A Taste of Italy

Today is our last full day in Venice. Every traveler to Venice has to do the official Murano glass factory tour. We knew it was going to be a tourist trap but we had to go. The Water Taxi to the island was free and we were promised transportation back to Venice. Well, we did see the official glass making factory and visited the official factory outlet. We were then told to take our own Water Bus back to Venice. One of the other tourists from Missouri was also told of free transportation back to Venice and demanded it. We tagged along and went back to Venice on a Water Taxi.

Our next task was actually getting our own 12 hours Water Bus Pass and go around Venice and especially to the Island of Burano. The bus tickets were 13 Euros each and after giving the ticket agent 100 Euros the change was suppose to be 48 Euros. He handed me 38 Euros as change and my wife noticed the difference and complained. I was just going to take the change and go because the line behind us was getting really long. At first the agent pretended not to understand our English and finally took our change back into the booth. My kids noticed that he had the extra 10 Euros stashed on the side and mixed it in with his final count. Now, this is the official ticket booth for the Venice Water Bus at the main S. Zaccaria stop.

BTW, the same bracelet we purchased for 10 Euros at the official Murano Glass Factory Outlet was 5 Euros in Burano. The matching necklace was also half the price in Burano.

Later in the day we met a couple from England and we started to share our stories about Venice. They were at a restaurant and each ordered a 5 Euros coffee and when the final bill came they were surprised to find an additional charge of 10 Euros each for listening to the live music.

Our conversation with the couple from England over dinner was delightful. After about an hour, my wife, daughter, and I all finished our meals. My son's cheese pizza was still not there despite repeated request to the waiter. I finally got up trying to get some attention. I had to talk really loudly and demanded to talk to the manager. Even that didn't get anywhere. I had to resort to some loud sound effects. After pounding on some wooden tables, I finally found a metal counter and pounded loudly and screamed I want to talk to the manager. Within 10 seconds the pizza appeared. The entire restaurant started to clap. It was fun. I love this country.