Day 2 Venice

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Today is transfer day. Move all of our stuff to the Celebrity Constellation. We just walked to San Marco square. This where the Doge’s Palace (the center of the political and legal systems) and St. Marks Basilica. (housing the relics of St. Mark one of the writers of the gospels). We asked at the ticket booth and were told we could walk thru the palace (without the audio guide) in about 1 ½ hours. Originally built in 810 (not a typo) it was destroyed by fire in the 10^thcentury and was rebuilt in the basic layout seen today. We crossed the Bridge of Sighs into the prison area which is more picturesque from the outside. OK back to the hotel and load up the water taxi. They have a bus system called vaparetto which is very inexpensive and runs every 15 mins to various stops using a series of transit lines much like the tube in London or in Paris. However dragging a load of suitcases and bags onto a bus just isn’t going to happen. Especially since the water taxi comes right to the back door of the hotel. Once we endured running the gauntlet to get on the ship we could cool down and relax long enough to get ready for a special treat.

The ferry from the ship ended up taking us right back to the dock in front of our hotel by San Marco square where located one of the Gondoliers (Marco) and negotiated a shorter ride to a restaurant that he recommended. The first thing that becomes very noticeable is the level of quiet. No noise of cars or trucks. The canals are, in some places about 8’ wide and according to Marco only about 2m deep. There are 440 gondolas in Venice and these guys have skills. For that matter anyone who operates any of the boats here have impressive skills. The gondola ride was very very relaxing and after around 40 minutes we pulled up beside the restaurant. Ali D’Oro. Since the Gondolier waved the owner of the restaurant over we were moved into a table right beside the canal. Giuseppe welcomed us and was very happy to have us there for dinner. We ordered a spritz and ordered appetizers. Bruschetta with a dish of seafood medley. Mussels, smoked salmon, shrimp, cuttlefish, octopus and creamed cod. Yes I said creamed cod. It sounds weird but was really good! That was followed by lobster tagliatelli (the pasta was awesome).

As if that wasn’t good enough along comes a street busker playing all of the Italian hits.

When we went to pay our bill, the owner invited us inside for a Limoncello. Nice touch.



Back to the lagoon docks and onto the Celebrity shuttle and back to the ship.

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