Cruising the Mediterranean

August 15 - 24, 2003

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Our day of departure from the cruise was also Will's birthday. So, to celebrate, we had a cake and a round of "Happy Birthday to you" at dinner the night before.

So, how did you spend your 11th birthday? Will spent his touring Murano and Venice with his family. Although I'm sure he would have rather had a party back in Colorado with his friends, he was a good sport and didn't suffer much. Because it was his birthday, we let him choose what he wanted to do. He decided that we should visit Murano, which is a separate island from Venice where glass is made. Our flight wasn't until 8:50 p.m., so we were able to spend the better part of the day seeing the sites.

We signed up with the cruise ship for the excursion to Murano, which means we were able to go straight to Murano by way of water taxi, without dealing with our baggage until after we were finished for the day. At Murano we saw a glass blower at work, and then looked at the kinds of glass that are made there. It was very artistic, with many different styles of glass, but we weren't in the market for anything more than souvenirs.

After our visit to the glass factory, we had a snack along the canal and wandered the island. Murano is very quiet and peaceful. Ellen enjoyed the water fountain (below on the right). We met a nice couple from New Jersey and chatted.

From Murano we took a water taxi back to the port to gather our baggage. Then we took a bus shuttle into Venice and checked our bags at a luggage storage place by the bus stop. From there we found a late lunch at a nice Italian restaurant right on a canal. We spent our last hours sitting in a park watching the birds, and strolling Venice.

All in all, the cruise was a lot of fun and we got to see a lot of really wonderful places that we would like to go back to someday. I would have liked a more relaxing vacation, but whining about having to cruise Greece doesn't go far with most people! So, we'd all have say that we had a great time and were thrilled to get to see so many incredible places.

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