14
VENICE JUNE 10 OVERNIGHT
5am, I woke at 5am!!!!! Wide awake and not able to sleep anymore. The exitement of two days in Venice drew me out of bed and up on deck. I sat there alone for a good while. How pieaceful it was up there so early in the morning. No one else seemed to be awake and for a moment I pretended that the Legend of the Seas was my private yacht. (I know, my illusion of grandeur reached new hights that morning.
)
Surely but slowly the ship woke up and by 630am the entire ships was on deck with cameras in hand. Nobody wanted to miss the magical sail-in to Venice.
I had been there many times before but sailing on and passing the canals, the St. Mark's square and Basilica, Doge`s Palace and Santa Maria della Salute is an unforgettable experience made stronger by being on a cruise ship.
The shis was docked at 8am and by 830am we were ashore.
We had decided to walk the 10-15 minutes to Piazza de Roma and get a vaporetto (water bus) into town from there. We bought two 12 hour passes for 14.50 Euros each, unlimited use. 24 hours and longer passes were also available.
Vaporetto no.1 took us all the way down the Grand Canal to the Lido but we got of at St.Mark's square.
What could be said about the Grand Canal that hasnt been said before??? Its an experience that has to be done at least once or twice in a lifetime. The Canal sums up the essence of Venice life and living. Its over 2 miles long, lined with over 100 marble palaces and built between the 12th and 18th centuries.
Luckily we arrived early to the St. Mark's Square and managed to see the square and surroundings before the masses of tourists flocked there.
Moved by Venice beauty we had to sit down and have some coffee and pastriesl. We found a nice little place by a small side canal off St.Mark's Square. I wouldnt recommend having anything at the cafes around St. Mark's as the price for a coffee easily can reach Euros 10,- pr cup!!! Friends of ours had afternoon tea there and they ended up paying Euros 90,- for the two of them.
We walked around most of the morning exploring, getting lost, then finding our way again.
We had tickets for Doges Palace at 12 noon, so we made our way back to St. Mark's s.
The Doges Palace (Palazzo Ducale) was both the residence and goverment seat for the Doges. You could tell the palace was built by power for power. A bit intimidating, sordid and magnificent at the same time. The interior decoration can hardly disguise the ferocity of the walls.
We walked the bridge of sights, so called after the despair of prisoners who were led across to the prison to be executed or incarcerated.
The most impressive room at the Doges Palace was the great council chamber, the largest room in Europe meassuring 54 meters long and 25 meters wide!!!!
For the rest of the afternoon we walked and walked and walked. There really are no other way to discover Venice, exept by Vaporetto...LOL.. Had pizza for lunch, (what else..
) did some window shopping but the prices were very steep. We did however end up with four masks!!! All which I have already given away. The thing is that the masks looks lovely in Venice but when they are taken out of their context they just look out of place. However a large mask set with Swarowsky crystals would look superb!! Maybe next time!!
At 6pm we had tickets for the Franchetti Gallery so we made our way to CaŽ dŽoro by Vaporetto. Unfortunatly they had closed the second floor which housed a large collection of Flemmish and Dutch paintings. Which probably was what we wanted to see because we could not think of any other reason for being there.
Since we now had been on the go for 14 hours we decided to take the vaporetto to the Lido and have dinner there before returning to the ship.
The Lido was a welcoming break from the hords of people in Venice. However we didnt explore the area much as we were getting exhausted from all the walking we had done and from all the impressions.
We relaxed at a snack bar for a while before we boarded the vaporetto that would take us all the way back to the Piazza de Roma and the ship.
Some of the vaporettos had a outside sitting area all the way forward of the boats. Those sitting areas were always taken but we wanted those prime seats for our return journey back down the Grand Canal. With some patience we let two vaporettos leave without us before we were first in line and the prime seats were ours!!!!
What splendid vistas we had from our seats!!!! I was surprised they didnt charge more for those panorama seats..LOL.
At the St. Mark's Square stop Mieke and MJ boarded the vaporetto. What a coincident!!
The trip from the Lido to the end stop Piazza de Rome took 1 hour!!! Please do me a favour when you are in Venice and take the vaporetto all the way down the Grand Canal to the Lido and back. I can assure you it will be the best tour you could ever do in Venice.
We arrived back at the ship around 10pm. Dead beat we had some room service before we crashed for the night.
We needed the rest as the next day we had another day in Venice......
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Legend of the seas *June 2-15 2008* Italy and Croatia
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Or did you have one of your friends take some pix?
Its fun to do this. Its even more fun to do when its really appreciated.
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