Glass House

While taking in Venice for the first time all I could think was, “…not what I expected.”, but certainly not in a bad way. Being here now all I can express to be true is that no matter what you have heard, read, or seen, when you actually experience Venice it is much different then you expect. Some how it is better, more relaxing, more spectacular, and dare I say more romantic. I must say I like the Italians so far. They are friendly, helpful and genuinely seem glad to see us. Food, excellent. Museums, interesting. Prices, terrible. Culture, fun. Atmosphere, the best. Today we ended up at a Glass house where they blow Venetian glass. They make chandeliers, vases, and sculptures. As soon as we got there we were greeted by Alvaro, the manager. He was beyond nice and it didn’t take long to realize that he was smoozing us. After a while I began to think that he thought we were important, maybe famous, I don’t know. It was fun, well at least for a while. Out of no where, Alvaro began to try and sell us these glass chandeliers for around 6,000 euros (roughly 10,000 us dollars). When he realized that wasn’t working he offered us a vase for 4,000 euros. “one of one in the world”, Alvaro would say to drive home the sale. As if the uniqueness was somehow going to increase our bank account to the level we needed to afford these “one of one” pieces. His last ditch effort was to get us to by 2 teacups for 600 euros. After that he quickly pushed us out the door threw us in the boat and sent us away, literally. Still it was a fun experience and has added a great story to our time here in Venice. So to my friend, or rather old friend, here’s to you Alvaro, Grazie.