Murano (part 2)

 Allison shared a little of our day in Murano, the glass blowing island, but there are loads of more pictures to share. (Watch out there are a lot here!) Here is a cool church Santi Maria e Donato

 The kids loved the Mosaic floors.

 I loved all the brick walls and buildings.

 One of the blown glass structures in town.

 we are always on a search for the different kinds of boats.  Today we found the UPS.

 David found the local Boy Scout Office.

 Shops selling Murano glass.

 We all enjoyed watching and learning how they blow and make the amazing glass statues and shapes.

 They use these forms to help shape the hot glass before blowing them into vases,pitchers or parts of light fixtures. 

 

Bridget may just become a glass blower.

 Amazing light fixtures!

Waiting for the boat back

Exploring Venice

 We found this amazing book store.  It had books in gondolas, chairs on the canal,

 and stairs made of books! For my little book lovers, it was amazing!

 After a hard week of school, the kids enjoyed creating their own magnum ice cream bars.

Beach

 Living on Lido we are minutes from the beach.  On sunny days we try to get out and walk along the beach, collect sea shells and play in the sand. 

Parks in fall

 We go to lots of parks.  I learned how to do the little hoops all by myself.  

On the way home one day, we saw some leaves and sat in them.

 It was very fun! We also threw them up in the air.  That was also very fun.

 I loved it!

 Chris knows how to climb on the ropes. 

 We found a swing we can all fit on. 

I like Italy!

By Bridget Deskins

Going to Church

 We have had quite the adventure getting to church each Sunday.  Church is on the main land so we have to take a boat from our island to the bus or tram station, a bus to the main land. The first week we were here there was a huge marathon across the only bridge to Mestre.  Certain forms of transportation were shut down and bus routes were changed.  We left on an early vaporetto (bus boat) to the main bus station in Venice.  We found a bus we thought would take us to the right place...well, it stopped close to the center of Mestre. We couldn't figure out if any other buses would be coming, so we walked for 2.7 km (glad it wasn't raining!)

 

When we finally saw this sign, we were exhausted and ecstatic. We were only 45 minutes late.

 We were ushered in to Sacrament meeting and then on to the other classes.  We were very glad there were some missionaries to help translate for us.  David went with the two young men and one young women. The primary was practicing for the program, so Allison, Bridget and Chris started learning Book of Mormon Stories and a Child's Prayer in Italian.  We'll see how they do in a few weeks.

The way back was not as adventurous, but LONG! It took us over 2.5 hours!

This week was much better.  We found a bus with wheels (as Chris calls them) that took us straight to the church, of course after our vaporetto.  The way back though we added a new form of transportation, the tram. Can't say you take three forms of transportation within an hour to get to one destination.  We have it down to 1.5 hours each way! 

Allison's Fun

Fun, Fun, Fun!!!!

Hey everybody!  Hope you are all having a great day, and had a great Halloween 

 

last night!  Ready to hear my great adventures?  Here we go!

 We went to a glass blowing demonstration in Murano.  It was amazing!!!!!!!!  They showed how to make a really cool teapot-like-thing.  It had REALLY cool designs.  

Then they showed how they make the glass horses.  Bridget really liked that.  They told us that it was 600 F.  They put some pieces of newspaper on the horse, and they burst into flames!!!  

 They also showed how they make the cute fish.  It was swimming.  Well, it looked like it was.  Awesome!!!  

They then let any kid who wanted to go up and blow into this tube.  There was liquidized glass on the end, so when they blew, it made these funky shapes that were made out of glass.  Christopher and I didn't go up, but later we wanted to.  It was cool.

That's all for today, folks.  See you next time, on Deskins in Italy.  Bye Bye!!!