So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

So this is it, the end of the Italian tour. I left Boston about a month ago and five cities later I'm ready to call it a trip. There was a big shift around the time of Milan, from the rush of the first few weeks into the more relaxed and personal pace of the last couple. The switch couldn't have come at a better time. It's not like I've done less each day, but it became not as focused on the individual places visited and more about what I wanted to explore or see one last time. The relaxed attitude probably lead to the slacking in updates (sorry guys), but the terrible wifi also played a part. Anyway, I digress. Venice. Venice has been amazing. We've been here about four days; the first few scheduled with island tours and a trip to the Doge palace but activities have been less frequent with more time to burn in between lectures. This lack of structure has really allowed me to explore the alleys and bridges so unique to the floating city and in a sense...make Venice my own. Well, as much as one can own a city in four days. I have a favorite cheap pasta place, a favorite coffee shop, a favorite restaurant. I only ever experienced this same sort of pull from Florence but to put it one way; if I were dropped into Venice without so much as a map I could formulate a pretty fantastic daily routine.

Yesterday we went island hopping to Murano, famous for its glass, and saw a glass master at work using a long metal pipe to shape molten glass into a chandelier. The amount of craftsmanship that must go into every handmade glass set is staggering. That was our last official activity, which we ended by presenting Professor Rappaport with a Hawaiian shirt and a round of applause. Grace, William, John and I ended up following the Professor for the rest of the day while others went to the beach as he entranced us with tales of a beautiful mosaic on a neighboring island in a forgotten church. Torcello. Grandma I know no other way to describe the scenery and beauty of this island than the farms around Chichester if they were twenty degrees warmer. It was beautiful and besides the main drag absolutely untouched. The church was beautiful but the island really stole the show. From there we moved on to Burano, home of multicolor everything before the storms kicked in and we headed home.

Today the rains continued, and after a real late start I hit the markets for some last minute trinkets before saying goodbye to the city in the Lagoon.

I'll probably touch up this blog when I get home, fix grammar and all those things as well as upload a lot of pictures to really flesh it out but for now I think this is goodnight. See you next time Italy. OH! One last thing. I was able to find the place where Emma was roped into singing with those random tourists in Venice and the weapons stand I saw two years ago! Whether that's related to the trinket I found...anyway I'll be home soon!