Well, this morning I was rudely awakened by my alarm – the gangway opening up next to me at 8 am. We gained back a much needed hour overnight, so the early morning task of packing up my room and moving into Scott’s old room down the hall and downstairs from my first room was met with a pretty alert James. Packing up went fine, as I really don’t have much, and I said goodbye to my lovely porthole, double bed, and single room. I got ready to leave for Venice with the boys and then moved my stuff down to 3734, dreading unpacking when I returned.
There were some delays with local authorities (which is not atypical), and crew was finally cleared to get off the ship around 12. We were all starving and bee-lined for the Rialto area. Since I had last week’s adventure in Venice under my belt, I knew my way around surprisingly well in the labrynth city. The Rialto is the commerce center and next to the marketplace is a row of restaurants lining the Grand Canal. We chose Riva del Vin (River of the Wine) and sat on the waterfront watching gondolas, produce boats, water taxis and various other vessels glide through the green water. It was cloudy and a little hazy today, not as nice as last week, but still wonderful to be there. I had a wonderful, real Caprese salad and just about died over the fresh mozzarella. I couldn’t resist dining on some pizza again this week, so I got that as well and devoured the perfect creation. The three of us shared a bottle of Sparkling Wine called Prosecco, which I think will probably become a favorite of this trip for us all.
After some walking around and shopping for masks in the Rialto, Eric decided to depart for the ship, as he had a rehearsal and also is terrified of birds. :) We were headed next to St. Mark’s Square, which is literally COVERED in pigeons. This is Eric’s worst nightmare, so the poor boog made the executive decision to take off from the Rialto. Pieter and I braved the winged-creature haven of the Square.
It was much busier than when I visited on the previous Friday. There were more tourists, but also more locals out doing their weekend shopping, etc. After our short detour, we decided to head back to the ship, taking the southern route through L’Accademia (which features an amazing bridge that crosses the Grand Canal). Stopping for some much required Gelato, I was able to order completely in Italian and I was so proud of myself!! (Sidenote: I also learned that they provide the Rosetta Stone courses to the crew in the Crew Welfare office, so I’m DEFINITELY checking that out while I’m here and I think Italian might just be the next language for me… after I brush up on my francias, bien sur.)
It started to drizzle as we were trying to eat gelato and speedwalk back across the bridges and narrow sidewalks. We’d seen that it might rain today, but it held off for most of the day. After my Hazelnut cone was done, we put up our hoods and picked up the pace to the Gem. Arriving pretty soaked, it was not the most pleasant of endings to a wonderful day, but it was all part of the adventure.
Pieter and I changed and waited for Eric to show up to watch Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (number 2 in our marathon). We knew that since he’d undoubtedly fall asleep within the first 15 minutes, we pressed play and watched about half the movie. I actually think it was the first time seeing it for me because it looked completely unfamiliar. Oh well. We got up to meet Eric for dinner in the staff mess and were joined by the South African nail tech, Anel. We all made plans to go back to Bliss for some bowling tonight before the dancer’s weekly Shadow Dancing event.
After some walking around and shopping for masks in the Rialto, Eric decided to depart for the ship, as he had a rehearsal and also is terrified of birds. :) We were headed next to St. Mark’s Square, which is literally COVERED in pigeons. This is Eric’s worst nightmare, so the poor boog made the executive decision to take off from the Rialto. Pieter and I braved the winged-creature haven of the Square.
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