Days 2 and 3
Trip Start
Jul 05, 2008
1
2
14
Trip End
Jul 19, 2008
Venice,
Italy
Monday, July 7, 2008
The flight was delayed a bit because a dimmer switch burned out and had to be replaced. Then we had to wait in a plane's version of rush hour traffic. We took off a little more than an hour late. The plane was a sardine can for people. I'm short and I found it cramped. I got more sleep than Keith did, which isn't saying much. I think I got about 4 hours, but it wasn't consecutive. We ended up landing only 25 minutes late.
None of our bags got misplaced en route. I think it took 5 minutes to go through customs. All we did was hand over our passports, the guy stamped it and we were done. There are several ways to get from the Marco Polo Airport into Venice. You can take a bus to the Pilazzo Roma, then a vaparetto (water bus) to your destination; you can take a public water transport from the airport to a vaparetto stop, or you can take a water taxi
campanile
. We chose the water taxi, even though it was expensive. It was the quickest and easiest way and we wanted to maximize our time in Venice. We got dropped off at the hotel and went exploring.Venice is a lovely city smack dab in the middle of a lagoon. It is sinking at the rate 10cm per century. There are roughly 3000 alleys-all narrow and delightful on their own. Venice also has about 400 bridges that cross the Grand Canal and all the little canals that meander through the city. It is a city made for walking - no cars are allowed. It is divided into six districts, three to the west of the Grand Canal and three to the east.
And walk we did. We started by going to the Gallarie dell'Accademia, home of the world's greatest collection of Venetian paintings. We then walked among the streets and alleys until we decided we really needed a nap. We had dinner at a lovely little restaurant and then got caught in a summer thunderstorm and decided to grab a gelato for dessert and go back to the hotel.
Monday
We had breakfast in a nice patio area of the hotel that overlooked the entrance to the Grand Canal. After breakfast, we headed over to the most famous area in Venice -Piazza San Marco. We had a reservation for the Basilica at 9:45, so we had time to go to the Campanile. Venice's tallest building (323 feet) houses 5 bells. The Maleficio bell was rung during executions, the Nona bell at noon and the Marangona Bell tolled at the start and end of the day. All of them were rung at the election of a pope or doge. Prisoners were hung in cages from the Campanile. We took the elevator to the viewing platform and had a 360 degree view of Venice.
After the Campanile, we entered the Basilica di San Marco
Campanile w/ Bronze Horse
. It was built in 832 to house the body of Mark (or Saint Mark), stolen from Alexandria for years earlier. It was the doge's private chapel and the spiritual heart of the city for almost 1000 years. The mosaics on the outside and inside are incredible. We had to check out of the hotel, so we did that and decided to check in for our cruise, so we headed to the Marittima and went to the ship. The Crystal Serenity is beautiful-but I'll get to that later. After having lunch on board, we took the complimentary shuttle service back to San Marco and went to the Palazzo Ducale. This Gothic structure was the seat of the doge and home to Venice's offices of state for almost 1000 years. It is a lavishly designed place with incredible artwork on the walls and even the ceilings of the stairs. In one room, the world's largest oil painting by Tintoretto takes up one entire wall. We walked to some churches that were recommended in the guide book, and on our way to the Rialto Bridge, for the second time in two days, we got caught in a thunder storm. We got a bit wet and since it was getting close to dinner, decided to come back to the ship for dinner and unpack.
I'll describe the ship in another blog, as we will have a sea day on Wednesday. Monday night, however, was our 25th anniversary. We had requested a table for 8 and when we got to dinner, there were balloons on the table. We met 2 couples who were our table mates and had a good dinner. At dessert, the wait staff come over with a cake and sang, "Let Me Call You Sweetheart." We ended the evening by going dancing.
Comments
Having fun...
Sounds like you are having a blast! Wish I was with you instead of sweltering in this 100º, Texas heat.
Have a great time!
Happy Belated Anniversary! Hope you have a wonderful time.
Look forward to seeing what you post. Promise to mind my
p's & q's while you are away.