Murano and Burano islands

On our second day in Venice, we opted to take an excursion with the cruise peeps to Murano and Burano islands. And thus began our days of being sticker-wearing, guide-following, lackey tourists. 

But the tour was cool.

Murano is an island a bit away from Venice's main island and they are famous for their glass blowing. You know, Murano glass. Yep, I hadn't ever hear of it. But David had, so perhaps you have too.

Waiting at the pier, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

On the boat to Murano.

 What was especially cool about the tour (besides seeing the islands) was the view of the main part of Venice in the bright morning light.

San Marco Square. That's the bell tower we were in the day before.

Murano

At one of the glass blowing factories we had a demonstration. That was awesome.

Walking around Murano.

 From Murano, we got back on the boat and headed to Burano. Burano is famous for its lace making, so we got a demonstration of that, too. Neat beans.
But the coolest part of Burano was the killer colors of the houses there. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

 And then we got on the ship and floated away. That was our first fancy night, so we took a picture of us in our duds with the sunset. Sadly (sarcasm) we did not ever stand in line to get one of the truly fancy pictures in front of the picturesque backdrops they had set up around the ship on fancy nights. There was a whole section of the ship devoted to touting and selling those photos and (interesting SYTYCD fact) Ryan and Ashley De Lillo are the face of Royal Caribbean's photo department.
But I think David and I should be. I mean, really.