Burano, Italy is SUCH a charming little village.....it's hard to put into words just how quaint and cozy this little town is. (Click photo to view it up close)
CLICK HERE to see all of the Burano photos! (But wait.....first let me tell you a story....)
When we went to Venice the first time (a few years ago) we were on a bus tour all over Europe and part of the tour included a stop in Venice. We chose to book an excursion that day with the tour group, that included lunch on the island of Burano. Little did we know just what a picturesque island we were headed to or just how amazing and fun that lunch would turn out to be. I think most everyone on our bus (45 people or so) booked that same excursion. They took us to a seafood restaurant where they proceeded to serve us 7 courses of seafood and pasta! It was soooo good and we were soooooo full and we laughed sooooo much that day! It really was a blast.
So fast forward to this year. We were going back to Venice again and definitely wanted to include a visit to Burano where we thought we would have lunch at the same amazing little restaurant. We remembered that the sign had grapes on it (that really narrows it down, huh?!) but knowing that Burano is a small island, we felt certain that we could find the restaurant with no trouble.
We took the ferry/water taxi over to Burano where we had our celebrity sighting and as we were nearing Burano, it started to sprinkle. Once we got to the island and stepped off the boat, it started raining. We walked (ran) into one of the main squares looking for the restaurant and it began to POUR. We found the restaurant and quickly noticed that it was PACKED! One of the servers saw us and managed enough English to tell us there was no room. Turns out, they had more tour groups in that day so there was not a seat to be had and they were not inclined to have us wait for a table either! They were obviously going to be booked all day.
Oh, the disappointment. We've come all this way. We've planned and dreamed. We were looking forward to 7 courses of seafood! And now, we were standing in the POURING rain so you know what I did?? I started LAUGHING! We ducked under another restaurant's awning and I laughed some more! Then I pulled out the camera and started taking pictures of the rain coming down, while we were safe under the awning.
You see, it's like this.....on that first trip several years ago, we spent a day in Paris. And we got caught out in the rain trudging our way around Paris and I got cranky that day. I was mad. Mad at the rain. Mad at Bart for not 'fixing' the fact that we were wandering around Paris in the rain. I was just plain tired and cranky. It was Day 18 of a very extensive trip across Europe and I was crabby. And I've regretted that ever since. We were in PARIS, for Pete's sake! Who cares if you're walking in the rain! It's PARIS - enjoy the moment, right?? I know I was super tired, but still.....I've tried to learn from that!
So back in Burano this year, I was laughing and snapping away with the camera and pretty soon Bart started to laugh too. And you know what? We ducked into another cozy little restaurant and had a fabulous meal (I had a great soup (surprise!) and pasta and Bart had a seafood pasta and we had a great show - we watched the rain out the window. Soon the rain quit and everything dried out and we had a wonderful time, that afternoon in Burano.
If you go back to the top of this post, you can click the link to see those Burano photos. You'll see the rain! You'll see the view from our table at lunch. And you'll see the most colorful and delightful little island village.....and I hope that next time you get caught in the rain (whether literally or figuratively) you'll take a minute to laugh about it! You could act like I did in Paris (and maybe regret it) or you could choose to be happy in spite of the circumstances. If you choose the latter, I bet you'll end up feeling more blessed than you would have thought possible.
love,
Dawn
(Venice pictures coming soon.......I know you've been waiting forever for them.) :)
