The Grand Finale!

Venezia...a grand finale!  Grand seems to be the perfect summative word of my cruise...although the only thing missing is that I wasn't on the Grand Princess.  But the Crown Princess is close.  My cruise started with a day of delights and special attention at the Grand in Mykonos, and ended with a serenade in a gondola on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy!  Yes, a grand week indeed!

Venice was charming, and I chose the right tour for the right day, without a doubt.  The day started with the sun, creating the perfect scenic arrival into Venice.  Last time a fog shrouded the city as the ship approached, so it may have been my second visit this time, but the first time I was treated to the grand view on arrival.  The weather was cool, also a part of the perfect day for me. 

My tour was wonderful, thanks again to Jon telling me about beautiful Burano, again, thanks my personal trip consultant!  There was a long and beautiful boat ride to the island of Murano, yes, the famous glass factory island.  All the Venetian glass is made in factories on this island...why?  So the hot ovens, heated to over 2000 degrees, never start a fire that could burn down the city of Venice.  The glass is truly beautiful there and it was hard to resist buying anything.  All price levels are available, but of course after the amazing glass blowing demonstration, you are shown into a very expensive showroom to shop.  I avoided that part of the tour and spent the short time wandering the canals of Murano.

True story...last visit here several years ago, I purchased some glass horses for a gift and one for myself.  They wrapped them guaranteed to reach home.  They reached home, but in pieces!  I felt so badly about one for my young friend, but there was nothing to do, it wasn't like I could take it back!  So I gave her mine, we opened it and it was broken too.  What a disappointment!  Well, shortly after that I went to the new 'Home Goods' store that opened near home.  Beautiful things and as I browsed I stopped in amazement...right in front of me, on a shelf of beautiful glass pieces, was the same horse, also Murano glass!  No broken leg on that one!  And so I immediately purchased that one for my friend and was able to give her the Murano glass horse I'd wanted for her after all!  I'd forgotten that story until I was there again, but will now do my Murano glass shopping in my own neighborhood.  However, nothing beats watching the creation of glass pieces, well worth the trip!  There was the elderly lady who wS followed out of the factory to our boat, and later she said that she had wanted to buy a $4,000 vase for her daughter who was with her, but her daughter wouldn't accept it, so the salesman was trying to close the deal...I bet he was!  A $4,000 vase?  My goodness, that is a nice gift, gosh I'd be touched if someone bought me a glass horse for a few dollars!  At Home Goods!

Then we were back on the boat for another ride under the beautiful blue sky, to Burano, an island that was once a fishing village.  The buildings are all painted different colors, they say the fishermen's wives painted them that way so the returning fishermen found their way to their own homes when they returned.  The island has kept up that tradition.  It was another lovely visit.  Lacemaking is the craft of the island so the shop we were escorted to, did indeed have an elderly Italian lady hand making lace, amazing to watch.  Again I passed up the opportunity to purchase handmade lace, the real items were very expensive and I have other lace products from Belgium so no needs there.  I enjoyed wandering once again, this time through the charming village, making a couple of purchases, taking tons of photos, and even indulging in a small cup of gelato, delicious, and very affordable at only 2 euros.  Then back on the boats or an hour and a half ride back to the ship.

After a short nap, I headed to the meeting area for the evening gondola ride.  When we got to Venice I explained to the tour guides that it wasn't much fun on a gondola ride as a single person in a gondola with a couple.  She jokingly said she would find me a nice Italian man to join me!  I think she was shocked when I said that would be wonderful!  Well, she did come up with a solution, she asked how I would like to go in the gondola with the serenading musicians!  Problem solved!  And what a thrill that was!  The lovely Italian music, singing and accordion playing coming from my gondola throughout the lovely canals!  And what a voice that man had, gave me goosebumps to experience the evening like that!  There was a lovely older British couple on there too.  We were handed a bottle of delicious wine and helped onto the special gondola, so the final thrill of the evening began!  People would gather on the bridges taking many photos of the singer, guess I'll be in many peoples photos of the Italian man singing in the gondola!  A final grand event on my cruise!

Today I leave this grand cruise behind to head back to reality.  Ahh, once again I planned the perfect escape for myself!

Ciao, arrivadeci from Venezia!