Hi all.  Janice here.  I know you have been waiting with a worm on your tongue (baited breath) for the next blog installment so here goes.  When last we blogged we were in Venice.  For our 3rd day there we took a vaporetto (water bus) to the island of Murano which is famous for making fine works of glass. We watched a glass blowing demonstration and then toured a showroom.  Sharon bought a couple of jewellery items but most of the glass would have involved arranging loans from the bank or mortgaging your house.  They were beautiful though. After wandering around the island a bit we took another vaporetto to the island of Burano which is famous for its lace, needlework.  We preferred this island over Murano.  All the houses are painted a variety of bright colours.  There are canals just like on Venice.  After some gelatto and coffee we took the vaporetto back to Venice and walked back to our apartment. Later that evening we found a nice restaurant for dinner.
We left Venice early on Saturday, Sept 29th.  We drove over the Italian Alps, through small towns and windy roads, made a couple of stops and arrived in Greve in Chianti, Itlay about 4PM.  We did not have an address for the apartment we were going to stay in, just a telephone number.  We managed to find a public phone in the town square and, with the help of a girl who had just been using the phone, Ed talked to Simone and he said he would come and meet us in one minute.  We were just about to call again when he arrived.  He took us in his car to where our car was parked and we then followed him to the apartment.  It was way up a mountain on a narrow windy road.  After 6km we arrived in a very small family village in a vineyard.  The apartment was very nice.  Living room with a huge window and the most spectacular view of the valley with vineyards and olive trees. Nice Tuscan style kitchen, a patio overlooking the valley and a bedroom all on the first floor.  There was another bedroom and a bathroom upstairs.  The view from the bathroom windows was just as spectacular.  Simone gave us a bottle of wine and a botte of olive oil from his vineyard.  After, we had some bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and cheese and wine, of course, on the patio overlooking this magnificent valley, Ed and I made a pasta.  We left Sharon and Lori drinking.  There was a spectacular thunder and lightning storm that night.  Ed and Sharon watched it from the living room window.
I will send some photos of Venice and our apartment shortly. Remember we love to get comments on our blog.


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