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Published: August 26th 2007
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Venetian Goldolier
The prices started at 120 Euros ($180) for 40 minutes. We opted for the less romantic $2 public transit. Getting to Venice was supposed to be easy… but this time we got turned around in the subway station rather than above ground, and then had to deal with unbelievable crowds and signs pointing us the wrong way to check in at the airport! We did catch our flight with MyAir and they didn’t charge us for being slightly over the weight limit on our luggage, but we had to wait an extra hour on the ground while they loaded our luggage.
Our flight into Venice was beautiful - we had a clear view of all the islands and even the Millennium - docked and ready for us to board the next day. When we arrived, we had to take a bus onto the main island of Venice, and then we boarded a vaparetto (public transit boat) which took us down the Grand Canal. What a different world! Instead of roads, there were canals! The Grand Canal was the main thoroughfare with smaller canals leading off into quieter areas of the city. We found our small, quiet hotel easily, then indulged in our first truly Italian pizza. Our nighttime walk through Venice was an adventure - the walkways twist and
Venetian Goldoliers at rest
Venetian Goldoliers at rest wind around and over the canals. We did get to see St. Mark’s square and cathedral at night, which was nice - no crowds! On our way back to our hotel, we "found" ourselves lost numerous times but, although tired, we did see this as just part of being in Venice.
The one full day we had in Venice began with a relaxing breakfast in the garden of our hotel before taking our bags to the port and boarding the Millennium - our home for the next 12 days. The ship is huge! Literally - a floating 5* hotel. Our stateroom was on deck 3 (of 13) and we wanted to explore the ship, but knew we would have time later… instead, we headed back into Venice to walk the canals and explore further. We took a vaporretto along a different route this time to St. Mark’s to see the cathedral and square in the daytime. The crowds were CRAZY! We didn’t want to stand in line, so we enjoyed the cathedral from the outside - beautiful use of different colours of marble in the façade! We continued walking the small winding streets of Venice, for the rest of
Piazza San Marco bell tower
Piazza San Marco from our cruise ship the afternoon before heading back to the ship for dinner.
We were assigned to the first seating for dinner tonight, and thoroughly enjoyed our 5-course meal (appetizer, soup, salad, entrée, and dessert.) If we eat like this throughout our holiday, we will both have to join Weight Watchers when we return! We went to the show on board and saw excerpts from several of the shows that will happen throughout the cruise, and then spent the rest of the evening exploring the ship. There was so much to do! Several swimming pools, spa, theatre, several restaurants/bars/lounges, games rooms… everything that you would have at a resort on land, was floating, right here in Venice!
We remained docked in Venice overnight, so had one more day to explore. We headed straight to St. Mark’s square and since the line for the cathedral was several hundred metres long already, we decided to explore the Doge’s palace instead. The rooms in the palace were unbelievably detailed - stone carvings, paintings, wooden carved ceilings etc. One room was 25m by 50m with no supporting posts in the middle - one of the largest rooms in Europe. The inner courtyard of the palace
A café performance
There were 3 different evening café orchestras throughout Saint Mark's Square is fully covered in marble and was beautiful. We spent time marveling at what kind of technology must have been used to construct such a façade. Throughout Venice, there are all sorts of carvings and statues, but the use of different coloured marble to create beautiful, intricate designs was something I did not expect.
Once on board Millennium, we grabbed a quick lunch and then prepared for the evacuation drill - we found our life jackets, made our way to our muster station, and then our lifeboat! Afterwards, we quickly made our way as high up on the ship as we could for sail-away. We watched Venice pass beneath us as sailed out of the harbour. The views were unbelievable - churches and bell towers all over the place! We could even see the interweaving pattern of canals from our viewpoint on the 13th deck.
We enjoyed a fantastic 4-man a capella singing group in one of the lounges before going to our late-seating dinner. Dinner didn’t begin until after 9pm - awfully late for the 5 courses! We didn’t end up finishing dinner until after 11pm.
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