Dodging Pigeon Poop in Piazza San Marco

  Venice, Italy
Friday, September 9, 2005

Venice, Italy




Things We Did:

Caught a water shuttle from Santa Maria del Giglio to Piazza San Marco

Stood open mouthed and awe struck at the Torre del'Orologio, Basilica di San Marco and Palazzo Ducale

Watched and listened as the bronze mori struck the bell of the 15th century clock tower

Walked gingerly through a flurry of pigeons

Made our way down tiny side streets parallel to the Rio de San Julian

Crossed over the Rialto Bridge from San Marco onto San Polo

Found something to eat in a waterfront restaurant on the Fond del Vin

Did some last minute souvenir shopping over and across the Rialto Bridge

After our last dinner on the ship, Camille and I joined some of the crew members for a final night out

Food We Ate:

Italian Coffee- Exactly an American espresso

Authentic Italian Pizza- Much like a New York slice, thin and foldable

Seafood Pasta- Noodles tossed in olive oil and herbs served with mostly shellfish, mussels and clams

Veal Scaloppini- Thinly sliced, pounded cutlets, breaded

People We Met:

Bill- One of the Sound Engineers for the ship. He works mostly in the Wheelhouse Bar and the Explorers Lounge, and sometimes has jobs in the main dining rooms. His girlfriend is from Oahu, so he asked me to translate a poem of his into Hawaiian so that he could send it to her. He ended up buying us all a round of drinks, and invited me and Camille out to experience the Venice nightlife with some of the other crew members.

Michelle- As we packed up our luggage in preparation to disembark, Camille and Mei took the opportunity to witness to their stateroom "maid". He took the latest copy of the Watchtower and Awake. While downstairs, one of the other stateroom housekeepers noticed the journals and asked where he got them from. When she heard the room numbers, she rushed upstairs, knocked on the door at L224 and excitedly introduced herself to Mei and Camille as one of our sisters. She was from Manila, and had been working on the ship for several months now. She was the only Witness working on the ship, and was happy to meet up with the girls. She also took a copy of the latest Watchtower and Awake.

Nikki- A young photographer from Cape Town. She was one of the crew members Camille and I hung out with in Venice on our last night. She was disappointed by the lack of a serious nightlife in the city. She raved to me and Bill about the hot scene in South Africa, and promised never to attempt to find anything better than that again. I told her that if she was looking for a great nightlife in Europe, than from what I knew, Barcelona was where it's at. She said she'd heard the same, but had yet to find out. Getting back onto the ship at 3 a.m., she joined me and Camille for an early morning snack. We met up with Russ and Dan, and she hid her face shyly as I introduced her as one of the crew members, so I caught myself and reintroduced her as "just Nikki for tonight".

Vicki- Ahh, Vicki. The antithesis of Mandy. She was herself on and off stage. It was refreshing to see one of the crew members actually being real regardless of where she was. She came up with some of the wittiest wisecracks rivaling Nick's finest.