Masks and Glass – Deltanine

Rather than head straight to Verona we left our bags at the B&B and went on a shopping spree. There are so many good shops in Venice, and by now we had a better feel for what souvenirs we’d like and what were appropriate prices. There is a hell of a lot of cheap plastic or mass produced foreign made tat, and we didn’t see much point in getting anything “fake”.

We explored a number of glass shops and bought a number of smaller items for ourselves and to give away, but just after we crossed the Rialto Bridge we found a really nice figurine, that was just way too expensive. We continued a few shops down and stumbled into a mask shop. We really had no intention of buying a mask, but this was a great shop that made their own and explained to an enthralled Jess how the masks were made and how they are decorated. We also learned that the rich and famous came here to buy masks, and even Stanley Kubrik got him to make the masks for Eyes Wide Shut. We bought a mask that took our fancy from the shop window, and got the maker to sign it and pose for photos with us. A great souvenir.

We wandered further on and looked at more glass shops, finding figurines that were very nice, but not as good as the one by the Rialto Bridge. We then came to another mask shop that looked really goo, and it turned out it was the same family as the one that we’d bought a mask from earlier. This one was being run by the nephew of the guy earlier, and while we were there the original guy’s brother came in. This shop was a little bigger than the one by the Rialto, and we bought another couple of cheaper masks for ourselves and Jess.

Finally we gave up on searching out glass figurines and decided to see if we could get a good price on the one we liked the most, otherwise by our second favourite. So we wandered all the way back to the Rialto Bridge and began a little bit of bargaining on the one we wanted, and knocked off enough to make it worth our while.

By now time was ticking on so we went back to the B&B to collect our bags and caught the vaperatto to the station. It wasn’t much quicker than walking, but a bit more comfortable in the heat. We caught high speed tickets to Verona, though it might have been quicker and cheaper on a slower train as it was delayed over half an hour anyway.

Arriving at Verona we decided to be lazy and catch a taxi to our accommodation at Corte Realdi Suites. I’d already rung up the guy running the place and thought he sounded Filipino. When we arrived he was outside waiting for us and indeed he was. He settled us in to what was really an apartment. It had a full kitchen including an oven, a large room and a view overlooking Fontana Madonna Verona in the middle of Piazza Erbe, the main square in Verona.