Venice, Day 1.5

Justin was working on his post after I went to sleep last night, and there were a few more pictures from my camera that I wanted to share with you! Here are some pictures from Orsoni - their very simple nameplate (literally the only thing on the street that let us know we were in the right place! This company has multi-million worldwide contracts!):

Their colour matching guide - just like knitting, if you see a colour you like you'd better buy a lot of it, because the next set won't match exactly.

 These are the barrels they create the glass in - melting different metal powders/ores into them and firing in the furnace. After the barrels are finished, people use them for garden planters. I wish one would have fit in my carryon to bring home!

Another piece in the showroom that I really liked:

We also had some food (late lunch) at a canal-side restaurant, much like this one. We were a little shocked that that water cost as much as the half litre of wine, but I guess it makes sense when you live on an island surrounded by brackish water - everything has to be imported!

We also got to see low tide - there's a pretty big variation, when you consider how flat and low-lying this city is!

One of the interesting things about such a crowded city based on ancient plumbing is public washrooms - how to keep them up? Venice has 6 or 7 public washrooms TOTAL (for all those visitors!) and charges 1.50 Euro every time you go in (there is either an attendant or a coin-operated lock). So you make sure you use the bathroom at your hotel, restaurants, at large enough shops - we actually only had to use one pay toilet once while we were there, for 3.5 days. But you can bet we didn't use this one!

WTF??

Lastly, here are some food porn shots from Della Marisa, the dinner that Justin described. I may be known for how much food I can put away - this restaurant totally defeated me. I had to leave delicious food on the plate because I was so full. And it was 30 Euro per person, including unlimited wine (and water) - in an overpriced tourist city, that is just a ridiculous deal. Highly recommended if you're ever going to Venice.

After dinner, we walked (waddled) back across the island to our retro hotel, to get up nice and early the next day! (Just kidding, we totally slept in)