We were up and at 'em early this morning for two reasons. First, it's our last day in Venice and second, we wanted to get to Murano (the "glass" island) before the tourists. We hopped on a water bus (the metro system for Venice) and headed out. I captured a video of the ride.

Murano is a town in the Venetian Lagoon and made up of seven islands; it is part of the municipality of Venice. With 4,093 inhabitants, Murano is one of the most populous centers in the Venetian Lagoon. The history of Murano glass was born in 1291 when it was decreed that the glassworks of Venice were transferred to Murano since the laboratory furnaces were often responsible for disastrous fires.

We started by visiting two of the top galleries that sell “collector” glass artwork for the purpose of setting the stage with the current glass designs. We decided to look around before investing that kind of money.

For about 2 hours we wandered in and out of stores trying to decide what, if anything. we wanted to buy. Nothing was jumping out at us so we decided to think about it over lunch. We found a great place that had a terrace on the top of the building and were fortunate that we were early enough to get a great table. Aperol Spritzes made an appearance followed by a great meal.

With that rest, we headed to shops that we had liked and made some purchases. The most important to me was a hand blown set of four highball glasses; Mae had other ideas and a glass display piece made its way onto our credit card.

The Water Bus offered a different route back to Venice; it was longer but really relaxing. Some of us headed for gondola rides, others for naps and to begin packing.

In honor of our last night together, we headed to the left instead of going down the small walkway to the right. We stumbled upon a large, quiet square with a restuarant with space available (we forgot it was Saturday night). The food was great and the scene was relaxing. Then we headed to "our spot" at the St. Regis for a farewell nightcap. It was so much fun to talk about what has taken place over the last 3 weeks (Istanbul, cruise to Rome with stops in Greece, Rome itself and now Venice and surroundings).

Tomorrow, the four who joined us in Istanbul depart for home while Dave, Lynn, Mae and I head to Switzerland.