Murano

Last week I talked about my arrival in Venice. And earlier this week I gave you suggestions on the best way to spend the first two days of a three day trip.

Today for Day 3 I am going to talk about Murano and Burano, two islands off of Venice that you can get to on the water bus.  The same easy-to-use and inexpensive water bus that takes you all around and through Venice also goes to the small set of islands around Venice.  You just need to take route 42 to Murano and from there you can get over to Burano. Nothing could be easier!

Murano Glass

A classic Murano glass necklace

When people come to Venice they buy two things.  Carnival masks and Murano glass. Trouble is, most of the Murano glass that tourists buy is not from Murano, but rather China.

Authentic Murano glass costs a pretty penny and it is not something most tourists would purchase.  And the fact that they are finding Murano glass real cheap doesn’t make most tourists stop to wonder why and the Venetian and Murano shopkeepers aren’t going to tell you unless you ask directly.

Personally, I am not a shopper, nor am I one to buy souvenirs.  When I do, it is usually a item of clothing like a scarf that becomes part of my wardrobe. So neither my husband nor I were in the market for any jewelry or housewares to buy on Murano. And ultimately, unless you are in the market to buy glass or want eat at a very touristy restaurant, there is not much to do on Murano.  In my mind it is a necessary evil to get to Burano.  [I would love to know if anyone has a different opinion of Murano, please share!]

Burano Beauty

Once you leave Murano and arrive in Burano you will see it is a whole other world. It is a small fishing village that is a photographer’s dream. There is a little downtown area that has shops which sell lace handicrafts (doesn’t it seem that all fishing villages do this? I guess the wives need something to do??). There are also touristy restaurants in the downtown area as well.

But I had done my homework. I had found that there is a small restaurant off the beaten path that serves wonderful food and wine. And it is still not quite on the radar for tourists.  If you Google ‘Burano restaurants’ it doesn’t come up, you have to dig real deep. And I am so glad I did because the restaurant I found was the perfect start to a lovely afternoon.

It’s called the Riva Rosa.  The menu is small with an emphasis on seafood and pasta with a real great wine selection.  The restaurant is inside a  house and the decor is beautiful.  The atmosphere was tranquil, efficient, just lovely.  A reservation is required and I had our hotel concierge as the Westin Europa & Regina make the booking.

Riva Rosa is located at Via San Mauro 296 in Burano.  The telephone is 041.730.850.

But what is the real delight of Burano?  The houses!  They are painted in such whimsical and warm colors and so lovely to look at.  You can take photos for hours. I know because we did!

Aren’t they amazing? We walked around and looked at all the homes and the care that went into the detail of the outside, it was incredible!

When we got back to Venice at the end of the day we passed by a shop that I had not seen before. It was not too far from our hotel. It was a shop that sold Murano glass jewelry which not being an interest of mine I had passed it up many times on our way to our hotel. However, at night, the content of the store was quite enticing and I went in to speak with the shopkeeper.

She had necklaces on hand that were beautiful, but she was also making them to order in the color preference desired by her customers.  And she was doing it quickly, within a couple of hours.  Her glass is authentic Murano, and that is represented in the price.   But she was doing unique pieces which was interesting. [This reminds me of a post done by Susan of Transient Travels on the topic of buying local souvenirs.]

I actually bought some pieces, which wasn’t my plan.  They were so beautiful I couldn’t help it.  And like most jewelry that I make the mistake of buying, it is sitting in a box in the bottom of my dresser!  In any case, if you want to buy authentic Murano pieces while visiting Venice, I recommend her shop which is called Le Perle.

Her website doesn’t really give you a good indication of what she does, but I provide it all-the-same.  The location is: San Marco, 1231 Frezzeria (phone: +39 041 528 5614). I took a picture of two necklaces I bought to give you an indication.

Day 3 is over, tomorrow you leave Venice having saturated yourself with getting lost in a truly wonderful environment, which quite frankly may not always be around given the environmental issues the city faces.

Hope you liked the tour, I enjoyed revisiting myself!  It’s been two years since I was there and the memories make me want to return!

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So it’s Venice week on Misadventures with Andi, did you notice?  You’ve arrived. You enjoyed Day 1 and 2 and now you are taking a short pause to enjoy a (Not quite) Wordless Wednesday before I finish the week with Day 3 in Murano/Burano and French Friday which will have a Venice/Italy slant.

Hope you are enjoying the tour!

This picture illustrates how narrow some of the passages can get. It was interesting to wonder if some of them ever see the light of day!

Photo taken by Mr. Misadventures.

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I described our arrival in Venice, I hope that aided in helping you figure out your approach to getting to your hotel. And now for the fun stuff.  What to do.

There is one thing about how my husband and I travel. We rarely do all the tourist sites.  We know that may mean missing out on something that is a “must-see” but it is our style of travel.  We would much rather become absorbed in the place we are visiting than standing in line.  We do try to hit at least one of the main attractions, if we can.

Venice was our last stop having been to Rome and Florence first. It had been our second trip to Rome so we were less obligated to do the main attractions having been to some of the biggies (Vatican, etc) on our first trip.  While in Florence we went up the Duomo (that is another post for another time!) and had seen the statue of David.  For Venice, we just weren’t in the mood and skipped the Basilica, Doges Palace or any of the Ca (chateau/palace) tours. We walked through or past St. Mark’s Square and the Bridge of Sighs so these were “done” by de facto.

If you have three days to spend in Venice and are interested in visiting some of the main attractions then I suggest you start EARLY and get through them the first day.  If you are not interested, then you can do what my husband and I did.

Throw your map away and walk. Walk aimlessly without any destination in mind and make it an adventure of finding the most obscure corners, alleys, and walkways that are a photographer’s dream.

Bump into the local pubs where the natives will teach you about the local drink you can’t get at the tourist bars.  Take in the smaller, more intimate restaurants and don’t worry about missing your reservation because you couldn’t find your way.

Lunch at a local pub: ham sandwiches and sprtich

We walked for hours and hours.  When we got tired we stopped in outdoor terraces for a coffee or beer, or the local cocktail called a “sprtich” (no clue if that is the spelling!).

Lovely terrace for coffee and people watching

Then Day 2 ride every route of the fabulous (and cheap!) water bus.  You see Venice from the outside. You see Venice from the inside. Get off and wander around and then get back on.  It’s truly an amazing system!

View from the water bus.

When you are hungry, stop when you find a restaurant. When you are thirsty, stop when you find a pub or terrace. When you are tired, sit on a lovey bench and watch the boats and the natives.  It was especially fun to watch the DHL boat delivery packages in the busy port area and to watch the garbage men collect garbage by boat!

Don’t forget to ride at night as well for  spectacular views of the palazzos lit up in the dark.

A palazzo at night taken from the water bus.

Now you are ready for Day 3, the islands.  Murano and Burano.  But that will be another post – coming soon!

All photos taken by Mr. Misadventures.

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Today I am being featured on Lynn’s delightful blog, Midday Escapades. Lynn loves Paris and is a regular reader of this blog.  She recently interviewed me and has spotlighted me on her blog today!

Take a wander over there to check it out.

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This headline has been sitting in my draft box for months. I guess it is one of those topics that needs to be teased out.

A couple of months back I took part in a team building seminar on the topic of communication.  It wasn’t meant to be a seminar solely for workplace communication, it was something that was to be applied to all aspects of our life.

This post isn’t about the content of that seminar, but rather one single statement that really stuck with me. And it has been following me around ever since that day in December.

You’re either important or you’re not.

The facilitator mentioned this in relation to communication between parents and children. That parents need to be cognizant of what they say all the time. That they should not expect their children to know when what their mothers or fathers are saying should be paid attention to or not.  As far as they know, they should always be paying attention.

So those moments when a child hears their mother saying, “Alex is bad at math.  Ashley is shy. Peter is really messy.” are taken  as seriously as when their mother says, “Look both ways before you cross the street. Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t leave the front yard.”

While I was in Mexico a few days before our cruise in December, I saw the most amazing commercial on TV.  It was more a public service announcement rather than a commercial and it was beautifully done.  It showed various children with one parent or the other in common situations such as purchasing groceries, waiting in traffic, playing at the park.  What was interesting was the fact that the father was rude to the grocery clerk, so the child did the same.  The mother was yelling at the driver in front of her, so the child did the same. The father hit another adult at the park, so the child did the same.

Do you see the implications?

I was also witness to a real-life incident in that very week while on our cruise.  We were in Nicaragua and all of the excursions were running behind. They all arrived at the pier to return to the ship at the same time. There were hundreds of people that needed to get back to the ship in a coordinated, organized manner.  The result was that we were placed into lines and then taken 30-40 at a time on smaller boats to our ship.

After waiting about 20 minutes, the group that my husband and I were in was next.  And right as we were about to be loaded on, a mother walked up pulling her daughter and said, “look honey, we will just cut in line here and that way we won’t have to wait.” What lesson did that little girl walk away with?

I don’t think this applies to just parents and children.  I think it applies to people. All people.  Between spouses.  Between friends. Between co-workers, etc.

I know people would like to excuse it with “do as I say and not what I do.” But how is the other person supposed to know when that is applied? And when it is not? Communication is the transferring of information from one person to another.  When someone forces a recipient to try to figure how to interpret a piece of information, there is room for error.

So think about the next time that someone says, “I did that because I am stupid.”  Don’t jump to agree with them in one moment and then compliment them the next.

You’re either important or you’re not.

Be important all the time and mean your words.

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Question for you today.

But first some background.

I read a lot of blogs.

Seriously, a lot.

That means I read a lot of blog posts.

Problem is, I don’t comment on every one. I usually don’t feel like I can add any value to the post. One of the edicts in the social media world when it comes to commenting is “don’t leave it if you aren’t adding value to the post.”

But then I think, “oh fooey.”  Yes. I know. Very mature.

I just feel like people may want to know that I am reading and supporting them even if I have nothing else to say.

By the way, no one found that widget I mentioned I was looking for last weekend (in my P.S.).  But that got me thinking about trying something else.

How would YOU feel if I left the following on your blog post:

“Hi, it’s Andi, I just wanted to let you know that I was here and read your post!”

Would that seem weird to you?

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There were four entries for the Family Rambling Journal and Random.org selected #3 as the winner, and that is:

Kristi of La Bella Figura!

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Photo credit Jean Genie

Had a crazy week this week and next won’t be any calmer. I was in training to finish a certification I have been trying to complete for nearly two years. All the while also keeping up on work emails and tweeting for my company. Needless to say, I did not have much time for reading all your lovely blog posts in my reader as I was catching up on other things in the evening. None-the-less, I still have six great posts to share this week. So here we go:

[1] I have mentioned many times that I am a savvy auntie, which means I am not a mom. This is a conscious choice, and one I am happy with. But it is bizarre sometimes how people react to that, actually putting me on the offensive, when I definitely shouldn’t be! Lyndsey wrote a great post about the topic on her blog Lost in Cheeseland called, “New Series – Just Saying No To Children.”

[2] There is learning French and then there is using it. And then using it in a daily environment. When I first moved to France/Switzerland and started working and learning French, I started picking it up very quickly just by the fact that is was a matter of survival. Some things I just repeated or responded to by hearing them over and over even though I had no idea what the words meant precisely and no idea how to spell them out. Looking back it was pretty funny. Since I am a big foodie and love restaurants, there were definitely phrases that I heard frequently that I was not being taught in French school. When I read Tory Hoen’s post on the Parisien Salon called, “Decoding French – Paris Market and Restaurant Lingo” it was fantastic to see that most of the list were exactly the phrases that I experienced this phenomena with!

[3] Last year I blogged about Le Salon de l’Agriculture being the World’s Largest Food orgy.  When I die I want a lifetime pass to this exposition so that I have time to go to each and every booth. Weight won’t be an issue and I won’t miss a thing! Tory Hoen’s cute post on Hip Paris blog makes me long for Designer Milk & Foie Gras Sandwiches…of course washed down with a nice little glass of wine.

[4] We often hear about travelers’ favorite locations (it is certainly not hard to guess mine!) but I love how Kristin of Camels and Chocolates turned that topic upside and wrote about her least favorite locations and her reasons why.  It is a really great post!  And by the way, congrats to Kristin for her Bloggie win – Best Travel Blog for the SECOND year in a row!  Woot! (You can see all the winners here, just keep scrolling right…)

[5] It is no secret how much I adore my blogging pal Julie of Writing Roads. It is really hard not to have one of her posts here on Saturday Six every week.  I am a huge fan of her blog and her writing acumen!  I couldn’t pass up calling out a post from this week called, When Old Media and New Media Play Together in the Same Sandbox.  The topic is extremely apropos to my daily work these days, but that is not why I like it.  There are many, many reasons why I admire Julie, but one of the best is that she can take any situation, any problem, any issue, or in this instance, any mistake and turn it into a life lesson. And I love that.  It is how I try to live my life, seeing every act, done right or wrong, as a learning opportunity.  Great post, by Julie, and great attitude.  Of course,  I also love how she imagines the French publicists to be in her mind, I leave you to read it.

[6] My other blogging bud Alisa of Project Happily Ever After writes the kind of book reviews that I can only aspire to duplicate. I do not know why she isn’t writing fiction??  Last week she wrote a great post reviewing the book The Condition and a while back she wrote a hilarious post about Seth Godin’s new book Linchpin.   This week she reviewed Elizabeth Gilbert’s Committed in such a uniquely Alisa way.  She leaves me with a huge smile on a face because she is just so damn witty!

Well that’s it for this week. Got any posts you want to share from the last week?  Please do!

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On our last trip to Paris in November, I learned an interesting piece of trivia that I had not come across  while living in France. It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving and we were in our hotel room resting and watching the famous Sunday afternoon talk-show called Vivement Dimanche with Michel Drucker. It has been on forever. It is an interview style show where Michel spends an hour with a famous guest talking about their life.

On that particular Sunday the guest was former French President Jacques Chirac. He was being interviewed on how life was post-Presidency. At the end of the show Michel gave Mr. Chirac a puppy (they are both dog lovers) and made a comment to the effect of, “It’s the year of the ‘E’ what will you name him? Maybe Elysees?” I though to myself, what they heck is he talking about?

The very next day while I was reading my “C’est La Vie” by Suzy Gersham I read the chapter where Suzy brings a dog from the U.S. to Paris.  She had to take the dog to the vet and her vet became very confused with the dog’s age after hearing the name.  She had to explain that the dog was American and not French so it’s name did not follow the rules.

And that is how I found out there are dog-naming rules in France.  Always new things to learn!

In 1926 the government decided that all dogs born in the same year would have a name beginning with the same letter.  This was really to make it simpler for dog genealogists for dog shows, etc., but it was adopted everywhere.  The letter “Z” was excluded due to the scarcity of names beginning with that letter.  In 1973, they decided to remove 5 letters (K, Q, W, X, Y), for the same reason.

I am not sure what systems are set up to police or govern this. I certainly wouldn’t want to be restricted in naming my pets.  Maybe it is only for purebreds and not pet shop or pound animals.  Do any of my French readers know?

Names for 2010 should start with F.   Finding fitting French [names] frankly feels frustrating!

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Johnny Depp has been in my life a long time.  I, like most other Gen X girls adored him from the moment he appeared in 21 Jump Street.  With my father begrudgingly putting up with ithe show while the girls of the house drooled.

I admire Johnny’s acting.  I support him when he does his odd roles, you know the ones I mean, because I think he is really talented.  He puts a great amount of research and effort into preparing for each role that he accepts and you can see he is truly dedicated to his craft.

When I think about his pending performance in tomorrow’s opening of Alice in Wonderland, I realize that there has been a lot to learn from Mr. Depp.

[1]  Be undefinable. Just when you think you have Johnny Depp pegged, he does a left turn on you.  Isn’t life a whole hell of a lot more interesting when you can’t be easily categorized? That there is no neat check-box for you?  Be original. Be unpredictable. 

Okay, I realize that I just prattled off a whole bunch of sound bytes, but I think you get the picture.  It’s so much more interesting to be you, even when that means you might be outside the norms of what society accepts,  when you are being true to yourself and not trying to live up to what someone else wants you to be.

Johnny Depp wasn’t comfortable (and still isn’t) with the sex symbol status that he was labeled with after 21 Jump Street, so he chose roles that were a complete 180-degrees from that.

[2] You can be as weird as-all-get-out and people will still love you. Okay, it may help that you are totally gorgeous, but you get what I am saying. Look, there really is someone for everyone. Every taste. Every style.  If someone believes in you, they will adore you no matter how far off the beaten path you go.  I am not saying that being “weird” will make it easy for those around you to love you.  You will find your tribe, trust me.  Even the weirdest kids in high school hung out with the other weird kids….

[3] Don’t mess with a good thing. A good partnership can last a lifetime. Johhny Depp has teamed up with Tim Burton numerous times. Successfully.  They complete each other and it works. It is has not become so predictable that it is boring. The films that they work have run the gamut. They take the best of their working partnership and apply it to whatever project they team up on.  It hasn’t gotten old yet and it is a good example to follow. 

If you have something that  works, use it. That doesn’t mean you can’t iterate or innovate to improve it, but don’t risk the essence of what is working.

[4] Living in France is cool. Mr. Depp lives most of his time in France in a small village where he grows grapes for wine, tomatoes in his garden to eat and spends his days with his children and wife.  There are no reporters to hound him, the villagers leave him alone, and his privacy is respected which is de rigeur in France.  A French life can be one of  simple pleasures, simple tastes and simple joys.  And when one is a star as big as Johnny is, finding peace in a country that encourages and supports the simple things in life can mean all the difference in the world.

[5] Never give up your dream to own an island.  Again, this may not be your dream (it’s kind of mine), but the point is just because you come from Owensboro, Kentucky doesn’t mean that someday you can’t own your own Carribean island.  You never know what your path is, but if you are determined, you never know where you might end up. 

Seems a little Pollyana for you? Well, maybe.  But I personally believe that I am going to get a lot further in life if I (a) have a goal and (b) actually plan to achieve it.

Is there anything that Johnny Depp has taught you? 

Planning to see Alice in Wonderland tomorrow?

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