Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
My family decided to escape from the holiday bustle and decided to hole up in a house along the Columbia River. This is the first time since we moved from the Philippines that we spent Christmas away from Bellingham. It's a holiday venture that we have convinced my family to participate in, and it has turned out to be the best Christmas present we have given ourselves.
While Christmas shopping, I found an ornament that brought memories of our summertime adventures in Venice. I have been meaning to share with you my personal top Venice moments. So here they finally are!
A year ago, Typhoon Haiyan ravaged parts of the Philippines including my hometown of Bogo. It took s few days to get news about my family's safety, especially my brother (Dennis), his family, and my sister (Geraldine).
With the help of generous friends and family here in the US, I was able to send some relief in the form of cash, clothing, blankets, sleeping bags, towels, batteries, etc. And I want to take the opportunity, even a year later, to remember and thank all the kind souls in my life who donated to help the people I love affected by this disaster.
After a fascinating time in Murano checking out its glass shops and museum, Stuart and I took vaporetto #12 again and continued on to Isola di Burano. For what glass is to Murano, is lace to Burano. While we appreciate the intricacy and craftsmanship of lacemaking using needles, we weren't interested in acquiring a pieces to take back home with us. We felt it just wasn't suited to our taste/style.
The real reason why we wanted to visit this little island of approximately 3,000 is for their famed colorful houses. There is actually a specific set of rules that residents must follow when it comes to painting their houses. When a resident wants to paint their abode, they make an official request with the local government, which in return, will tell the resident the choices of acceptable colors for their particular house lot. What do you all think about these rules?
Murano's claim to fame is being the historical location of the Venetian glassmaking industry. Artisans from around Europe started setting up shop in Venice around the turn of the last millenium, but in 1291 the Venetian government required all glassmakers to relocate to the island of Murano. They feared that an accident at one of the foundries could set the city on fire, so everything was moved to isolate the damage in the event of such an incident.
For a city built on wood pilings in the middle of a lagoon, exploring Venice presents a unique experience unlike any other places we have been to. When visiting Europe, we always look forward to the much better public transportation options and actually enjoy not having a car. The metro and tram systems are convenient and easy to use. The buses (especially the ones in Germany) are much classier and cleaner than King County's Metro buses. We are no strangers to using rail-based or wheeled public transportation to travel around. But only in Venice have we experienced that the majority of transport options all came in different sizes and forms of boats. There were absolutely no cars!
