Venice Nov 4-5

Our last full days in Venice...
Wednesday
To get around in this town you either walk or take the city " bus" which is a boat called a vaporetto. It's been very nice hearing NO motor vehicles at all!  Today we took a vaporetto to several sites including city historical buildings & Bascilica di San Marco.

In the evening about a dozen of the group went to a concert of Vivaldi music at a church. There were 7 string instruments & a piano. I thought it was excellent. Lovely setting, excellent musicians, and Italian music!  After the concert, 5 of us didn't want to wait a long time for the Vaporetto so we walked..  Now, that entailed navigating all sorts of winding streets at 10 pm.  Fortunately the guy in our group used google directions & did a good job of getting us back--- actually before those who took the boat!  ( our walk was over 45 min.). That was a fun adventure.

Thursday
We began the day on a Vaporetto to take us to the island of Murano where Venitian glassmaking is done. We watched an informative video before watching the men work with glass. We learned that glassmaking used to be done in Venice proper but centuries ago the kilns tended to cause fires so it was decided that this job should be done on another island.  Makes sense.
I got videos & pix of the men at work. Such skill!  I did buy a few little trinkets back in Venice.
My friend Jan and I did some shopping & returned to the hotel to get ready for our last event: farewell dinner at the hotel.

The group of about 28 became very at ease & friendly over the weeks, so it was a lovely evening. We got some whole group pictures and have each other's contact info.  I think I may keep in touch with several of them.
Everyone else is leaving early tomorrow but my flight isn't till 8 pm so I have a bit more time here.  I'll fly to London, spend the night in an Ibis hotel, then depart for SF at 11 am on Saturday. That breaks up the trip a bit.

I'm tired now but I'll try to write 1 more time tomorrow and add some overall reflections of the trip.  But in short,  my earlier view that this was a well organized tour still stands.  I feel very lucky.
Looking forward to seeing my Swedie & puppy soon!