Venice, Day Doo-ay

Ahhh... Food, alcohol, and churches
Also glass.

We started day two on a boat to the Murano island where all of the glass blowing and craftmanship happens as apparently it was a safety hazard on the island of Venice.  The island of Murano was beautiful, quiet, and elegant as each and every shop was a showcase for a different glass artist's talent.  We happened upon a gallery that opened its studio to visitors and allowed us to witness a demonstration of the art of glass blowing.
The artist created multiple horse statues out of molten glass within the short time we visited the gallery.

Then  we headed back to the main island of Venice for some more artistic viewings.  Thanks to my dear friend Michelle, we were inspired to see Tintoretto's work displayed at Scuola Grande di San Rocco, basically a really old meeting place where this guy Tintoretto painted the walls and ceiling with magnificent works depicting old and new testament material. 

The fun part is they give you mirrors to more comfortably see the ceiling. Afterwards, we checked out the Leonardo da Vinci museum next door, which had working demonstrations of dozens of his inventions. After this Bettie was determined to have some "cichetti" and a "spritz" so that we did- we ate some Venetian hor d'oerves, including crudi (Venetian sushi!) and enjoyed a beverage that is the trendy new thing to young Venetians.

Then, on officially our third try to see if a certain bar was open, Huzzah! it was! La Merca is literally no more than a hole in a wall hiding around a corner from the gaudy and crowded Rialto bridge, and is open a mere three hours on days when the owners feel like it.

We were ever so lucky to get there before the crowd, and enjoy yet another spritz as the Venetian younglings began to crowd in.  Trevor made friends with a Venetian pooch and all was good with the world, although we apologize profusely to Olive in Chicago if she felt jealous.  Onwards to another highly recommended haunt, translating to "the witch", serving amazing pizzas with toppings such as pepperoni, cream, peas, tomatoes, sardines, etc etc, maybe not all on the same pizza or in that order.

Awesome.