Tag: Murano glass

Skol! Our Trip to Scandinavia Day #7 “Happy Birthday King Frederik X, Good Bye Copenhagen and Hello Oslo”

by reissmd, posted in Uncategorized

Today is May 26, 2025 and it’s the birthday of King Frederik X, the King of Denmark.  Prior to this trip I didn’t know we would be in Copenhagen on his birthday.  Actually before this trip I didn’t know that Denmark had a king let alone, who he was or that today is his birthday.  Apparently he is a very emotional guy.  We saw a video of when he was being introduced as the King following the abdication of his mother Queen Margrethe II. In the video you can see he gets teary eyed.  Obviously my kind of guy. 

Patrice here: For those of you who don’t know Robert, he cries at Disney movies. All you have to do is have him watch Kevin Costner’s character in Field of Dreams playing catch with his dad, and Robert will lose  it.  You don’t even need to include the dialogue.  

Enough about the King.  After breakfast this morning we had some free time to do some more sightseeing then it was off to the airport for our flight to Oslo.  Everything went smoothly at the airport once I realized that I was trying to use my boarding pass for my flight to Stockholm rather than the one for today’s flight.  How embarrassing.  But at least I gave the security guard a good story to share with his wife when he gets home.  

We had a quick bite to eat at the airport.  It was surprisingly good and looked very appealing.  See what you think?  See below. 

Airport food? Really? Shrimp and eggs on the left and Plaice on the right

The flight to Oslo was short and sweet.  Our bags were driven to Oslo early this morning so we didn’t need to wait for them at the airport and they were in our room when we arrived.  Nice going Tauck 

The hotel looks fantastic.  Well if you think Murano Glass chandeliers are nice (I DO!).  Check it out.

Murano glass chandelier in the dining room.

We then had a brief walking tour of the downtown area.  For some reason I really liked this tour.  Our guide told us some very interesting information rather than filling us with details that I didn’t care about.  One thing she told us that was both interesting and sad was they have these very large planters on the city’s main walkway.  The reason for the planters is only partly for decoration.  The main reason they are there is to prevent some nut driving into the many people who walk there. 

This planters are placed so as to impede a car driven by someone attempting to do harm.

We saw a bunch of other things of interest. Here are some.

Statue honoring women who have had breast cancer and telling them they still look beautiful with only one or no breasts.
The Nobel Peace Center. This is the site of the offices of the Nobel Peace prize. It houses lots of information about the various past winners. The prize ceremony is at city hall in Oslo and the prize laureate stays at the Grand Hotel while awaiting festivities.
Pay toilets given by France in 2005 to honor Norway’s 100th anniversary of independence from Sweden.

Wouldn’t you have loved to have been in on that discussion? “So what should we give Norway to honor their 100th anniversary of independence?” “Well we gave the USA the Statue of Liberty.” “Yes, but we were a little late on that (given 1886) so had to make it special, we don’t have to go that big.” “What do you say about giving them some Red, White, and Blue toilets? And let’s make them pay toilets so they can make a few bucks.” “Great idea, let’s make sure we are on time with this one”

Sorry, but can I add just one more photo?

I have no idea who either of these people are but I just love seeing a bird atop a statue’s head.

After the tour, we then went to dinner at the hotel restaurant.  They were not very busy but they took forever to get us our food. Our meal was spectacular but I think their strategy was to take so long to bring us the food we would think a Big Mac was fine dining.  It took about 90 minutes to bring out the main course.  Is that acceptable?  Our 7 pm meal didn’t finish until 10 pm.  Don’t these people realize I have a blog to write?

Tomorrow is our main day of touring Oslo.  Good news, they were wrong when they predicted 100% chance of rain tomorrow.  The most recent forecast states the chance for rain tomorrow is only 95%.  

Hopefully we will have good news for you tomorrow.  

Croatia, etc. Day #13 “Magical Day in Venice and Goodbyes”

by reissmd, posted in Venice, Italy

We left Rovinj at a reasonable time and took the long bus ride to Venice.  Of course we could only take the bus part way.  The last part of the trip was via water taxi. 

Patrice and Me on the Water Taxi zipping along from the bus drop off area to our hotel

We met our other tour members and our city guides in the hotel lobby, had some appetizers and then headed out on our tour of the Doge’s Palace. Patrice insisted we visited this place when we were in Venice in October of 2022. Unfortunately I had no memory of going inside. A check of my blog posts failed to show any mention of the palace so it looks like I was right for a change. Patrice had been to Venice once without me so she must have confused the two trips (Patrice here: I remember enjoying my visit of the Doge’s palace so Robert definitely wasn’t on that trip).

The palace was okay but I was tired, hot, and my back was aching so this was not a highlight for me. Here are a couple of things I did like. Statues of Hercules and Atlas.

Hercules
Atlas.

I think those muscular bodies reminded me of myself when I look in the mirror each morning. (Patrice here again. Did Robert mention he has cataracts?)

After the palace, Gabby took us to a local Murano glass blowing shop. There we saw an amazing demonstration of how these objects are made. Below is a link to a video of what we saw.

They showed us all sorts of beautiful works of art they have for sale. We decided not to buy the serving tray, decanter, and set of glasses for 1,800 Euros in spite of it being discounted down from 2,800 Euros. It was a close call. Patrice elbowed me and said, “Let’s get it”. My intestines started to roar, my heart began to race, and my pores began to pour out sweat. But then I was saved by one of our fellow travelers asking, “Can you put them in a dishwasher?” With the answer being, “No, do not put these items in a dishwasher”, Patrice said, “Forget it” and I could breathe again.

We headed back to the hotel to rest up for dinner and that is when I really began to sweat. I had given my fellow travelers the big build up and now it was time to perform my magic trick. Patrice videoed the event and although I won’t be making anyone forget David Copperfield or Doug Henning, I do think things went pretty well. Check out the video and let me know what you think.

Shortly after this we said goodbye to our 20 new friends and hopefully we will see them again very soon.

Time for me to say goodnight to my followers. Believe it or not we leave for the airport via water taxi at 3:40 AM.

Europe 2022 day #9. “Oops, I Was Wrong?” Venice, Italy 10/15/2022

by reissmd, posted in Italy, Venice, Italy

When I left you yesterday we were on our way to the opera.  Well, at least I thought we were.  Turns out that last night we went to the Chiesa Della Pieta, also referred to as the “Vivaldi Church” to hear a string ensemble play Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”.  They also played pieces by Handel and Bach.  For an encore, we were treated to “Recomposed: by Max Richter, Vivaldi – The Four Seasons”.   The group was excellent.  Patrice spoke to one of the musicians after the performance and found out that the group was part of a 40-piece orchestra the musicians rotate playing at the venue.  This was a real treat.  Interesting to me was that just like at La Scala in Milan, the musicians did not talk to the audience before, during, or after the performance.  

Video of the Vivaldi church prior to the concert:

Vivaldi church. All seats are the same price. We just got lucky.

Video of ensemble playing “Recomposed by Max Richter”.  I hope this doesn’t break any copyright rule and bring down my site.

Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi The Four Seasons.

After the brief concert (a little over one hour) we went to dinner at Vecia Cavana (Via Tera Santi Apostoli, 4624, 30121 Venezia VE).  We have been using Google Maps to get around and when I put in the restaurant as the destination it gave me two estimates, 17 minutes by car (no cars in Venice) or 16 by foot.  For obvious reasons, we decided to walk.  We could only get a late reservation and since the concert was very short we arrived very early.  I spoke to the maître d’ and said we were a little early (about 40 minutes to be more precise).  He said we would have to wait, about 5 or 10 minutes.  That was great and he asked us to sit outside and that he would send out an “aperitif”.  Moments later a server came out with two glasses with a pinkish liquid.  Patrice asked what they were and he said, “It’s a secret” but finally fessed up that they were grapefruit juice and ginger.  They were delicious and really made us feel wanted by the staff (who doesn’t want to feel wanted?).  A few minutes later we were escorted to our table.  The server explained that Vecia means old and Cavana is a place to store a boat.  The restaurant is located at the site of a 16th-century boathouse, thus the name. 

At Vecia Cavana in Venice. Notice two things. The lovely aperitifs sent by the maitre d’ and my reflection in the mirror. I took (and deleted) a photo with me a little further back showing a profile shot I would prefer. to ignore.

We had an excellent meal and really enjoyed the restaurant’s piano player. At one point he started playing “Here Comes the Bride” and they brought out a cake with the number 50 because a couple from Texas was celebrating their 50th anniversary that night.  They told us that they were on an anniversary celebration trip lasting the entire month of October and would be meeting their 5 children at the end of the trip in Rome.  

We are not far behind them.

Today we had a free day and my tour guide, and wife outdid the professionals.  First, we went to the Peggy Guggenheim museum.  It was small but very impressive.  There were a lot of Picassos, Magrittes, and other famous artists’ works.  Max Ernst has a number of pieces and we found out he was married to Peggy Guggenheim from 1942-1946. He also had three other wives spanning from 1918 (when he was 27) until his death in 1978. According to Wikipedia, there was not one year during that time that he didn’t have a wife. I guess he hated having just cereal in the morning.

From there we took the water bus to San Giorgio island where we toured the Basilica Di San Giorgio Maggiore.  They had a temporary exhibit beyond belief. It was a huge Murano glass sculpture by artist Ai Wei Wei from China.  It’s made of over 2,000 pieces of handcrafted Murano black glass.  It is six meters wide and nine meters high.  It is the largest hanging sculpture made of Murano glass in the world. Please look at these pictures and keep in mind it is all glass.  

Wei Wei’s Murano glass sculpture
Close-up view of part of the same piece.

In addition to the atrium glass masterpiece, there were a series of Lego sculptures in the hallway, depicting the various Chinese Zodiac signs. These specialties were also made by Wei Wei.  

The Rooster
2022 is the year of the Tiger. Sorry, this looks more like a Bear to me.

After that, we paid to go to the top of the Campanile Tower and we were treated to marvelous views from the tower.  If you look at this video you will see a number of boats in the Grand Canal.  Apparently, there is a regatta tomorrow and these boats will be participating.  You will be able to tell (if your sound is turned on) when it is 2:30 because you will hear the bell and see the picture wobble as I almost dropped my camera (and became temporarily deaf).

Now it is off to the opera.  Hmmm, I just had a deja vu moment.   

We leave Venice tomorrow so I am not sure when I will post next.  Tomorrow is a very special day because we will be seeing the most important person on our trip.  More about that tomorrow.

Ciao

Europe 2022 day #9. “A Three Island Tour”  Murano, Burano, Torcello, Italy 10/14/2022

by reissmd, posted in Burano, Italy, Murano, Italy, Torcello, Italy

After another amazing breakfast, we were greeted by our guide, Daria, for a 3 island tour. Venice is made up of over 100 islands (we have been told 117, 118, 120, and 123, so I can’t guarantee which number is correct). Today we visited 3 of them (I can guarantee you that number is accurate), Murano, Burano, and Torcello.

We first ventured via water taxi to Murano, an island inhabited by about 5,000 people. It is known for its world-famous glass-blowing. We were shown around one of the factories (I should really say art studio) by Piero who gives the tours, sells the items, and also makes the artwork. He told us that he learned the process from his grandfather who was a very famous glassmaker. We got to see the artisans in action and it was very impressive. Piero showed us the family tree of one of the sculptors that showed his ancestors were blowing glass since the 1400s. He has no children so after 600 years of glassblowing his family will no longer practice this art.

Piero explained the various steps that are involved in making each piece. One of the artists brought over a piece he had just placed down to cool and Piero warned us not to touch it. He then put some common newspaper on it and watch this 8-second video to see what happened. Yikes! I am so glad I listed to Piero. https://youtube.com/shorts/-iwn1LCJWgw

We were next escorted to the showroom to look at possible pieces for purchase. Patrice picked out one piece that she liked and Piero went to check the price. He told us there would be no taxes and that the piece would be shipped for free. The vase Patrice picked out was priced at 2,400 Euros. I am happy to report that I didn’t hit my head when I fainted. When revived Patrice said, “I didn’t buy it, I didn’t buy it!” At that point, my heart rate and respiratory rate returned to normal, and I was able to continue the tour. I did like a picture frame that I saw just prior to exiting. It was priced at 120 Euros. Do you think that is reasonable? See below.

120 Euros for this? I don’t even know that woman!

After Murano, we got back on the water taxi and traveled to the nearby island of Burano. This island is home to about 3,000 people and is very picturesque, It is most famous for its colorful houses. See below.

Typical scene in Burano.
Another Burano home with a very handsome couple in front.

There are a variety of shops on the island and our guide took us to one where they did exquisite needlework. Apparently, this is a dying art since most of the young people do not want to learn the craft of making lace. We were told that some of the stitches used are only known by one person so when she dies that stitch will no longer be done. Of course, if no one is learning the techniques this method of making lace will soon be gone forever. These pieces are so precious that they are no longer used as placemats, tablecloths, collars, and doilies because of the amount of time needed to make them. We were told that a bedspread would take ten years to be made. Instead, the items are framed like a piece of art (which they are). See below.

Handmade stitchwork from Burano, Italy.
It seems as if one of the artists didn’t get the message that this is a Catholic country.

I also noted a tower in Burano that might interest you. See below.

Another leaning tower. I think a structural engineer is needed in this country.

From Burano, we headed to our final destination, the island of Torcello. According to our guide, Daria, this island is populated by 11 people (all farmers). All the people working at the shops and stands live elsewhere and travel to the island each day to work. They might only have 11 full-time inhabitants but of course, they have a church. See below a picture of the church with a sign in front.

If I understand the sign correctly, this church specializes in low back pain.

Tonight we are going to see a performance of La Traviata by Giuseppe Verde. I have never been to an opera. Well, I did see Porgy and Bess, does that count? Of course, the libretto (big word, are you impressed?) will all be in Italian so I am guessing I might get a good nap.

Take care and speak to you tomorrow.

Ciao