Day 40 Venice

Day 40 – Venice – Sunday 24/6/12

Weather – Fine and Sunny 23C - 36C

Sunrise – 5.25am

Sunset – 9.01pm

Time difference - minus 8 hours ex Sydney (back an hour last night)

At 10am this morning the pilot climbed on, and we followed the buoyed channel turning to port guided by the leading lights of Murano Can Dei Marani. After entering the main canal San Nicolo Oi Lido we altered course to port and continue towards Canal Di San Marco, be secured alongside at midday at our berth, Molo di Levante.

Venice – wow, what a unique city. Every now and then I just pinch myself . Not that long ago we were on what had become the treadmill of working life. Now we are living the dream of a world cruise holiday. This was never more accentuated than today, as we spent our anniversary weekend in this glorious city of Venice.

Our sail into Venice was just remarkable. We took position up on the very top deck, starboard side, about 10am, and we did not budge for the next 2 hours. We were in awe of the beauty of the approach to the city. A glorious warm and sunny Sunday morning saw a plethora of water craft of all shapes and sizes making their way out to surrounding islands and beaches.

I took about 150 photos, just on the sail in. There was picture postcard views aplenty as we meandered under escort through the Canal di San Marco. The crowds along the esplanade were amazing, as they wandered to and from Piazza San Marco. There was just so much to see.

The architecture is just wonderful, and just evokes wonder at the history and times gone of this city, and to be able to see it from such a fantastic vantage point is truly memorable. We then traversed the Canal della Giudecca, past some pretty awesome launches that were moored along the canal, on our way to our berth at Marittima which we shared with MSC Musica, Celebrity Solicite, Wind Surf, Aegean Odyssey to name a few.

Princess had arranged for a water shuttle from the ship into a drop off point not too far St Marks Square at a cost of $22 , unlimited use for the two days we in Venice. There was also a shuttle bus to the water shuttle as it was a bit of a walk there initially.

We were on one of the first shuttle runs in. Our only pressing task was to find a restaurant/cafe where we could book a dinner for 11 people. We had invited a few some of our pre-dinner drink group out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary of yesterday. We headed away from the tourist mecca of St Marks Sq, and wandered through the charming little lanes. There is a photo op at every corner here, and the camera was clicking pretty frequently.

Whilst in one these little out of the way laneways, we came across a beautiful maritime museum/monument along the Rio dell Arsenelle. Directly across were many locals having lunch in outdoor restaurant call Da Paola. I had a look at the menu, prices, and the food that all these folks were eating and made the reservation!!

We then made our way to St Marks. Donna had read somewhere that an average of 50,000 people a day visit Venice. Well this was a beautiful sunny Sunday, I reckon it was an above average crowd to day. The queue for St Mark's Basilica snaked through the piazza for a very long way. We decided that we would have a go at this one the next morning in the hope that Monday morning would have significantly less domestic tourists.

We worked our way though the laneways that were just a maze of little thoughfares, housing lots and lots on tiny retail shops, cafes and stalls. Our objective was to meander our way in the general direction of the Rialto Bridge, which is one of four bridges spanning the Grand Canal. The route is very well signposted, so eventually found ourselves standing on this iconic structure.

We were a bit hot and bothered by now, as it was very hot, our conditioning by the heat in Egypt helped us cope quite well, but we wanted to be fresh for our dinner, so we worked our way back to the ships shuttle, which involved about an hour of more sight seeing through the plazas, lanes, canals of Venice.

After a refreshing shower and rest on board , we ventured out again with our dinner friends. Da Paola restaurant did not disappoint. A gastronomical delight of awesome pasta and pizza. It was a lovely dinner, in a great location, with great food, and wonderful company. We were fortunate to witness the ceremonial lowering and removal of the flag outside the maritime monument at 9pm, quite touching.

Of course one could not spend your anniversary weekend in Venice, and not take the opportunity of a moonlit gondola through the charming canals of this unique city. Venice seems to take on a whole new persona by night, and we feel so privileged to be here and experiencing it.

And, because this is an overnight stop, we get to absorb more of it tomorrow!!!!!