Murano and Burano . . .

From Venice we caught a water taxi out to the islands of Murano and Burano.  Two colourful islands, Murano for its glass and Burano for its painted houses.  It was fabulous to see some colour through all the grey fog.  Unbelievably we left Murano having bought no glass for ourselves - the girls bought a little something for their friends.  But we had a ball walking through the streets spotting all the different ways the locals had used the coloured glass - from bright blue glass embedded in the tops of walls to deter pigeons, to the lovely street lights hanging outside houses.  We also stumbled across different glass sculptures dotted throughout the streets.  Shop after shop of coloured glass left us a bit dazed and it all started to look the same (and a bit tacky).  By the time we got to Burano we were all a little chilled and a little weary so we jumped off the water taxi and ran around the island snapping photos of the coloured houses and keeping warm.  20 mins later we were back on the next departing water taxi headed back to Venice.

The pretty little island town of Murano.

The girls and I had so much fun collecting little bits of broken glass
from out of the cracks in the pavement.  Who needs to buy expensive souveniours?

This glass sculpture was huge and really impressive.

Even the house windows were special.

This giant sculpture looked like a huge protea flower - stunning.

A glass blower wall plaque we found on the side of a house - made of mini glass tiles naturally.

A glass flower garden sitting on the corner of a street.

The coloured houses of Burano.
Amazing reflections.

The washing seemed to be colour coded to the houses.

Even the girls blended in.

 

Venice through the Lens . . .

On our way to Venice we hit a Hore Frost.
The enitre scene outside of the van was snap frozen.
An absolutely beautiful thing to witness, but a little scary to be driving through,
unsure whether the roads were frozen or not Glenn just followed the big trucks in front of us.

The entire week we spent in Venice we were shrouded in a thick fog.
It was eerie, magical and freezing cold.

Even the cobwebs were snap frozen.

The very first bridge we came across.
It's steps had been salted because of the ice.  We came across this
throughout Venice.

Only a couple of days before Christmas and the locals were
rugged up and out shopping at all the market stalls dotted
throughout the city.

Even the stall holders wore fur hats.  Only in Italy!

The girls loved the different Venitian masks.

A fur hat stall we stumbled across.
Each hat was about 30euros, real fur, and a popular accessory.

The grand canal through the fog.

San Marco Piazza

Jumping for joy in San Marco Piazza - or just trying to keep warm!

The Bridge of Sighs.

Walking along Venice's famous waterfront with it's pink street lights and local artists.

Living in Venice the kids play soccer in the streets.
We didn't see a blade of grass throughout the whole city.

We love the Italian doggy designer style.

Finding our angelic side outside the Leonardo Museum.

These kids were watching Mum and Dad Christmas shopping
through the toy shop window.

This man was hand making exquisite little Christmas trees
using real fir tree branches.

A Sheers family picnic in Venice.

The water taxi we took across to Venice everyday from our camp
at Fusina.

Looking back to Fusina.

Putting up our Christmas tree in Swifty.

The girls with thier Christmas booty - lots of art stuff and chocolate.

Taashi and Tilly made alot of our decorations this year -
best Christmas tree ever.

The girls favourite presents - warm comfy slippers.