Who's ready for some mask making?!? Andiamo!
Our next destination was the mask-making shop. We were done with the whisper devices, but a couple of the junior adventurers got the mic from the guides and gave us their own tour of the city. It was pretty entertaining.
The main sight on the way was the Rialto Bridge. It is a beautiful bridge with some great views.
Our other walk-by was the seafood market. Yummy!
I also took the time to window shop, get some mask ideas, and admire the beautiful pieces of glass.
The mask making activity is one that I think a lot of people arent sure about prior to completing it. I had heard from a few sources that although you might think to skip mask making, it is a really cool activity, and not to skip it.
We arrived at the mask store where they gave us some background on how they made the masks and the different types available. Masks have been a part of Venetian culture since the Venetian Carnival, which takes place around Ash Wednesday every year. The origins of the masks are unknown, but it is thought they allowed people of all social stature to co-mingle and encouraged people to act their real selves without fear of being found out.
They let us look around the shop if we wanted and then we were led to the back work room where they had a bunch of masks laid out for us to choose from.
We were told that if we wanted our masks to be silver or gold they would do that for us and then we could decorate from there.
Otherwise you told them which colors you wanted and they mixed it up for you. Along with small cups of paint we were able to use puff-esque paint to make more intricate designs.
Once we were done with the initial designs we brought them to the master mask maker to embellish and finish off the masks with feathers or ribbon or other. It was otherwise known as the glitter magic. Most of us were hopeful that the master mask makers could save our masks with said glitter magic!!!
They had hair dryers to help dry the masks...or hair, depending on who had a old of the dryer! Once we were done with our masks we had the afternoon to ourselves.
We spent the afternoon just sort of wandering around the city. We werent looking for anything in particular, nor did we do any specific activities. For lunch we just grabbed some pizza, but it was not something I would necessarily recommend. It just sort of filled our bellies.
We did stop at one of the cafe's on St. Marks square. Sometimes I have trouble with the tourist trap mentality and although I know it's an iconic thing to sit in one of the cafe's overlooking the square I did feel somewhat conflicted. At the same time, I did enjoy the experience. We got this gelato thing that was okay.
Mid-afternoon we had the opportunity to visit a Murano studio on St. Marks Square. The actual demonstration was pretty quick, but cool to see the hot glass turned into an actual piece of art.
We also got a tour of the Murano store. There was a lot of stuff in there I could have bought...unfortunately none of it was in my price range! Some of the pieces we saw were incredible. Apparently, the red glass is the most expensive because of the chemical they use to color it. Of course, red is my favorite color (another check on the I have expensive taste list).
We left the main island about 4:00 to give us enough time to clean up a little and get ready for the evening festivities, which were to begin at 6:30.
On our way in the Disney Magic was passing through on its way out of port. It went right by us on the shuttle back to the hotel! The day before must have been an embarkation day and today a departure because most people were on deck for what looked like the departure party. It was neat to see it going by up close!
Up next, the Farewell Dinner!