We’re staying at Ca ‘Sagredo, a beautiful hotel that was once a private villa. It was built in the early 1400’s, before Columbus ever touched American soil.  Each morning we climb a lovely staircase to go to breakfast and at the bottom of the stairs are two statutes. This is one of them – just a little decoration. You can see a tiny bit of the Venetian glass chandelier which hangs from the huge room at the top of the stair

We took a water taxi to the island of Murano, for a private tour of some glass blowing facilities and glass artist galleries. We arrived around 9:30 in the morning and Murano was wonderfully quiet. 

We saw the work of Lino Tagliapietra, who is almost 82 and was named a master glassblower in 1950, when he was

There is a restaurant on the back of our hotel and it faces the Grand Canal. This is the view when you look to the left. I took this late in the day yesterday, one of my favorite times to shoot photos because the sun isn’t so strong and doesn’t wash out all of the colors.

Another photo taken late in the day. There’s something so peaceful looking about this boat, its color, and the color of the water. Even the window shades seem to pick up a hint of that blue-green.

We had dinner at a restaurant with a rooftop bar. I was mesmerized by the scenery up there, wishing I had wings (like a few of the pigeons we saw) so I could soar above the city and see every last thing.