July 8 – Venice, a Walking Tour and Mask Making

We had a lazy morning and slept in until about 7:30 and had breakfast in the apartment.

We showed up in plenty of time for our Walking Tour of Venice for Kids and Families but no guide.  We finally asked another guide there as to whether or not we were in the right location.  We were…turned out she was our tour guide but she had not been given our names.  Good thing we asked.

This was a great tour for kids.  There were games and contests and quizzes and the five kids (four boys and Chloe) were very engaged.  And lots of information about Venice so even the adults learned things.  And the tour went to places other than the normal tourist spots, so did not overlap with our later tour. 

 We saw the vegetable and fruit market…

and fish market…

One of the games for the kids was to spot as many winged Lions as they could (a bronze Winged Lion is the symbol of Venice).

Walked along more canals…

Everyone had some gelato.  And we visited the Libreria Acqua Alta (Library of High Water), a gigantic, musty, eccentric book shop that some travel sites call the most interesting bookstore in the world.  Many of the books are “shelved in bathtubs and boats.  The holes in the tubs were sealed and the boats would float… so the books stay dry when the store floods due to high water…which apparently happens with some regularity.  

They also had stairs made of books that could be climbed.

The kids were all very attentive and engaged.  And at the end of the tour the guide gave them all a mask.

After a late lunch we headed out to find our mask making laboratory.  It was a small shop on a square (Georgio Galasso, San Marco 596).  The mask maker had been making masks for 40 years and most of the masks in the shop were made by him or members of his family.  They definitely looked more interesting and more beautiful than the mass produced masks at all of the souvenir shops. 

Chloe and Mary made masks, starting with a blank mask.

  

Both ended up using black and gold but Chloe added a bit of bright blue to hers.  

  

Then our mask maker added glitter designs to the masks.  We all decided they looked really good.  And both ended up with glitter all over us. One of the highlights of the trip so far.

We ended today’s sightseeing at St. Mark’s Square, along with a sizable number of tourists.