Our day started off with a trip to one of Venice's islands, Murano. Murano is famous for it's glass blowing factories, and the SOGO group got a tour of one factories facilities. Our tour began with a demonstration of how these artists create the amazing work they do. The artist dips a rod into a vat of molten glass and then shapes the glass by rolling the glass on a table, blowing into the glass and using tongs to stretch and mold the glass. Our artist was able to create a glass horse in less than a minute. It was very cool to see and amazing that he was able to do that in such a short amount of time. I feel it important to note that the temperature in the factory the artist was working was very high. Well over one hundred degrees. Our next part of the tour was air conditioned, luck for us, and was a display of the wonderful glass work the artists on the island do. We saw everything from glass chandeliers to miniature cats. Every single item that was displayed was extraordinary and it's mind boggling to think that someone can make something like that out of glass. Here's a picture of a glass blown horse made in Murano.
After our glass blowing adventure, we were taken to the island of San Michele. This island houses a monastery turned cemetery and is home the tombs of famous composer Igor Stravinsky and poet Ezra Pound. It was interesting to compare the graves of Catholics to Protestant graves to Greek Orthodox graves.
After the cemetery, the group split and everyone followed their own paths of interest. Some went to Venice and explored the museums, some went to the beach and swam in the Adriatic Sea, and some just napped. Everyone is looking forward to day three when we leave Venice and travel through Florence to spend the night in Montecatini.
Favorite Quote of the Day: Italian Waitress says to Andrew Stutzman: "You need a nice Italian girl to get yourself a bigger appetite."
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