Sea Glass in Murano x3

There has been so much going on for the past 2 months, and I need to get caught up! This post will include a little bit of everything, including THREE trips over to the Venice area to visit the beautiful island of Murano for a very special purpose. 

We had a planning meeting back in August for my Tuesdays in Italy adventure group, where one of the ideas that surfaced was to forage for sea glass in Murano. I'll admit, I wasn't super interested at first, but it became more appealing once it got closer to the date we had set. A friend who has since moved back to the U.S. (Kelly Campbell) found a spot to collect some sea glass in Murano a while back. She and her husband regularly scout out locations to forage together, including places in Cuba, Japan, the U.K., and Italy. Kelly has a creative flair and with a growing supply of inventory, she opened an Etsy shop online where she sells handmade greeting cards with a touch of sea glass that has been incorporated into her whimsical drawings. 

Kelly's Etsy shop can be found here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/DiamondsOfTheSeaByKA

There was only one person in our current adventure group who knew where to go: Leslie. As we drove back from the Via Ferrata together, she voiced some of her concerns in taking such a large group of ladies all at once, especially since there was a bubbling excitement and our numbers kept increasing. Leslie had gone to Murano with a small group this past spring, led by Kelly, and it was a little bit questionable then as to whether they were trespassing or not. At one point, they had to crawl through a hole in a fence in order to access the trail to the beach . . .

Leslie suggested that we do a "recon mission" with 2-3 of us so we could determine if it was even a possibility to take the other ladies or not. Two days later, Leslie, Emily, and I drove over to Venice together to scope out the scene. I had never driven to Venice before, I've only just taken the train each time because it's cheap, it's direct, and I can kick back and be a lazy passenger. So this was all new to me. Leslie says that if your group is 3+, then driving can actually be cheaper (depending on how long you plan to be in Venice - or the surrounding islands). 

The train from Vicenza to Venice is 7 euro each way, so 14 euro per person round trip. It only takes about 48 minutes each way, but you are also tied to the train schedule, which isn't always convenient.

Parking in a garage in Venice starts at 25 euro - for up to 5 hours. 

5-10 hours = 35 euro

24 hours = 45 euro max

So if you have a car full of people, let's say 4 people, and if you only intend to park for 5 hours or less (25 euro total), then you are only paying a little over 6 euro per person for parking. There are also tolls and fuel to be counted, too, but generally speaking it's cheaper to drive if you have a larger group to help share the cost. Tolls are about 10-11 euro each way from Vicenza to Venice. 

Recon Mission - October 15:

I parked in the Garage San Marco, which had the nicest (parking garage) bathroom I've ever seen anywhere in Italy by the way. :) We only had to exit the garage, cross the street, and then catch a vaporetto out to Murano. The Line 3 vaporetto (water bus) is fastest because it makes fewer overall stops on the way out to Murano, and gets you out there in about 20-25 minutes. Line 3 comes approximately every 20 minutes to the assigned pier.

There are a few options for stops in Murano, but we chose to get off at the Colonna pier since both Leslie and Emily wanted to do a little shopping before we went out to the secret beach. This area is where most of the mainstream shops are.

I'm not super drawn to glass, but I had fun taking pictures of some of the specialty items for sale while Leslie purchased a couple of replacement drinking glasses that had accidentally broken at home. Emily, meanwhile, was shopping for a family member in the U.S. who wanted some Murano glass Christmas ornament balls to give out to their dental office staff as a holiday gift. We helped her with some of the decision-making, per her request. 

So many fun little figurines . . .

I'm always drawn to anything that looks like a family tree . . .

Halloween decor was cleverly displayed, since it was mid-October still . . .

And these darling little Nativity sets on gondolas . . . XO

A few other random things that caught my eye . . . 

After their shopping needs were satisfied, we were off on the adventure of a lifetime, hoping that it would prove to be a viable option for bringing some additional friends in the near future. 

Yes, there was a cut-out hole in the fence that we slipped through. But we didn't see any trespassing warning signs . . . Beyond it, there were clear trails that had been frequented, so we followed those over to the beach. I wish I could say more about where we went, but I have been asked (by Kelly) to keep everything on the *down low*. (More on that later)

The beach access was quite narrow, probably because we arrived at high tide. But I did see this interesting brick just laying there . . .

There is a lengthy history of glass in Murano, with a very specific reference to the year 1291 AD. Prior to then, glass making in the Venetian Lagoon primarily took place in Venice itself, but there was a growing concern that the hot furnaces were a substantial fire hazard - especially since most of the structures during that time frame were made out of wood. So, glass makers were asked to relocate to the nearby island of Murano. There was also a secondary agenda in making the move away from the main population in Venice: to protect the trade secrets and to have more control over the lucrative industry.

The cool thing about having a centuries-long industry, is that there will be an equally long trail of remnants, waste, treasures, etc. When I asked the question to AI about the history of dumping sea glass in Murano, here is what I found.

Why Glass Was Dumped into the Sea

Disposal of Production Scraps: For centuries, historical glass workshops and individual artisans casually discarded broken pieces (cullet), flawed trial items, and slag directly into the canals and shallow waters surrounding Murano. [1, 2]
Pigment Recyclability Issues: Unlike standard clear glass bottles, colored art glass contains specific metallic oxides and pigments (such as cobalt, copper, gold, and manganese). Historically (and to some extent today), pigment-heavy or mixed scrap glass could not be easily re-melted into standard batches for blowing, leading to local discarding. [1, 2]
Legacy "Sea Glass" Formation: Over decades and centuries, waves, tides, and sand in the Venetian Lagoon naturally tumbled, smoothed, and frosted these discarded fragments, which occasionally wash up on local shores or are retrieved by beachcombers and jewelry makers.

On the beach, not only did we find plenty of colorful sea glass, but there were also remnants of old tiles and ceramics, along with some beautiful sea shells, too.

We combed the beach for glass, filling up our gallon ziploc bags about halfway each (which ended up weighing a LOT) before calling it quits. With our treasures securely stashed away in our backpacks, we began making our way back to the nearest vaporetto pier. There are several neighborhoods in Murano that feel like a ghost town. Maybe some of these places are bustling during a higher tourism season, like the summer months, with mostly AirBnB's and rentals. But now, in the off-season, it was extraordinarily quiet. We only passed a handful of people going for a walk with either a baby in a stroller, a dog that needed a scent-filled outdoor adventure, or an elderly person shuffling along with their walker.

I really liked the architecture on this cute building . . .

As we walked through the empty streets, I asked Emily and Leslie what their "hunger level" was on a scale of 1-10. While they mulled that over for a second or two, I blurted out, "'Cuz mine's at a 9.8." They had a good laugh over that one, and apparently it's become a big joke now. Emily was with another group doing an activity recently, and she said to them, "If you're ever with Michele on an outing and it's coming up on mealtime, just know that she might be at a 9.8 on the hunger scale!" LOL

We found a cute little cafe with sandwich offerings and other snacks. I grabbed the tuna and egg sandwich and it was AMAZING. (Tonno + Uovo) 

I also bought the last little open-faced vegetarian sandwich - only because it had more egg on it.

These looked fun, but I didn't buy any . . . (fried potato chunks and breaded shrimp)

Emily filled up her water bottle before we hopped onto the vaporetto to head back to the parking garage.

Goodbye beautiful Murano!

On the 25 minute ride, it was peaceful to just stand out on the deck and let my hair flow in the breeze.

Line 3 (between the train station and Murano) passes through the Jewish Quarter, which always holds a special place in my heart. We also turned a corner where the impressive Sanctuary of Lucia, Church of Saints Jeremiah and Lucia is situated. I've never been inside it before, but now that I've passed by it a few times, my interest is definitely piqued. Perhaps one day soon I can pay a visit. 

Back at the parking garage, as we waited for our turn to pay for our ticket, I took a photo of the pricing for future reference.

This was my haul of loot on the first foraging excursion. Holy cannoli! Such pretty colors!!

As per instructions that were passsed from Kelly to Leslie, and then from Leslie to Emily and me: 

Step 1: Rinse the glass, get any loose debris off.

Step 2: Let them all soak in a sudsy bath with dish soap for 1-2 days.

Step 3: Buff/polish them with a rag and some coconut oil to get them all shiny.

I haven't gotten to Step 3 yet . . . And they may have to wait until January when I get back from the U.S.

I only had a couple hours to spare before needing to go help set up for a Relief Society activity that evening. In the better parts of the day (10-3) I can get across town to the Ederle base in about 15 minutes. But it gets pretty gnarly when I need to head over around dinner time, which increases my driving time to about 30 minutes. 

I was the first one there, so I started moving all the tables and chairs out of the two large rooms. Soon, the rest of my presidency arrived and we busily set up the refreshment table and did some other prep work.

The activity consisted of 2 parts: First, Lexi taught us a High Fitness class - which is a very fun and dancy aerobic style class, also similar to HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). She had prepared some fun Halloween-esque songs for us to boogie to, including Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me". After 30 hardcore minutes of sweat, she helped us cool down with some stretches - which is when I finally remembered to grab a photo, ha ha.

Next, we moved over into the next room where Emily had prepared a more meditative space. We did a little bit of journaling and introspection for a few minutes, followed by some breath work.

Lastly, she performed a Sound Bath experience for us, which was so beautiful. She's been going over to Slovenia one weekend per month for several months to finish her certification. It was really special to have two of our ward members share their talents with all of us that night. 

We finished up with a Yogurt Bar, which included a few types of Greek yogurt and a whole slew of toppings (pumpkin seeds, basil seeds - similar to Chia seeds, granola, fruits, honey, nuts, etc.). Everyone was having such a lovely time visiting for a good long while after the activity was done, but I knew how much work we still had ahead of us to put all the tables and chairs back in place. I had to be the party pooper and break things up so that we could put everything away and still get home before midnight, ha ha. Meanie Michele. That's me now.

The following day, I met my friend Laura for our (now) regular Friday morning date to go on a walk together somewhere. This time, we met at the Parco delle Pace, or Park of Peace on the east side of Del Din (the base closest to our house). It used to be a military airfield not too long ago, but has since been adapted into a beautiful park with water features everywhere. The length of the park spans the same length of the old runways, so by the time you complete one full loop, a solid hour will likely have passed. 

Wispy cotton candy streaks across the sky that evening . . .

The next afternoon, on a Saturday, Scott and I drove across town to attend Nell's 70th birthday party. She announced a month in advance that she wanted to host a party and wanted to know who could come so she could start preparing a menu. Her love language is definitely food, and when she's not hosting the missionaries or other guests for dinner, she begins to feel depressed. She didn't want any gifts, and she refused to let us bring a food dish to help out. So what's a friend to do? 

We picked up some beautiful flowers and presented them to her in lieu of a gift . . .

She allowed Addie Mae to bring a fancy cake, which was perfect because Addie Mae always makes the most incredible cakes!!

Some of the cute hors d'oeuvres that Nell had prepared for all the guests included dainty servings of caprese salad in the tiniest little cups with even tinier spoons . . .

And the tastiest salmon rolls you never knew about before, but now suddenly you need a whole lot more of them!

Nell is one of those people that are just larger than life. She is quite a character, but the best kind. Scott had a question about one of the photos on the wall, so Nell happily shared a few stories with him . . .

2nd Round to Murano - October 20th: I felt an urge to pull my hair up into a sort of 80's throwback style, with a small fountain on top of my head. When I sent the photo to my daughter, Amber, she absolutely loved the new style and urged me to do it more often!

I drove a second time to Venice, parking in the same Garage San Marco where I had parked the previous week. We hopped on the same Line 3 and made our way out to Murano.

My small group consisted of Me, Laura (black sunglasses), Chelsea, and Trish. Laura and Chelsea are both from my Italian class, while Trish is a friend from church. 

This was Chelsea's first time in Venice and Murano since they moved to Vicenza this summer. She shared with us that she suffers from a lot of anxiety, so Venice felt very overwhelming to visit as a family thus far. Trish and I made sure to show her how to navigate around using the water busses, watching the signage, etc. And by the end of the afternoon, she said she felt like Venice might actually be doable in the near future for her family. Yay for her! It is so helpful to be mentored by someone who knows what they're doing - something I am still grateful for as well. Even though I'm now in more of a mentoring role, there is still a lot I don't know. I'm super appreciative of those who share their knowledge, skills, and the time required to teach me new things. And it wasn't that long ago that I was the new kid on the block, going on regular adventures with the Wednesdays in Italy group and being lovingly mentored with each new activity.

We made it out to the secret beach without any hiccups. The weather looked a bit daunting, but it never rained until we were on the boat ride back to the parking garage at the end. And even then, it just sprinkled a little. 

The breezy afternoon never actually felt chilly, even though the temperatures were hovering around 58-60 degrees. With the chronic humidity in Italy, it always feels warmer than it should . . . 

At the same deli that we visited the week before, I grabbed a small sandwich and one of each type of their boiled eggs . . . 

The ones on the left have a tiny little sardine wrapped around the toothpick, and the ones on the right have a cute little pickled pearl onion on top. I was smitten with the pickled onion egg. So much so, in fact, that I bought a little jar of pickled pearl onions at the grocery store later that week!

This next photo does not do enough justice to show what it really looked like. In the Garage San Marco, the parking attendant had instructed me to park in this spot. It didn't look like much of a spot at the time. It was more like a place where a motorcycle might park, but certainly wasn't big enough for my car. We had to get our stuff out of the trunk before I backed up as far as I could, and even then I was still sticking out into the main driving lane . . . What's even more weird is that there were a number of empty spots off to the right! I wasn't sure why I had to park here, but I just did as I was told. 

After rinsing my second haul of loot - and before I prepared their sudsy multi-day bath, this is what I brought home with me . . .

Autumn has been slowly creeping into Northern Italy throughout October and early November. This colorful leaf fell from the huge tree in our driveway, catching my attention as Scott and I went out for an evening walk . . .

With daylight savings coming to an end, the sun now pops up one hour earlier. When I don't have to set any alarm, I usually wake up around 6:45-7:00, sometimes earlier if my brain is excited about something (which it often is). For several days in a row, I woke up to some incredible sunrises like this one . . .

Once in a while, we join Scott's coworkers for a dinner date at whatever restaurant they've chosen. In our group of 10, we are the only couple who opts out most of the time (for a variety of reasons). There is a lot of drinking involved, and we don't drink alcohol. The Italian restaurants don't open until 7:00 p.m., which means we'll be out late. And many times, we just have our own plans going on. 

When we heard that it was Scott's boss Will's birthday and that everyone was going out to a restaurant to celebrate, we felt some obligation to join the rest of the group. So we did. It was quite fun, actually!

The name of the restaurant is below - I took a photo of the menu front. Essentially it means that they are a shop AND a restaurant. 

The prices were good and the food was excellent. Antipasti = Appetizers; Primi Piatti = First course; Secondi Piatti = Second course.

Or, you can just skip past all the single courses and get a burger . . .

Their specialty is steak. If you're interested in choosing which cut of meat you'd like them to prepare, you can walk over to the refrigerated display case at the back of the shop and let the server know which slab of carne you want. Some of the guys in our group did this - photos below.

John and Anne ordered a Steak Tartare for an appetizer and they let me try a little bite. It was good, but my favorite is still the one I had in Verona with my friend Amy Church a few months ago.

I ordered the pumpkin soup with fried onions and gorgonzola cheese on top. It was delicious and I practically licked the bowl clean. 

Scott and I both ordered a burger with fried potatoes. They were delicious!! I ate half of my burger because I was already full from the soup. I ended up having horrible tummy cramps afterwards - maybe due to the type of bread or the fact that the potatoes were fried. Sometimes my digestive system wigs out and I never know the exact cause.

I don't remember this guy's name (he's a friend of the group - not a coworker though), but he let me take a picture of his meat platter extravaganza when it arrived . . .

Jason and Chiara also ordered a similar meat platter, with fried polenta on the side. One might say that the fried polenta is similar to cornbread. They were also given several tiny bowls with different types of sea salts to sprinkle on their meat. The only one I remember was a salt called Hawaii, but I don't know what the actual flavor was like.

The following day, Scott and I rode the bus downtown to go on a 90 minute date to see the annual Chocolate Festival in the main piazza. 

 

Why was it a 90-minute date, you ask? Well, that's a great question. You see, sometimes I want to go do something with Scott, but he's not super interested in just wandering around looking at stuff. So I have to place certain perameters on the event in order to entice him. Whenever we ride the bus downtown, we don't have to worry about finding parking, which can be tricky especially when there's a festival going on. But also, as soon as we activate our bus tickets, they are good for any bus travel within the next 90 minutes. In the app, you can look to see how much time you have left at any point, which is so helpful. For one euro and 70 cents (roughly $2) per person, our perameters were now set.

We got off at the nearest stop to the piazza, and as we walked into the square I mapped out my plan so Scott could relax a bit, knowing how this was about to go down. He's all about efficiency and planning, so I have to speak his love language, ha ha. I suggested that we should take one big loop around the length of the piazza, looking at what all the booths were offering, and THEN go back and make a few purchases before heading back to the bus stop. Clear plans = Happy husband.

We ran into the Giffords (a large family that moved into our ward this summer), so we chatted with them for a bit. Their kids were excited about all the colorful macarons at this particular booth, but they didn't understand what all the flavors were because the labels were all in Italian. So I helped them out by explaining what each flavor was. I'm not a huge macaron lover, myself. To me, they all just taste like different flavors of sugar, like raspberry, pistacchio, chocolate, coconut, lemon, etc. But they sure are pretty.

I ended up shopping at 3 booths. Booth #1: I purchased a cup of strawberries with a drizzle of warm chocolatey syrup over the top and a mile-high topping of whipped cream. They give you a wooden skewer to eat the berries. 

Booth #2: I bought a box of 12 truffles, and I got to choose what I wanted to go into the box, which was fun.

On my way back to the first booth that had caught my eye earlier, I paused to learn more about this booth . . .

This was a booth that declared their chocolate to be safe for diabetics, something I was very wary of. In past experience, if a fake sugar is used, or a sugar alcohol in place of an actual sugar, it can be inflammatory to the digestive system and send you to the bathroom!! The fake sugars or sugar alcohols can have a laxative effect, so one needs to be very careful . . . I looked at their lists of ingredients, and sure enough, they had those sneaky little devils in their chocolates. I didn't buy anything from them.

Booth #3: Cioccolata Calda Artigianale = Artisanal hot chocolate. YUM!!

Our date was now complete. I came, I wandered, I ate, and I shopped. All in less than an hour. 

Here are some of the chocolate truffles that I bought . . . Some are missing, as you might have noticed. Well . . . to be fair, I fed the sister missionaries for Sister Howell's birthday dinner and I gave a few to them before I took this photo, ha ha.

I also bought a cute little bag of chocolate spoon stirrers to go in the Christmas box that I'm about to ship to my brother Ryan's family. I'm also sending them some Italian hot chocolate packets so they have something to stir with their chocolate spoons. :)

I had the very distinct UNpleasure of going to the dentist a couple weeks ago. When I had my teeth cleaned in this same office 6 months ago, I had a wonderful experience, but what I didn't know then is that the DOCTOR was who cleaned my teeth back then. She was so gentle and kind, yet also thorough. 

Scott's appointment was a couple days ahead of mine, and he came home to warn me about the new hygienist that was a dude. Words like "mean", "horrible", and "rough" came tumbling out of his mouth. The hope that I would get someone else were quickly dashed when the same man walked into the room on the day of my appointment . . .

Here are some phrases that come to mind when I think back on my experience:

Holy Cow.

He was way more strong than he needed to be.

Does he even realize how strong he is?

Did he watch a whole season of Popeye before he showed up to work?

Could he grind on my teeth any harder?

Ouch.

Yowza.

Was his entire fist in my mouth?

Am I bleeding?

I don't think he's a do-anything-less-than-200% kind of guy.

Where did he go to school?

Did he practice on anyone before he showed up in this office?

And did they give any constructive criticisms?

Because WOW.

When I went out to the front desk afterward, they asked, "How was everything?" My timid response was something like, "Um, it was *okay* . . ." Clearly they wanted more from me, so I told them.

"He was way too strong and way too rough. I didn't like his methods at all!"

I even asked if I could have someone else when I came back in 6 months, like the lady from my previous cleaning. That's when I learned that the person who cleaned my teeth last time was the doctor herself - because they didn't have a hygienist that day. Obviously this was not typical, though. The receptionist made a note that I wanted someone else besides HIM next time, and then I walked out in a daze.

I was still upset later that night, so I wrote them a text the following morning. Here is what I wrote:

"Good morning. I only mentioned this briefly yesterday, but I really did not enjoy how that man cleaned my teeth. He was so forceful and strong with everything he did, but the mouth is so delicate and tender and needs a soft touch. The corner of my mouth next to my lips is all raw from how vigorous he was, and there are other areas where my teeth/gums are sore. I have never had such a rough experience in all my 55 years!! I just wanted you to know that if I am ever scheduled for a future cleaning with him, I will not come."

They wrote me back a short time later: "Good morning Michele, we are sorry to hear this and thank you very much for telling us. We will immediately inform him and advise him to change his approach. In any case, we have made the note to schedule you with a different hygienist, that has a lighter touch so you won't have to worry about that again."

It's good to speak up and let your voice be heard.

On a lighter note, I made some pumpkin cheesecake swirl brownies for a birthday dessert for Sister Howell . . . They were incredibly delicious, but also dense and very rich. We could hardly finish the size of brownies that I had cut into portions . . . half of that would have been more than sufficient! I ended up sharing some of the leftovers with Scott's coworkers, and they raved and raved about them, so I guess it was a great recipe. :)

Recipe here: https://www.thelittleepicurean.com/pumpkin-cheesecake-swirl-brownies/

Sister Howell was so happy to come to dinner and be celebrated before she leaves to go home soon.

We almost forgot to take a group selfie before I took the missionaries home . . . Sister Howell and Sister Orton are so cute. We spent a fair amount of time after dinner discussing all the hair products that I have in my bathroom cabinets to help combat frizz here in Italy. Sister Orton is fresh out of the MTC (Missionary Training Center) and has only been in Italy for about a month now, so she is still trying to figure out how to tame her wilder-than-normal hair. Also - side note - Sister Orton is from Lehi, Utah!!

The reason why this matters is because my son Jacob and his wife Hannah just moved to Lehi, Utah last week for a new job. I'll share more about this in another post, but they did make the drive safely from Missouri to Utah with the help of several prayers and angels watching over them the whole way.

3rd Round to Murano - October 27th: This time my group consisted of just two older ladies plus myself. I took Terry Sim (a senior missionary and 72 years old) along with her friend Regina (77 years old) from the Italian Ward at church. Regina is American, but she met her Italian husband several decades ago and ended up moving to Europe to settle down with him and raise a family.

We chose to ride the train instead of driving, which was nice for me. When we arrived in Venice close to 11:00 a.m., the line to get on the vaporetto (water bus) to Murano was a MILE LONG. I've never seen anything like that before! It was especially surprising because we were there on a TUESDAY in NOVEMBER. Who were all of these people? And why were they all heading to Murano?

You can't even see the front of the line or the Grand Canal in this photo because we were so far back . . .

After about 45-60 minutes of standing in line and slowly making our way to the front, we finally caught a Line 3 vaporetto and made it to Murano just after noon. 

After some browsing in a few shops and Regina bartering for a better price on a necklace that was on clearance, we found a nice place for lunch. "La Fornace Murano" was a little fancier than what we thought we had chosen, but the atmosphere was lovely and our server Loriano was such a gentleman.

We had seen a large menu sign outside the door, so we thought we were about to get a bargain lunch for around 10 or 12 euros. But when we were seated outside next to the water and took a look at the menus, we were in for a bit of sticker shock . . . Turns out that the cheaper menu was for a different restaurant that shares the same building. 

Regina likes to talk to everyone. She is what I would call "unabashed". 

Enjoying the sunshine on the deck under our big umbrella that *almost* covered me . . .

The main vaporetto pier in Murano is called "Colonna", and it was directly across from where we sat.

I ordered the scallops because I knew they would be a good source of protein without a bunch of carbs. 

Regina ordered the black squid risotto with fried polenta, while Terry just ordered a salad.

Me, Terry, and Regina . . .

Regina and I also ordered the Chef's Dessert, which ended up being a small chocolate flan with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. It was tiny and dainty, but it really hit the spot. 

Regina had tripped and fallen some months earlier on a similar walk in Italy, so she was a little nervous about her abilities to not do that again. I linked arms with her and off we went . . .

In the shop where Regina was busy doing her bartering earlier, I was busy taking pictures . . .

Any guesses on how much this hefty glass vase might cost? I'll share the answer down below.

Some shops sell the same items as everyone else, but some create their own works of art, like these.

Okay, so that thick vase above . . . how close were you to the actual price? 

I asked the girl in the store how much it was because I thought the colors were beautiful. 

*Cough Cough* . . . it was 3,000 euros . . . WOW.

Christmas decorations are beginning to pop up in Italy in preparation for the holidays. They don't celebrate Thanksgiving over here, so they can enjoy a nice long Christmas season, which I love. It's not so rushed and frantic, but it lasts a good long while and yet somehow feels relaxing and nostalgic.

Not the best photo because of the window glare, but I thought the gondoliers were so cute . . .

The weather was nothing short of perfect once again . . .

We passed by a storefront that I hadn't noticed before, "Moroni Fratelli". The word Fratelli means brothers, so this would mean Brothers Moroni, or Brothers (with the surname) Moroni. We found it so interesting because there is an ancient Nephite prophet that lived on the American continent named Moroni. It's an unusual name, so it definitely caught our attention.

Regina, Me, and Terry . . .

We managed to be there when it was low tide, which was great. I kept a close eye on Regina as she picked her way around the shoreline that was also covered in green algae . . . 

Terry has a hernia near her belly button that has been causing significant issues lately, so much so that a surgery has been scheduled for November 18th while she's still serving on her mission. She was worried about bending over multiple times to reach down for sea glass, but didn't want to miss the adventure either. She had been watching the new inventory constantly in the thrift store on base where she volunteers several days a week, but she never once came across a small shovel that she could use to dig around with in Murano. Finally, two days before our trip, she made it a matter of prayer, asking Heavenly Father to help her locate a small shovel in time. The very next day, a small shovel came in when someone dropped off their items to the thrift store. What a miracle!!

Here she is with her cute little shovel in hand . . .

I didn't intend to pick up any more sea glass, since I had already brought home a lot on the two previous trips. But, just in case, I brought a gallon ziploc bag with me . . . and yes, I did find a few more pieces to add to my growing collection. Satisfied, and while the ladies continued to scour the beach for their own treasures, I set up my little lightweight camp chair nearby and relaxed for a bit. (It only weighs 2 lbs and fits into my backpack.)

Nobody tripped, nobody got hurt, and we all got back off the beach and into town safely together. Hooray!

Due to the lateness of the afternoon, we opted to walk to a different vaporetto stop than where I had been to before so that there would be more travel options and more frequent boats. Close to the Museo stop we found the CUTEST little glass shop, and this is where I finally buckled. I had steered clear from buying anything glass up until this point, but when I saw the gnomes, I simply caved. 

I ended up getting the two little gnomes on the right . . .

I learned that this shop was relatively new - so new, in fact, that it wasn't even listed on Google Maps when I tried to pin the store. I had to just pin my location at that moment and then make a note about the name of the shop (Elettra's Creationes). The lady told us that her father makes all the glass himself. What I noticed right away is that THEIR shop had much different items than all the other shops we had seen repeatedly in Murano. I think they will do very well!!

Sea turtles and hedgehogs? Are you kidding me? They were so cute!!

Murano also has a lighthouse, which we passed by on our way back to Venice . . .

My third and final haul . . .

Something weird happened a couple of days later . . . I had been waiting to share a reel on Instagram and Facebook until after I had completed my third trip to Murano, so I finally put it all together and chose a cute song to go with all the photos and videos that I wanted. I posted it at the end of the day, and then I went to bed. 

The next morning I woke up to some messages from my friend Andrea here in Vicenza and also Kelly Campbell (in the U.S.). They were upset that I had posted anything at all about the sea glass in Murano. Kelly was especially concerned that if people found out where the spot it, then they would mob the beach and draw way too much attention to it, which might lead to it being shut down entirely. Because Kelly has actively hunted for sea glass around the world for many years, she has become acutely aware of the sea glass foraging community and the level of intensity they are known to display when a new location is made public. 

The fact that we have to crawl through a hole in the fence to get to this place suggests that, yes, it is not intended for the general public, which we knew. We knew there was a risk involved in going out there. But what I didn't expect was to be asked to take my video down from social media and to delete it.  

I was crushed, but I immediately did as they asked. I deleted the video. 

I felt embarrassed. Scolded. Stupid. Naive. Judged.

I hadn't even gotten out of bed yet. And it was only 6:30 a.m. What a way to start the day.

By the time Scott got home from seminary at 7:40, I had already shed some tears, and then some more as soon as I saw him come through the door. Most of all, I just felt so embarrassed. 

I wanted to share the joy of our experiences with family and friends, but instead I got some backlash.

I never put anything in the video that would have given the location away, but Kelly said that the mere mention of Murano would cause all the sea glass hunters to study the map of Murano more intently than ever before, and they'd probably find it without any additional clues from me. Her goal is just to keep it secret. Period.

Mid-morning on that same day, I met my friend Laura for our weekly walking date, this time up at Monte Berico. She had never been up there before, but she was blessed with the best weather day because the skies were clear and we could see all the mountains off in the distance.

As soon as I got out of the car to walk over to her, I was already crying again. She wanted to know what was wrong, so I told her everything. She was a little upset that I had been asked to take it all down from social media. She thought it was all a bit extreme. But she hugged me and comforted me nonetheless, and gave me words of encouragement in her thick Columbian accent. I needed those hugs, and she helped me to feel much better.

If you've ever been scolded as an adult, you can probably relate. There was a new sense that maybe I'm doing EVERYTHING wrong. Maybe I can't be trusted with anything. Maybe I AM dumb. Maybe lots of people will think I am foolish and shouldn't even be a Relief Society president. How can I even lead anyone at this point?

I went through a lot of emotions that day, and very few of them were positive. I wanted to withdraw and be invisible. But forcing myself to drive over to Monte Berico and socialize with Laura was so helpful. She picked me up, dusted me off, and then helped me to stand a little taller with her kind words and compassionate heart. 

There was a cute cafe next to the stone walls and the vista point, so first we found a table outside and then took turns going inside to choose something for a late morning snack. 

It was a good thing Laura helped me overcome all the sadness and embarassment from the morning, because in a few hours Scott and I would be flying up to Germany to go trick or treating with our granddaughter, Avery. I needed to switch gears and put on my happy face because we were about to go have some FUN. 

Next blog post: 

~ Halloween in Germany

~ Some family updates