“We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment” -Hilaire Belloc

On day seven, I was able to finally sleep in for the first time during the entire trip and trust me, I desperately needed it. Lauren and I awoke around eight and headed down to breakfast (this became our Italian tradition since we got here) and prepared for day seven. We had been traveling for a week now and we always look to see what unforgettable experiences each day will bring and this day was no different. After breakfast, we all met in the hotel lobby for our walking tour of Venice.

The tour started on shaky ground from the get go as we ventured out through St. Mark’s Square before our tour guide said a word and unfortunately for the entire group, we should have embraced the silence as this was the last time we will hear the silence for the next three hours…anyway back to the tour. We started in the square where our guide gave us history and then we proceeded to the Doges Palace. We explored the great courtyard and large intricacies of this massive palace that housed the most powerful people in Venice and in all of Europe.

Again, this is one of those instances when they don’t allow photography inside the actual palace so the only pictures I have are those of the courtyard. We proceeded to spend the entire three hours slowly touring the palace because our guide felt it necessary to go into excruciating detail about every painting and fresco in all thirty or so rooms we visited. Now don’t get me wrong, guided tours are wonderful and a lot of information can be had however after the first hour the entire group was getting rather upset with our guide seeing how this was supposed to be a walking tour of the entire city and we spent the entirety of the tour inside the palace.

Once the tour finally concluded, we had free time to explore the city and grab lunch before our afternoon appointment. Crista, Jess, Lauren and I (herein to be known as the “core group”) wandered to the eastern part of the island where we discovered a quaint little park which was filled due to the absolutely gorgeous weather.

After lunch we all met back in the square to take our boat to the islands of Murano and Burano. Our first appointment was to Murano and to a glass factory for a demonstration on how they make their infamous glass.  Everybody that knows me knows how awful I am with names so please forgive me for not remembering the name of the glass factory or the owner who gave us the tour and demo.

 He made this vase in about 5 minutes…

Once the demo was completed, we all went into the gallery they had where a lot of money was spent by most of the group (*cough* Lauren *cough*) and once our transactions were complete, we were back on the boat to take us to our next stop: Burano.

Burano is a little fishing village next to Murano and is apparently known for its lace. Unfortunately we were unable to see lace being made but by God, there were plenty of places to buy it. Even though we were unable to see lace creation, we were able to wander the city with our tour guide, Gabriella, who gave us some history about the village and some incredible cookies.

The notorious characteristic of the island are the brightly colored houses that sit along the island. According to our guide, the legend goes that the fishermen’s wives would paint the houses so brightly to make sure the fishermen could see the island from a distance and that they wouldn’t get lost.  Seems to me a better way would be to use glow in the dark paint, but hindsight is 20/20.

After our walking excursion, we headed back on the boat and returned to Venice. Once there, the core group got together and wandered around the city for dinner. After spending about an hour looking for a specific restaurant, we wound up at a little restaurant that served a wonderful tourist menu. We were able to order two courses with wine for about fifteen euro…as long as the waiter liked our Italian pronunciations that is. Once our hunger was curbed, we sat off back to the hotel and to prepare for another day full of adventure and business education.