Day 14, 15 and 16

Day 14 - We travelled from Florence to Venice. On route we stopped for lunch at FIC, an Italian Food Theme Park dedicated to agri-food and gastronomy. In short it's an 8 hectare Italian/Sicilian delicatessen with pavilions displaying how foods are made eg mozzarella, cooking classes and restaurants.

That night we had the magical Venice tour. From the hotel we took a water taxi to St Marks square (the biggest public square in Venice) where we split up into small groups for dinner. One of the ladies was almost too scared to get in the taxi as it bounced around the edge of the canal. Its quite choppy with all the activity. In the end she took her shoes off and eventually made it. The taxi travelled up the Grand Canal past a lot of palaces. We then all met up in a bar where an orchestra was playing. It was very relaxing sitting there watching the passing parade and listening to the music which was not all classical.

Day 15- Venice - we both took a day off the tour due to head colds. At least we had a lovely room in the Hilton Hotel on a canal edge to rest up in.

Day 16 - Venice - took the water taxi for about half an hour to the Murano Island hand-blown glass factory. This was a highlight so far. A guy with good English gave us a tour of the factory. There were 3 tradespeople working on a piece of jewellery, a clam shell and a drinking glass. All of these products start from fine sand. The colours come from metals like magnesium and cobalt being added. There was a large retail outlet with many decorative pieces, glassware and jewellery. John liked a horse - price 15 000 euros - roughly $22 000. It's still in the shop. We then went over to St Marks Square. As this was the last night of the tour a celebratory dinner was held on the canal about 400 metres from the hotel before everyone headed off. We had a fantastic tour guide (Filippo) who we will be giving the highest rating to.

Photos 1 - 3 - FIC - Italian Food Theme Park
Photo 4 - View of our hotel in Venice
Video 1 - Water taxi through the Grand Canal
Photo 5 - Murano Island - glass blowing a drinking glass
Video 2 - St Mark's Basilica
Photo 6 - St Mark's Basilica
Photos 7 to 10 - Venice canals
Photo 11 - moving trucks
Photo 12 - Last night celebratory farewell dinnerRead more