Italy-Georgia Trip, Day 5-8

 We spent the next 3-4 days in Venice.  This was Alex's work trip, so I didn't actually see much of him these few days since he was gone from about 7:00am-6:00pm every day.  On Wednesday, I took a rest day.  After so much walking around in Rome and traveling around, I just wanted to sleep.  I slept until about 11:30am and then went to the grocery store in the afternoon.  I met Alex and his colleagues in Venice on Wednesday evening for dinner.  I was a little worried about getting myself from the hotel to the train station in Mestre and into Venice, but it was pretty easy.  I tried fried calamari for dinner, but the texture was pretty hard to stomach.  The grilled veggies were good, along with the gelato we had after dinner.  

I ventured out by myself on Thursday back into Venice for the day.  I decided to buy a day pass so that I could hop on and off of the vaporetto (water bus).  I thought that would be a fun way to get around.  However... it was hot and crowded, I had to stand most of the time on the water bus and had to wait in lines to get on.  I made it to Murano and Burano Islands and walked all over.  Murano was really cool because it's known for Murano glass.  They had shop after shop full of beautiful glass.  I didn't really have a specific plan for the day or how to get around, but I somehow got to a couple places I wanted to see and made it back.  Too many people, too much waiting and walking around, shopping, and navigating buses and trains - all things I don't enjoy, but I did it.  I managed to buy a few cool souvenirs from the glass shops.  I was really drawn to the glass creations and pretty necklaces. 

On Friday, the trains and buses were on strike, so I didn't get out to wander around.  I was content to relax at the hotel.  By Friday evening, transportation was back to normal, so Alex and I had dinner in Venice again.  Alex had pizza, I had stuffed lamb ravioli, and we tried cannoli for dessert - so yummy!