Dark and early in the morning, some of us Italy Fish once again chose to take advantage of seeing the beautiful Italian sunrise. We went to the beach on Lido to watch the sun ascend above the horizon accompanied by a million shades of pink and red. Subsequently, a select few of these people elected to try to see the cemetery island, which is supposed to be impressive, but the dead could not be disturbed before 7:30 AM as that is when the cemetery opened. As a result, the group was stranded by the dock for a while as they awaited the next boat.
After the rest of the group woke up, all of the us met up at the Vaporetto station where we said our sad goodbyes to the group from Qatar. This was a glimpse of the waterworks to come at the end of the trip.
We then took the Vaporetto to Murano, another major island in Venice. Murano is famous for its glass, so we took this opportunity to visit Museo al Vetro—the glass museum. After perusing the amazing glassworks, we split up to go shopping and get lunch. Murano seemed to have more glass shops than restaurants, so many of us shopped there and then returned to Lido for lunch.
In our waning hours of free time in Venice, many of us decided to go to the beach, enjoying the great Adriatic Sea. The sky, the sand, the shells, and the crabs all entertained us until we had to meet for dinner where the beach-goers met up with those of us who rested at the hotel. We ate at Ristorante Isola d’Oro on an outdoor patio overlooking the stunning lagoon of Venice. As it was Evelyn’s birthday, we sang happy birthday to her over tiramisu, but not before several of us had to depart to the main island of Venice to attend a concert featuring Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.” A marvelous production, the concert consisted of musicians dressed up in period attire as they played the legendary music. On our way back, we stopped by the Rialto Bridge to relish the view of Venice at night one last time.
Upon returning, the concert group met up with everyone else for one last gelato night. We then returned to the hotel to pack and spend our last night together. Heath read his version of Goodnight Moon one final time and made us all reflect on the transformative time we have had on this trip.
We know that we are all going to miss spending time with each other 24/7, but we will always cherish the strong friendships we have formed. These friendships will surely withstand time, even as we depart Italy early (very early) tomorrow morning.
We are looking forward to seeing our loved ones very soon!
Goodbye Italy,
Leah and Matthew
