Tinbergs on Tour: Thursday, September 8, 2016 – Venice, Italy – Sunny

We are once again in the beautiful city of Venice…the forecast is for a beautiful day in this historic and scenic city on the lagoon.

The seas were very smooth last night (still very little sleep due to the noise in the room). We will need to switch our schedule and stay out of the room until past midnight and then try to sleep a little later.

I was really looking forward to my first breakfast in the Lido Café and it did not disappoint – pancakes are made to order (the best); cottage cheese and whipped cream are available; there are very good scrambled eggs plus those cute little preserves in the tiny bottles. Perfect. I brought Ellen her breakfast so we have our “room service” system in place.

I watched the sail in to Venice from the Lido (below is the view of the sail in from our cabin).

I didn’t take too many pictures of the sail in but I did see an old friend docked in the alternate port – the Azamara Journey.

We are not on tour today so the plan was to take the “People Mover” from the Marittime Cruise Port to the Piazzale Roma (a short ride for 1.5 Euros per person). What we didn’t count on was the very long walk from the ship to the train station (at least 15 minutes). By the time we got to the station and then to the Piazzale Roma, we had used up a lot of our steps. On the plus side, we were able to get a terrific shot of Queen Elizabeth.

QE Plus and Minus Me

The signage is very good in Venice, and although our initial goal was the “Jewish Ghetto”, we wound up following signs for S. Marco. The last time we were here it was raining and the Square was flooded.

We crossed the bridge and we were on our way.

Piazzale Roma and Canal Grande

Along the way, we came across some Venetian Architecture worth noting.

Chiesa de San Rocco

Campo San Polo

One other thing worth mentioning is the Gelato Store I found near the Campo San Polo. For 1.3 Euros, I got a huge chocolate and nut gelato – the yummiest gelato I have yet come across.

Gelato Heaven – Molto Bene

As we got close to Piazza San Marco, we climbed up and down the Rialto Bridge – the first time we’ve done that. The bridge was wall to wall with people and I didn’t take any pictures. Just beyond that was the Piazza San Marco. Today, because of the good weather, it was also packed with people.

View Toward the Grand Canal

Basilica San Marco

Palazzo Reale Procuratie Vecchie et Nuove

Palazzo Reale Procuratie Vecchie

Piazza San Marco with Tower and Basilica

At this point, we had accomplished our goal and were in real need of a washroom. In Venice, you generally need to buy something at a restaurant to use the facilities and the public washrooms are hard to find. We got lucky and used the washrooms at The Hotel Monaco and Grand Canal – we just acted like we were on tour and no one said anything. The washrooms were very cool. The wash basin was a huge barrel. News we can use for our next trip to Venezia.

We decided that since we had already done 10,000 steps, we would take the Alilaguna Water Bus back to Marittime (8 Euros/pp). We had a little time until the next boat so we did some more sightseeing along the Grand Canal.

Santa Maria della Salute was constructed in thanks to Santa Maria for protection from the plague.

Santa Maria della Salute

San Giorgio Maggiore

The boat ride back takes about 30 minutes and it was pretty scenic. The “bus” let us off right near the boat (we had seen ads for this transport when we started our walk).

Almost Back on the Alilaguna Water Bus

Overall, our day in Venice resulted in 11,200 or so steps.

We watched the very scenic sail away from Deck 3 – a much better photo option than the sail in. The Sail Away series follows.

Sail Away – Venice

We had a very nice dinner in the Lido Café – I am alternating between made or order pizza and pasta. Both are very good and the venue is so calm and quiet – perfect for dinner.

Tonight’s Showtime is the first Production Show of the Cruise. “Sing” utilizes both orchestras (19), the String Quartet, the harpist, and the Royal Cunard Singers.