Lazy me slept while Roger is off exercising at the gym!
We will both be starving ourselves when we get back, so hard not to over indulge.....will be eating a jar of vegemite first though!
Cruising towards Venice up the Adriatic sea, cool and overcast. Due to dock at 1300.
Time to start packing up...bags out by 2300 tonight, disembarking 0900 tomorrow.
Oh my Godfather, if that wasn't the most spectacular sail-in ever! Cruising through the harbour into Venice, 16 stories up - extraordinary sights!
Stirring Italian Opera playing as we sailed past Venice Island.....so emotional.....what a romantic sight.
Another cruise ship was following several kms behind, to see how these ships tower over everything has to seen to be believed. The trip through the waterways to the dock took around 45mins.
Shore excurions very well organised - getting 2500 people off ship a logistical nightmare, they have it down pat.
Some sort of hold up with the boats - once again Yanks very impatient......starting to get s***ty and twitchy, jumping up and down.
Finally the ferry arrives - wow the sun is shinning and we arrive at the square. So many people, I think there are 3 cruise ships in port.
What a magical place....Venice -
400 bridges, 700 gondolas, and can you believe at the current rate, in 80 years the streets will be underwater!
Surely not.....
First stop, the Doge's Palace, the 18th century Venician Parliament museum...fascinating place. Weird political system. No Venician Architects....... Engineers were the architects, amazing wooden structure.
Crossed the canal via the internal passage of the 'Bridge of Sighs'.....on the way to the goal....the last sight of freedom the prisoners saw. Wow.
The apparent explanation of the Venician masks....to hide one's true thoughts, two faced. No one really knows what you are thinking. Continued on after the Carnivarle.
Thrill of the day..... The Gondola ride! Wow, who would have thought! So spectacular......half hour journey through the tiny canals and then out onto the very busy main canal......someone pinch me!
Apparently it is a 4 year training course to 'drive' the gondolas.....cannot work out how they manoveour them round the tiny canals.
Next The Murano glass blowing demo......wow are they 'Masters' of their trade......such extraordinary craftmanship. Very ornate most of it.
Back to spend the last night on our Princess......
Just heard that our new best friend Molly now has the gastro......how are we going to escape it!
What a memorable day.

Roger's added thoughts of the day.....

Well we are packed, biggest oroblem is fitting the presents in, might throw them overboard! Just kidding!

We are sailing into Venice looking down on it from 16 stories up, they are playing Opera music to make it even more romantic, sun shinning. As the man in the lift said, it brings tears to your eyes!

In the 1700's it was the richest place in Europe.

The Politicians were only there for 1 year and the helpers for 1 month. They apparently used to 'tell on each other' to try and gain power. The masks were used because they didn't trust one another and they could hide behind them.

The ship is full of colds and other viruses, we were sitting on the bus and 1 stupid yank asked for a drink out of our water bottle...... The answer was 'NO'.
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The Travelsim phone sim cards have been great......saved heaps I am sure, good coverage almost anywhere, easy to top up from handset, all round good value.
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