The sky on the way over to Burano.
Burano is a small island and is well known for its hand-made lace industry. Walking through the island it was so quiet, with hardly anyone around (except the Japanese tourists). The main street was almost empty. In the past I have been there in warmer months and you can't swing a cat down the main drag, yesterday I could have swung four or five cats if I'd really wanted to.
The colours of Burano
Looked like the Community Centre, where all the locals gather
and discuss whatever needs discussing
The main drag of Burano, hardly anyone there,
in the warmer weather you can't walk down the street without banging into other people
The trouble with Burano lace is, while it is beautiful, it is hard for me to become enthusiastic about it. I did buy a couple of scarves though. Not quite sure how the woman works out her prices but she quickly knocked 30 euro off the price for cash, then another 10 euro off when I asked how much for two. So I got 40 euro off each scarf. That's a big discount!
After buying my scarves I caught the vaporetto back to Venice, then decided to go over to Giudecca, the island opposite San Marco where I caught the wrong vaporetto to a while ago.
Venice from Giudecca
The artist that I bought from on the Regatta della Befana day has her studio over there in an old convent with many other artisans so I thought, why not.
I get over there and she wasn't there and all the other artisans' studios were closed up, so I caught the vaporetto back to Venice. I checked the timetable a gazillion times to make sure I was on the right vaporetto, and I was, except the vaporetto took a detour. So, instead of being back at the hotel by around 4, I did the tour of Murano, the vaporetto not only went to Murano, it went all the way around the island making several stops on the way, resulting in my not getting back to the hotel until around 6. Luckily I don't really care but was happy to see the hotel but the time I got back, cold, hungry, thirsty and wanting the toilet!
I sat at the bar of the hotel downstairs for half an hour, thawed out, had a drink, came up to my room to watch Avanti in Altro!!! It is still on tv!! I found it about seven years ago when I was first in Italy and I love it, it is so ridiculously sexist but it is good, I can't understand much so don't really know why I like it but I'm glad it's back from it's Christmas holiday!
This morning I had a walking tour of Cannaregio and the Jewish area. It was great, I was the only one on the tour and was asking the guide all the questions under the sun and loved having her undivided attention! We walked for a couple of hours so I was a bit tired by the end of it, but was very appreciative and had learned a lot.
Archway over a boat dock
Name plaques of four of the 200 Jews taken from Venice to Auschwitz
Banca Rosso - Jewish Pawn shop that used to have red receipts
The chef of my favourite restaurant GAM GAM
Jewish Nursing Home
With the walking tours, they are free, you pay what you think the tour was worth at the end. The tours in Barcelona were the same, I usually gave 20 or so euro. They are run by historians who have mostly studied history and been guides in galleries either here or other European countries. This girl had worked in the Louvre in Paris and in galleries here but prefers the walking tours. She is running the tour I have booked tomorrow on the other side of the grand canal.
The tour finished then BOOM, the rain started and didn't stop! I came back to the hotel area and called into the pizzeria a couple of doors down and had a delish pizza then have come back to my room for a bit of a relaxing afternoon. It's still pouring outside. The canals will be flooded tomorrow.
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