Venice Rocks!

Our train arrived in Venice around 5pm, and we quickly hopped on a water bus to get to our hotel. I didn't realize Venice was actually an island where they just drove giant pillars into the ground and erected an entire city in the middle of the water. It is in the middle of a chain of islands, but of course Venice is the most busy. Our hotel made a reservation at a nice out of the way restaurant, and we had a seafood dinner. Scallops for appetizer, Lobster Ravioli and Crab Pasta for a first course, tuna and swordfish for a second course, and chocolate mousse and cream pudding for dessert. Yum!

This morning we got on a tour boat that visited some of the islands around Venice. First we visited Murano, known for its master glass blowers. I bought a really neat hand-blown chess set, and arranged for them to ship it to Colorado for me. The second island was Burano, known for its women that make cool lace items. It is also a fishing village, and has lots of really neat houses that are painted bright colors. The 3rd island we visited was Torcello. It was very quaint, and only inhabited by 80 people. Not too much to see except the big church, and there was a wedding happening so lots of people were dressed up.

Tonight we are going to see a concert called Music in Maschera; apparently the performers wear old victorian outfits and masks. It sounds very cool.

Still no access to high speed internet for posting pictures. We may just burn a CD and bring to the internet cafe and post them from here. Stay tuned.