Sunday was Venice! Yay! We weren’t scheduled to be in until 1 pm, so we slept in late, had a crazy big breakfast and played Killer Bunnies as we entered the city. It was so crazy to be cruising right into the Grand Canal. Off the ship we were all directed to the ship’s water bus, which is not what I wanted at all. I read about the local water bus, the vaparetto, on the online forums and wanted to go that route. We were given very vague directions to go “that way” and after spending some time getting lost we found a group of people to follow. We got tickets for half the price and could utilize any stop, whereas the cruise shuttle only went to St. Marks. Take that! We were rather proud of ourselves for bucking 
the cruise suggestions. The vaporetto itself was really interesting. They have little floating barges or “stops” and the boat kinda rams itself into the side of the barge, ties off really quickly, and the people come and go. Awesome! We got off at the Rialto Bridge and walked the area.
Venice is an island, a relatively small one at that. I was always surprised how quickly we got from one place to another by walking. We headed down to St. Mark’s square, got scared of the size of the crowd, and hopped on the next vaparetto to see a church across the canal and then worked our way to the back of the vaparetto for an amazing tour of the ci
ty. No walking involved, bonus. We wandered more of the city, grabbing a slice of pizza and beer for lunch. Later in the evening we tripped across the local grocery store and loaded up on snacks and goodies for the boat. We also decided then would be a good time to do the mandatory gondola ride, as the price raised at sunset. We grabbed two small bodega wines, arranged a trip with our gondolier and we were off! It was quiet and beautiful and romantic and improved by delicious bodega. We really enjoyed the experience but you could tell our gondolier was a wham, bam thank you, ma’am kind of service. Oh well. Chris and I made our way back to the ship, took a shower and got ready for dinner.
One of the big selling points of this cruise for us was the overnight in Venice. We love staying out late in awesome cities and pretending we’re locals. What better place than Venice? We wandered the streets, looking for the perfect place for dinner. What we hadn’t considered was that this was Sunday, and the only places open were near the tourists areas. We wandered by a joint down an alley that looked to be full of locals and after some convincing Chris agreed that we could eat there. As soon as we sat they closed to diners. And it was amazing. Of co
urse it was, I’m always right! I had the spaghetti carne, which turned out to be the largest spaghetti noodles I had ever seen with a bacon-based marinara. But the sauce was a tiny bit spicy and unlike anything I had ever tasted. Wonderful! Chris got a prawn dish and we shared a fried seafood plate. Absolutely delicious food and a liter of the fantastic house red later and we were loving Venice. We wandered the darkened streets a little more and headed back to the ship surprised to learn that it was 1 am already. Time flies when you’re in love in an amazing city.
We were leaving Venice the next day at 2 pm, so we were up early to get in as much fun as we could. I had printed off tickets to St. Mark’s Basilica before we left to avid the line, so we killed some time until our appointment. Loads more shopping and tasty pastries for breakfast. At our appointed time we took our “ticket” to the front
of the line only to be turned away by the guy saying he had no idea what that was. There was no one there to help us and I’ll be damned if I spend an hour in line. We snuck in the exit easily and took a very quick tour. After Rome it’s hard to be too impressed. In Venice we noticed the churches would charge to see the really cool parts or to go up to the second level. We weren’t digging the sneak charges, so we did a quick walk through and called it good. We walked and shopped more and found ourselves back at the grocery store we found the day before. We purchased cheeses, meats, wine and a baguette, found ourselves a quiet canal and had a picnic lunch. We proclaimed wine with lunch to be the best idea ever. Whenever we had wine with lunch the day dramatically improved. Our picnic was all delicious and amazing and we fed the pigeons. We deci
ded to walk back to the ship to enjoy the very last moments we had in Venice. On the last quarter mile we came across a group of Ferrari’s out for a Monday morning ride. What a life. Chris was pleased to see a Ferrari in Italy, just as it should be.
Back on board we changed into our swimsuits and headed to the top deck for departure. We had some time until departure so we passed out on the deck. The blast from the horn roused us and we rushed to the side to take pictures of the awesome view and to say goodbye to our favorite city. Arrivederci! The entertainment for the evening was a masquerade ball, in honor of Venice. We did not previously purchase masks, expecting that not many would participate. We underestimated! People went wild with the masks, which was really fun to watch.
the cruise suggestions. The vaporetto itself was really interesting. They have little floating barges or “stops” and the boat kinda rams itself into the side of the barge, ties off really quickly, and the people come and go. Awesome! We got off at the Rialto Bridge and walked the area.Venice is an island, a relatively small one at that. I was always surprised how quickly we got from one place to another by walking. We headed down to St. Mark’s square, got scared of the size of the crowd, and hopped on the next vaparetto to see a church across the canal and then worked our way to the back of the vaparetto for an amazing tour of the ci
ty. No walking involved, bonus. We wandered more of the city, grabbing a slice of pizza and beer for lunch. Later in the evening we tripped across the local grocery store and loaded up on snacks and goodies for the boat. We also decided then would be a good time to do the mandatory gondola ride, as the price raised at sunset. We grabbed two small bodega wines, arranged a trip with our gondolier and we were off! It was quiet and beautiful and romantic and improved by delicious bodega. We really enjoyed the experience but you could tell our gondolier was a wham, bam thank you, ma’am kind of service. Oh well. Chris and I made our way back to the ship, took a shower and got ready for dinner. One of the big selling points of this cruise for us was the overnight in Venice. We love staying out late in awesome cities and pretending we’re locals. What better place than Venice? We wandered the streets, looking for the perfect place for dinner. What we hadn’t considered was that this was Sunday, and the only places open were near the tourists areas. We wandered by a joint down an alley that looked to be full of locals and after some convincing Chris agreed that we could eat there. As soon as we sat they closed to diners. And it was amazing. Of co
urse it was, I’m always right! I had the spaghetti carne, which turned out to be the largest spaghetti noodles I had ever seen with a bacon-based marinara. But the sauce was a tiny bit spicy and unlike anything I had ever tasted. Wonderful! Chris got a prawn dish and we shared a fried seafood plate. Absolutely delicious food and a liter of the fantastic house red later and we were loving Venice. We wandered the darkened streets a little more and headed back to the ship surprised to learn that it was 1 am already. Time flies when you’re in love in an amazing city. We were leaving Venice the next day at 2 pm, so we were up early to get in as much fun as we could. I had printed off tickets to St. Mark’s Basilica before we left to avid the line, so we killed some time until our appointment. Loads more shopping and tasty pastries for breakfast. At our appointed time we took our “ticket” to the front
of the line only to be turned away by the guy saying he had no idea what that was. There was no one there to help us and I’ll be damned if I spend an hour in line. We snuck in the exit easily and took a very quick tour. After Rome it’s hard to be too impressed. In Venice we noticed the churches would charge to see the really cool parts or to go up to the second level. We weren’t digging the sneak charges, so we did a quick walk through and called it good. We walked and shopped more and found ourselves back at the grocery store we found the day before. We purchased cheeses, meats, wine and a baguette, found ourselves a quiet canal and had a picnic lunch. We proclaimed wine with lunch to be the best idea ever. Whenever we had wine with lunch the day dramatically improved. Our picnic was all delicious and amazing and we fed the pigeons. We deci
ded to walk back to the ship to enjoy the very last moments we had in Venice. On the last quarter mile we came across a group of Ferrari’s out for a Monday morning ride. What a life. Chris was pleased to see a Ferrari in Italy, just as it should be.Back on board we changed into our swimsuits and headed to the top deck for departure. We had some time until departure so we passed out on the deck. The blast from the horn roused us and we rushed to the side to take pictures of the awesome view and to say goodbye to our favorite city. Arrivederci! The entertainment for the evening was a masquerade ball, in honor of Venice. We did not previously purchase masks, expecting that not many would participate. We underestimated! People went wild with the masks, which was really fun to watch.
1 comment:
I finally took the time to read your honeymoon posts, you guys had such an AMAZING trip!!!
Post a Comment