Hello readers!  My trip to Venice is now officially over and I have quite mixed feelings about it.  I am excited to see Florence and Rome, but am going to miss Venice and the group I got to see it with.  I will have to return to Venice one day, and now can tell people that Venice is one of my favorite cities on Earth.

Our professors gave us a treat on the final day: a boat trip to the Venetian Islands.  Our tour guide brought her husband and their boat and picked us up canalside at the hotel.  We all felt like royalty.  Their boat was probably the equivalent to the Chevrolet Suburban: it featured seating inside for 13 people.  We took the boat and arrived first at the island of Murano.  It is the largest of the Venetian islands and is home to numerous glass factories.  The main entrance to Murano also features a quaint lighthouse.

We arrived at the dock for Ferro & Lazzarini Fornace and proceeded inside to a large open room with tons of ovens.  We took our seats and were given a demonstration of glass making and glass blowing.  It was amazing to see the glass master take an ordinary bulb of melted glass and turn it into a beautiful glass horse.

Following the demonstration we were taken to the factory outlet store, where all of the Murano glass was on sale.  One of the salesmen asked me where I was from and I said North Carolina.  He then asked if I was from the Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem area and I quickly said yes.  Turns out the High Point furniture market (one of the largest in the world) is always buying Murano glass from the factory.

We proceeded upstairs to the glass museum.  It was unreal.  It was about six rooms full of just glass: glass tables, wine glasses, dolphins, all kinds of animals, chandeliers, tables, you name it.  We were all very careful to make sure we didn’t trip (we would be paying a whole lot if that happened).

We then said goodbye to the glass factory and got back on the boat to head to the island of Torcello.  Torcello is the smallest island and is home to only thirteen people.  The only attraction on the island is the church, the Cathedral of Torcello, also known as Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta.  It is in fact the oldest Church in Venice, originally built in 639.  The current church was built in 1008, built even before St. Marks which was built in 1071.

The church featured beautiful mosaics featuring Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and the Final Judgement.  Numerous items were stolen from the church by the Germans, so not everything remains.

We got back on the boat and arrived at the island of Burano, which is known for its lace-making.  Burano was really neat because it was full of colorful houses.  The main street featured lace shops and numerous canals ran through the city.  The church featured a belltower, but this belltower was unusual.  It is actually leaning to the side.  It is not straight, and I find that fascinating.

We broke off to explore Burano, and I went around by myself, snapping away at pictures (I’m a little picture happy in case you couldn’t tell).  I walked along the waterfront and through the residential parts of town before meeting back up with the group to leave.

We took the boat back to the hotel, winding our ways through the Venetian canals before we finally reached our hotel.  We bid adieu to our tour guide (I really enjoyed our tour guide.  She was very informative and very sweet) and went back into the hotel.  Some people went shopping, but I stayed behind to begin packing.  I packed and took a nap before most of the group decided to go out to dinner.  I had lasagna as my last meal in Venice, but it was disappointing.  A group went out to the bars, but most of us have morning train or plane travels so we decided to head back to the hotel.  We stopped at Grom, which has become my gelato shop for the last week.  I had candied chestnut and caramel and it was good.

We returned to the hotel, where I am currently writing this blog.  With the completion of this post, I will be done with my blogging from Venice (but of course will continue blogging in Florence and Rome).

I have had such an amazing time in Venice.  It is truly an incredible city and I have enjoyed seeing it for the last ten days.  To everyone in the group, thank you for such a fun time.  I enjoyed meeting you all and I hope we see each other on campus.  To our tour guide, thank you for the fun, informative tours.  To the Schroeders, thank you so much.  I am so glad I got to do this Study Abroad and I recommend it to any Ole Miss student who wants a shorter study abroad.

I plan to take the vaporetto at around 7:45 or 8 am to reach Venezia Saint- Lucia, the train station.  My train to Florence leaves at about 9:30 and it should take about two hours to reach Florence.  I am excited to see the Italian countryside from the high-speed train, and look forward to exploring the rest of Italy.

So I no longer say Ciao from Venezia, I know have to say, Ciao readers, Ciao Northern Italy, and most of all Ciao Venice.  It’s been real.

Here is the link to the island pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2532630160710.2117664.1402200167&type=3&l=9cda45e213