Venice with my best friend Kristin!

I made a plan to go to Venice with my best friend from home Kristin. She is studying abroad in Perugia, Italy this semester. We met at the train station and took a water taxi to the Generator Hostel, which was very nice. There is no nightlife in Venice so we had a nice pizza dinner and got to bed early.

Glass Blower

We decided to take a boat tour that took us to Murano, Burano, and Torcello. Murano island is famous for its glass factory, Burano island is famous for its finely made lace, and Torcello is not famous for anything but has a population of 11 people.

First we stopped at Murano Island. We went inside the glass blowing factory to see a glass blowing demonstration. There were too many people in the room making it hard to see the demonstration. However, it was amazing to see how quickly the glass is heated and shaped into figures. The glassmaker made a horse sculpture in less than five minutes and it was beautiful. I ended up buying a few pieces for my family and myself. I could’ve spent all day looking at all the glass factory had to offer but our boat was leaving for Burano.

Lace Maker

On Burano Island all the buildings were different colors and reminded me of the buildings in Cinque Terre. Our tour brought us to a lace factory to see how the famous lace is made. The lace was hand made by an elderly woman in a rocking chair. The detail in the lacework was amazing. They had all of the lace framed like works of art. My favorite was the lace butterflies, which had multiple layers of different kinds of lace.

Torcello

The last island was extremely small but picturesque. It had great places to take pictures on a bridge so Kristin and I took some best friend photos. After our tour we spent time shopping in San Marco Square. I could’ve people watched all day there!

Overall, I had such a great weekend with my best friend and I was so glad to see the beautiful city of Venice is the same as it was since the last time I visited.

San Marco Square