Considering my 13 year old friend had a collection of glass animals at home, Murano, the island that's home to Venice's traditional glass industry, was an obvious place to go. We enjoyed the glass blowing demonstration at one of the many, many Murano furnaces that offers them (and you will certainly be accosted with the opportunity straight off the water bus when you arrive...). And of course there was a lot of window shopping along the banks of the main canal, which is lined with traditional glassware shops and factories. But I think our favourite moment was seeing the boats arrive and depart with their skiploads of glass shards and fragments. It seemed to capture both the workaday nature of this most delicate of crafts, and also, I'll be honest, the probably future of most of those fragile souvenirs you plan to take home...