Members of the Tribe

SP:

Today Anna has decided to brave her tendency for seasickness so we can go to Murano. For those of you who don't know, Murano is the island famous for its glass. Most of the island can be divided into glass-blowing shops or shops that sell the glass objects. And these people can make ANYTHING. Mirrors, vases, bowls, lamps, figurines, frames, what-have-you.

Anyway, keeping in mind Anna's fondness for boats, this time we researched the trip. We asked the hotel staff which boat station to go to, we asked the station masters which was the fastest route, we looked at maps. We were ready. Fortune also smiled on us and granted us good weather. Passage from the main island to Murano was fast and not bumpy. Anna was thrilled.

Once on Murano, we looked around for an open glass-blowing studio. We found a nice one and promptly  sat on the benches provided. Around the same time, a large tour group walked in. I have a confession to make: glass-blowing makes me nervous. There's no logical reason for it, but the room full of furnaces and liquid glass makes me twitchy. Add to that a large crowd of people walking to and fro... I was unamused. Anna loved the show, however; and I can't deny those men (and they were all men) were artists. We watched two lovely vases and a bowl take shape from colorful rods of glass.

After watching the glass making for about an hour, Anna and I decided we were hungry and hot. We might have been a good 50 feet from the furnaces but the heat generated from those added to the noon sun was just getting to be a bit much. In order to cool down a bit, we found a cute little cafe by the water. We sat down, ordered pasta dishes, and watched the crowd go by. This brings us to the title of the entry. Around this point in our trip, Anna and I started noticing that certain groups tended to be a bit more spontaneous than others. In particular, the Americans always seemed willing to jump into conversations with just about anyone on just about any topic. Spotting American tourists (or "Members of the Tribe") became a bit of a game for us. During lunch, an elderly couple sat at the table next to us. After it was determined that all four of us were American, we began trading travel stories.  The couple was from Seattle, had spend years trekking around America, and was now meandering around Europe. They were avid travelers and had raised a couple of avid travelers as well. We discussed good gelato places we had found (not that we'd be able to give exact locations) and the thrills of getting lost in Venice's alleys.

After lunch, the couple said their good-byes and Anna and I set off to buy some glass souvenirs. Purchases in hand, we boat-taxied back to the main island for a quick nap.

Arising, we went in search of dinner. Wandering around we encountered a huge square full of families, what seemed to be art students, and people flocking to multiple restaurants. Figuring we'd hit a jackpot, we perused the menus and found a place that looked to have decent pizza. My lord. It wasn't decent. It was FANTASTIC! Nothing particularly special, but cheesy, tomato-y goodness. Before ordering, we also noticed a single woman sitting a table over. She was already eating so I asked how the food was. Once again, the Americans started chatting. Debbie (the lady) moved to share our table and told us how she was traveling around Italy staying at nunneries. That's right. She was vacationing WITH NUNS. Apparently it's a relatively cheap way to travel and (bonus) you get a lot of reading done thanks to no TVs. We caught Debbie up on the World Cup happenings, ate our pizza, and adjourned for gelato. Yum!