Our second day in Venice started at a glass factory where we watched a very talented man demonstrate how to blow glass and sculpt it in to beautiful pieces of art. I learned that to master the art of glass blowing, a person must be an apprentice for 15 years. The glass in Venice is very valuable, as it is handmade, elaborate, and created using fine materials like gold or cobalt. The glass comes in a variety of colors, but the most expensive is red because they use real gold to create it. Purple is also very valuable because the materials needed to create the color are specific to the area. After we watched the artist sculpt glass in to a lovely horse completely free-hand, we were encouraged to go to show room to shop around. Here we saw that a set of red Venetian wine glasses would cost 1,000 euros ($1,300). We also saw gorgeous chandeliers and other magnificent glass sculptures. I purchased a gift for my best friend and drooled over a red chandelier that would probably cover the entire ceiling of my bedroom.
Next, we rode a water taxi to another island of Venice, where we visited the Doge's Palace. Now, I didn't learn as much as a hoped about this building because it was packed with tourists, which made it hard to listen to our tour guide. Also, I hate crowds, so I wandered away from my group a few times. Anyways, a "Doge" is the leader of the Venetian republic. From the 1300s to the 1700s, Venice was run very much like a state in the U.S. The Doge was like the president, he was a symbol of power, but didn't really make big decisions. Senators and counsel members ran the show for the most part.
The palace itself acted like the White House except that it was also a court house and a prison. Criminals would come to the palace, sit (or probably stand in shackles) during a trial, and then go directly to the prison cells beneath the palace.
Visiting the cells was creepy, but the actual palace rooms were amazing. The ceilings were covered with frescos and gold leaf. We walked up a set of stairs called, "golden stairs" because the gold leaf ceilings made it glow in the natural light.
You can see in my picture that trying to pose without strangers invading the shot was impossible.
It was against the rules to photograph the inside of the rooms because the flash would damage the paintings. So, I tried to get some shots of the architecture outside and some smaller frescos.
Our guide told me that I was the easiest to remember because my coat was such a bright color.
After the guided tour, we had the rest of the day to explore Venice. It is very easy to get lost because the crowds are outrageous, canals cut through everything, and all of the alleys' names are so long, that I forget them the moment my eyes leave the map. My goal was to find a place called Harry's Bar. Apparently, Ernest Hemingway loved to drink at this place. Being one of my favorite authors (and one of the most famous in the entire world), I just had to find it and enjoy a drink in the same spot (maybe even in the same chair).
It ended up taking all day to find it, but while we searched, we had a delicious lunch, watched gondolas float by, and discovered some other random treasures.
Tomorrow we visit Florence. Ciao!
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