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Up early to farewell the cruise and our new buddies......been great 12 days, extraordinary how much we have seen in that time......quite a pilgrimage.
Spectacular morning, warm and sunny despite what they predicted.
Met a lot of nice people on the cruise, not all Yanks are painful, however they are 'different'.
Definitely better to have 'anytime dining', that way you sit with different crowd each time, or by yourselves if you choose. Even though there were quite a few Aussies on board, we didn't cross paths with many.
Off to explore Venice on our own, it will be weird not following a guide and their plackard, being able to skip queues and actually 'learn something'.
Disembarkation very organised....our luggage will be transferred by barge, we go by ferry.....have no idea how we will find our hotel!
Like a treasure hunt.....the address is absolutely no clue, just a 4 letter number......one uniformed officer ( have no idea what uniform it was) told us that the numbers don't follow any pattern.....great!
Finally found it thanks to a friendly shopkeeper, tucked away in behind St. Mark's Sq., a tiny sign beside a little doorway between 2 up-market clothing shops.....of course that is where you would find it.....The Palazzo Selvadego, San Marco.
Breakfast is at the major hotel...Hotel Monaco, on the Grand Canal.....I can see why we are not staying there! At least we get to have brecky there.
Thanks Princess Cruises for delivering our luggage (for a price of course).
Such a wonderful view from our 3rd storey room.....over-looking a junction in the canals where the gondolas congregate and people gather....such atmosphere!
Checked out the Square......wow! So many Venican glass, jewellery and venician mask outlets.....
Back to the hotel for an afternoon rest....woke up 3 hrs later.....think it might be starting to catch up.
Refreshed and ready to wander and find a restaurant.....can't wait to see this by night!
Found a lovely restaurant close by in a back street, I had steak, no GF pizza of course, steak absolutely scrummy (apparantly from Germany), Roger had pizza.....(peppperoni in Italy is capsicum!).
We are so lucky in Australia, we are spoiled with the variety of cuisines available......most European countries seem to stick to their traditional dishes and be hanged to others.
Wandered around the square and waterfront, superb evening, still pinching ourselves we are actually in Venice.
Starting to sprinkle, best get back to the hotel for a good nights sleep and see how far we get tomorrow.
Must thank Jenny our wonderful Travel Agent for booking us into this hotel, such a great location.
Roger's thoughts on the day........
Another perfect sunny day, we're going back over to Venice afgter a last perfect night on the ship.
Found our hotel after asking about 20 people. Went for a walk until check in time......once we checked in we slept for about 2 hours.
Managed to find a cute restaurant just around the corner that won't break the bank - Venice is very expensive.
.....9.10pm, we are sitting in the square listening to the violins playing and taking it all in. Our hotel is just off the main square, very close to everything.
- comments
Fay Joseph Sounds just wonderful - make the most of every minute.Love.Fay