End Relaxing in Burano, Start with a run to the Doge's Palace

Thanks to me reading the map really wrong, the day literally started at a dead sprint to get to the Doge's Palace as close as we could to on time for our tour.  One would think that if this was your second trip to Venice, finding the Palace would be a piece of cake...especially since it is right in the heart of St. Mark's Square.  Needless to say, Jamie was not very happy with me that morning.

If there is a plus to being lost, it is that you just may find something you were not expecting.  During our crusade to get to St. Mark's Square, we stumbled by some Venice back alleys, fish markets and the well known Carnival Mask maker, Ca'Macana.  Ca'Macana is the oldest and most known mask makers.  Their masks made up a large section of the Stanley Kubrik movic, Eyes Wide Shut.

We participated in the Secrets of the Dodge tour.  With this tour we were able to see a lot of the hidden areas of the palace.  The palace was not only home to the Dodge himself, but also the home for the governing body to meet and make the rules for Venice.

Walking along one of the courtyard walls, you find this friendly fellow on the wall.  His mouth is actually a slot for the people of Venice to air their grievances about their neighbors, the government and the city. They would submit their issues through his mouth and the government would review them on a regular basis and determine the outcomes.

We finally made it to the Dodge's Palace!  Also known as Palazzo Ducale.  It has been in existence since the 1400s.  

Going through the palace,there was definitely a theme.  It was dark wood and very LARGE scale.  Whether is be a fire place, a table or the paintings on the ceilings, it was big, heavy and very opulent.

You can't tour the palace and not take part in a tour of the most famous area, the Bridge of Sighs
and the prison cells the walk way leads to.  Millions of tourist stand out side taking pictures.
Only on this tour, could you actually walk the same path inside and view how it would look to a
person taking the walk back in the 1400s.

Jamie taking his last look out the Bridge of
Sighs window.

Walking through the prison area, you actually were able to go into one
of the cells.  The cells still had the markings prisoners placed on
the cell walls 

Here is the view most people see of the Bridge of Sighs.... 

Some of the cells had small iron bar windows... these must have been for the
good prisoners.

We made it out of the prisons and took some time to enjoy the beauty of
St. Mark's and the palace.

Tari and Duane outside the main stair case of the palace.

I can't really explain why, but for some reason, this
statue has always been one of my favorites

Me and my two of my favorite Venetians 

Singing in the Sun!  The lamp posts were just calling for one of us to steal a scene from Singing in the Rain  Duane of course was up for the challenge.

Time to walk the streets of Venice again, you never know what you are going to find
You may see pretty canal ways, busy, barges, or in the case of some graffiti, an R2-D2.

Time for Lunch!  Our afternoon plan was to hop on the Vaporertto (water taxi) and make our way
to the islands of Murano and Burano.  But before that, we had to stop for a quick bite to eat.

Sometimes a girl just needs some regular old pasta and red sauce!

Duane was feeling more adventurous then the rest of us as he ordered the pasta with squid ink.
I really wanted to show the picture of him after eating it,but had to swear his blackened teeth would not show up on any social media formats.

It really does turn your teeth black!

The path to Burano goes through the island of Murano.  Since we have to switch Vaparettos anyways, it is a nice time to take in some of the local talent on the island of Murano.  If the name Murano sounds familar, it should.  Murano is the island known for glass blowning.  There are several places you can pop in and watch a master at work.

Finally made it to our goal of the afternoon!  The island of Burano!  Burano is a must do for dinner at the famous restaurant, Da Romano.  Per Anthony Bordain it has the world's best and most authentic risotto.  We went there on our first trip to Italy back in 2011, but Duane and Tari were not on that trip, so of course we had to go back!

The island itself is pretty small, but almost too cute for words.  It has a slightly leaning bell tower, and all the buildings are painted various bright colors.

We got to Burano a little earlier than the reservation we had for Da Ramno, so we took a little time to have some wine (because we obviously had not had enough so far this trip) and people watch.

And there she is... DA RAMANO.  Time to eat!

Not sure why Jamie and I are looking at the menu... Risotto is the main reason for being here.

Duane, Tari, and I are all smiles now that the risotto is on the table.

For as talked about as this risotto is, you would expect it to be full of shrimp, lobster, etc.  That is not the case.  This risotto gets all of  it's flavor from boiling go fish very gently to create a stock the risotto is then cooked in,

Yep, more wine with dinner.

After dinner we did a leisurely stroll back to the vaparetto to make our way back to Venice.  After a very hectic and stressful morning, this was a perfect way to end the day.

We were all smiles on the way back to Venice!

Go to 6/3/15