Romantic City...

Venice, Italy; The city of beauty and romance. Ahh the life I lead. It was a hectic day of course. So much to see and do and so little time to do it. We were seeing Venice a la express style. We had to get as much as we could into about 6 hours of time. The port of course was 4 kilometers away from where we needed to go. In miles and feet, we didn’t have a clue how far away we were and we were advised to walk into town so we didn’t miss all the splendor of the city. A water taxi or bus would take us to San Marco Square in 5 minutes, but we wanted to see everything. We learned a valuable lesson later that we should have taken the taxi/bus into the square and walked back. It would have been much more effective. C’est la vie. Next time I’m on a ship porting into Venice, I’ll know. Although I hope to be staying in Venice for a longer period next time. We arrived at the Piazza Le Roma and followed the stairs down to one of the canals. This wasn’t just any canal though, it was the Grande Canal. It’s kind of like an interstate highway that goes around the city with the main core of the city on the inside and the suburbs on the outside. I kid you not the whole city is sitting just above water. Most of the streets are water. Imagine all of NYC sitting just above 5 feet of water. All of the little side streets would be filled with about 5 feet of water, and little bridges would connect the sidewalks. All the main roads would be huge traffic ways of water taxis and busses. I don’t know much about the structure of Venice, but it appears that it was built on pieces of land sticking just above water and expanded outward via marble streets. In the winter during high rains and tides, the sirens go off and the people erect wooden platforms to get around in the city because apparently all of Venice floods. San Marco Square apparently fills with about 3 feet of water and everyone goes to the grand cathedral in canoes and gondolas. It’s expected and supposedly a spectacle. Anyway I just veered off on a huge tangent. We arrived at the Grande Canal and I was overwhelmed with beauty. The architecture is unfathomable. Every nook and cranny of this city is beautiful right down to the rustic alleyways. Even the flower boxes over the rot iron balconies have beauty in them. Even the clothes hanging out to dry on random lines between buildings have beauty in the way they are structured. It was breathtaking. The canal at this early hour wasn’t AS busy as it can get, but it was like any other street with boats traveling up and down it like any other city. We walked along the cobblestone sidewalk to reach a dead end where we could either go deep into town and get lost or cross our first large bridge. We entered the first of many shops displaying beautiful Venetian masks and glass. Our senses were going nuts. Our goal was to get to the Piazza San Marco and see the Rialto Bridge. We were stopping in almost every store to see the beautiful craftsmanship of these paper mache and ceramic masks, the display of Venetian glass objects, and the MANY bakeries with a plethora of Italian sweets. Just as we were traveling down the road a band began to follow us. A marching band. A parade of some sorts was traveling down the same path to San Marco Square. We got caught up in it as we were walking and then got ahead of it. It became hilarious since every time we stopped for a photo opportunity we had to scramble ahead of the band. We finally arrived at the Rialto Bridge. I was finally seeing it for real. It was unbelievable. It was the first bridge to span the Grande Canal. We had some confusion since there were so many people and got a little lost. Venice’s walk able streets are like walking through a maze of buildings. Every street is in Italian and posted on the side of a building. The map was so hard to read and we had little time to stop. We finally found our way to the Piazza San Marco. I was so overwhelmed tears welled up in my eyes over the unbelievable sight. I couldn’t believe I was actually here in Venice seeing a sight I’d dreamed about for years and years, seen in countless travel programs, and even in movies. The whole plaza was filled with pigeons and we were snapping photos like mad. The marching band that was following us began its entrance into the plaza. The loud banging of the drums and the people shuffling around caused all the pigeons to spring up into the air. It looked like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds for at least 5 minutes. It was hilarious. My side was hurting from laughing so hard because everyone was ducking and running around in our group as pigeons were darting about everywhere. I’m surprised we didn’t get bombed by all the pigeons we had flying over our heads. We headed over to the shopping area and stopped for a little gelato. The day was just beginning and we already had some amazing experiences. Here in the square was the Camponile (the famous clock tower), the Basilica de San Marco, and the museum. All breathtaking. We went out to the Grande Canal to get various views of the city and the square. We had no time to even see the insides of these beautiful places and the plaza was packed with people. It was a busy day this Sunday in Venice. The parade of people consisted of a marching band and followers with banners of a stork holding a heart in its mouth. We figured it must have been a rally of some sort. On our way back we began our scavenger hunt. We all wanted to get specific things AND find our way back. First we went back to the Rialto Bridge to find a café on the canal and have some authentic Italian pizza and cappuccino. Delicious. Then we headed on our way back. It was easy to find our way to the square since we just followed the masses of people following the band and the band pushing us forward. Now we had to find our way through the maze to get back to the ship. This is where the frantic hustle and bustle began. We had about 2 hours to shop and get back to the ship in time and none of us knew what to do. It took us about 2 hours to get to the square we figured, but that was because we stopped a lot and we had the band to deal with. We were rushing to get back. This is why we should have taken a taxi in and walked back. Live and learn I guess. The next time we’re in Venice is when we leave the ship in October. I may take an extended stay just to see everything. It all depends on how much money I actually saved on this contract. This contract has been a doozy so far for finances, but I’m seeing a whole lot more for a whole lot less than anyone taking this cruise as a passenger is seeing it. We finally arrived back at the ship with all of our select items in tow. Scavenger hunt finished. I missed out on a few things, but nothing I can’t find next time around. Talk about exhausting. Whew! I can already tell that there are some big places coming up that will be just as exciting. London, Paris, Monte Carlo, St. Petersburg, Copenhagen, and a few more. Wow. We’ve only just begun our third cruise and I’ve already taken 600 photos. I took over 100 in Venice alone. I’ll have memories for years to come.