Its been awhile since the last time I wrote. I've been meaning to add a couple of different posts...one about the glassblowers on the ship, one about daily life as a musician, and a couple about some of the places I've visited recently. I also have tons of photos to upload, but the ship internet hasn't been working very often. I just upgraded to the Flickr Pro account so I can pretty much upload as many photos as I want. I'll just highlight some stuff quick and perhaps get back to it later with some longer posts.
Four days days ago, whilst we were in Venice, Tim and I tagged along with Tom and Ryan, two glassblowers, and Tom's family, on a trip to the wonderful island of Murano, Italy. It was an amazing day and I took tons of photos (477 to be precise). After the sail-in, where the ship glides through the middle of Venice (providing the most amazing views of everything), we left the ship and found our way to the direct to Murano waterbus. As we were arriving, Tom filled us in on some of the different glassblowers who live and work on the island, as well as some of the history of glassblowing. Once on the island, we went to the gate of Pino Signoretto's glass workshop, one of the best glassmakers on Murano. Tom and Ryan were giddy with excitement- Ryan was literally climbing the front gate (which was decorated with old glassblowing tools) and one of Pino's apprentices happened to walk between buildings. Tom gestured her over to the gate and after realizing that they knew some of the same people, she invited us inside and gave us a tour of the main glassmaking workshop. Pino was on vacation so we didn't get to meet him, but the tour WAS AMAZING! I hardly know anything about glassblowing and I loved it...I can't imagine the excitement that Tom and Ryan were feeling. It would probably be like if (and when) I go to a cymbal factory in Istanbul.
After leaving Pino's workshop, we walked to a famous toolmakers' shop and Tom and Ryan bought some new tools. The toolmaker was actually there so we got to meet him, but he only spoke Italian, which made things tough. Tom got a little face mold and Ryan got a large set of jacks (imagine huge tweezers, but check out the photos). We got a tour through the back of the toolmakers workshop as well. After that we just walked around and looked through many, many glass shops in Murano and received wonderful commentary on how everything was made. Whenever I look at artisan stuff like blown glass, I always wonder how stuff was made, and it was amazing to be able to ask right then and there. Rossana e Rossana is Tom's favorite goblet shop and for good reason. We checked out pretty much everything in that shop and Tom and Ryan pointed out little things that I never would have seen. After most of the shops closed we grabbed some pizza at a spot in Murano. I ordered a prosciutto pizza, which was amazing.
We left Murano and grabbed a waterbus to St. Marks square, but we had to go the long way around Venice, because the direct line had stopped running for the day. This turned out to be a blessing as we witnessed an incredible sunset over Venice and St. Marks as the waterbus moved around the east of Venice. We met up with some friends from the ship and hung out a bit more, then Tim and I went back to the ship. Anytime we have an overnight in Venice, the ship has a "Wine & Cheese" night on the helipad on Deck 6 forward. Needless to say, Bordeaux & brie were the perfect end to the day.
Written on days 39 and 41 from Kotor, Montenegro and Civitavecchia, Italy.
