........RETURNING FROM MURANO back to mainland Venice, we were once again in the open sea and enjoying our boat ride. I forgot to include this picture in the right order, with the other photos from our hop over to MURANO (where they do the glass blowing). For anyone who missed my rant about this, on this Blog site, you CAN'T insert photos you forgot to upload (or change their position) in between other photos and posts already uploaded. Each new one always goes automatically ONLY on top of the previous one, so doing this Blog requires quite a LOT of pre-post planning!

There is another island with a similar name also near Venice which we visited in 1984, so we skipped it this time. It is called, "BURANO" with a "B , and is where they make delicate lace products. Murano and Burano are two different small islands within half hour from Venice by boat.

HERE'S A FUNNY STORY I'M CALLING - "LEFT ON THE BOAT! " And I confess it was a pretty "dumb" thing to do, although I assert it wasn't entirely MY fault ! We were on the way to the Island of Murano, and I didn't get off the boat when everyone else did, only because no one called me, and I was all bundled up from the cold with 2 shawls wrapped around my head, (Sonia said I looked like an "Arab"!) So between that, the noisy boat engine, and standing in the stairwell of the boat away from everyone, I didn't hear OR see that people, (INCLUDING MY FAMILY!) got off the boat at Murano!! I also thought there was a long way to go yet! So imagine my surprise (more like SHOCK) when I discovered I was the only one left on the boat --- AND it was headed out to sea again, to end up WHO KNOWS WHERE!! Luckily I speak Italian, so I had no trouble communicating my dilemma to the driver. He suggested I get off at the next stop and take another boat back, but since I had NO money with me, I couldn't do that. (The 3-day boat pass we bought does not include Murano or other islands). So luckily, this same boat I was on, after a stop at another island, turned around and took me back to Murano, where my family was eagerly awaiting my (hopeful) return! Of course, the first word out of Settimio's mouth to me was "MORON"!! I THINK he was kidding, (though I'm not sure!). But we were all glad to be reunited again and all laughed hysterically, while Sonia took a video of my face, which was VERY RED! LOL

.......THAT'S ME AGAIN POSING FOR YET ANOTHER CANAL PICTURE! By now you're probably saying to yourself, "See one canal, and you've seen them all". But really, we found each one fascinating, as they all were a little different and had their own inner beauty. My eyes feasted especially on the adorable little overlapping bridges and the window boxes and balconies overflowing with plants and flowers. Italians really seem to have a 'green thumb' and these beautiful balconies and windows are EVERYWHERE in Italy, not just Venice. One of it's charms, I think!



.....LOOK at the photo below of Venice, the one you'd swear was a painting, wouldn't you??? I think that is SO cool that it looks that way, just because it came out a bit out of focus and was taken at dusk.