italian stud body the shirts were designed for. So much for my massive effort to get in shape and loose weight before the trip. I have found many of my large shirts made in the US are now a bit large on me. In Italy these t-shirts were small. A large felt like a small. Even an extra large seemed smaller than a large. Now I am motivated to continue my effort to loose some LB’s when I return,

After the shirt shop we continued to walk the street and take photos and videos.

A beautiful church: S. Franceso della Vigna

We came across a church that seemed closed, with a big drape in the front. We “snuck” in and took some photos. A very great and humbling experience for me. Alice lit a candle and made a wish. I wonder what her wish was? I guess you cannot ask, sort of like making a wish when you blow out candles on your birthday.

Gondola Ride, Romance on steroids

It is hard to not notice the gondola’s in all the waterways and canals taking couples and families for the ride of their life. We had to do this, and it had to be during the golden hour of the Gods. This was an experience of a lifetime. Romantic and so breathtaking. Our captain was so nice. He was strong like bull. A perfect muscular body, I bet he fit into those medium t-shirts that I looked like a whale in.

Some of the things I noticed and learned about the Gondola boat captains. They were all MEN, no women. This was a family tradition passed down from generation to generation with the proud muscular Italians providing the TAXI cab ride of a lifetime to the tourists of Venice. It seems like there were hundreds of them. While riding our captain chatting and knew almost every captain on all the boats as they passed by us. What an experience! Thank you captain my captain.

Photographic art courtesy of Venice and our captain

View a video of our romantic gondola ride here:

Dinner at Tattoria al gazzettino

For some reason I have been always hungry. We started looking for a place to eat dinner after our Gondola ride. We came across a place that Alice chose. It was such a great experience. It started with the owner of the restaurant who reminded me of the “SOUP NAZZI” guy on Seinfeld. The dinner was incredible. We met a number of very nice couples from the United States and Holland. They all happily allowed me to take their photos.

Just another Tom and Alice day!