(Day 6) Into the Lagoon

Thanks to the wonderful shipboard credit given by our travel agent, today was going to be more adventurous than we had planned. We ended up booking a “Panoramic Tour by Motorlaunch” which really means getting off of our large boat and climbing on a smaller one and ripping around the various islands of Venice with a tour guide.



To be honest, before this cruise, I never gave much thought of traveling to Venice. I guess when I think Italy, I just think Rome…perhaps that was why I was caught off-guard by how revered this place seems to be…and the magic and romance inherent in a visit. Our cruise director came on the loud speaker mid-morning to announce that we had entered Venice’s lagoon and would be cruising by some amazing sights at lunch. So up to the Lido we went, eating breakfast 10 minutes before lunch and absorbing the enchantment peeking through the mist.


My breakfast…whatta pig.




The remarkable Piazza San Marco. I didn’t realize that I’ve seen innumerable pictures of this place until I saw it in person. Tourist mecca.






My lunch..eaten 10 minutes after the first plate. Did I mention I was planning on getting fat during this cruise? It’s all a part of the plan.



Once we had docked, the herds set off and we waited, with the geris, for our motorlaunch tour to begin.


Here we are in port!


And here we are, puttering away from the big boat on the small one. You can even see our stateroom from here!

The competition was fierce to get a prime spot on this geri cruise. Thanks to our age, agility, and my shrewdness, we finagled our way up onto the top deck and got a balcony spot. The geris couldn’t sit still though, and often blocked my view of anything other than immediately near me. Pfft. Geris.











We coasted between the various islands and got a nice little commentary from a nerdy-ish-looking guy. While I found Venice quite and hot and humid in October, he said in summer, they have to shower nearly ever hour due to the humidity. Yikes!

For a panoramic shot of the Venice island coastline, click the below picture to enlarge:






Here’s a youtube (taken by moi) from the tour. Pardon my phooey camera work.








This is apparently the hotel George Clooney stays at when he attends the Venice Film Festival. Big whoop.







The tour even brought us by a small island which holds the mental asylum. An island solely for crazy people. I think crazy sounds nice as long as I get to stay here:










This is a vaporetto (water taxi) stand.


This is an island with a big wedding band and crazy-ass elephant on it. Awesome.





Our tour brought us by the glass island of Murano. The geri ladies giggled with glee over the thought of Venetian glass and were making mental shopping lists of all the people who were going to get little crappy glass statues as souvenirs.

















Another youtube:








More Piazza San Marco.


BUY GEOX. Or not. But Venice wants you to. Actually, it turns out that Geox is funding the restoration of these particular buildings, so they get to plaster their ads all over them. I kind of wish I was the model in the Geox ad…how cool wouldn’t that be?

Another youtube:



The tour was good but when it was over, I needed some respite from all the geri-ness they imparted on me during those hours together. We had some dinner once we arrived back and prepared for our later-night outing.



Rachel was all piffed-out, so after dark, Marty, Grant, and I headed out on foot to go explore this gem of a city. Once of the “must-do” things in Venice, as I was repeatedly told, was to get lost. Like, literally. My brain doesn’t agree that this is actually necessary because it logically thinks that getting lost in a foreign city, halfway across the world would be kind of bad. And so, while I didn’t get intentionally lost, we certainly got unintentionally lost, which kind of doesn’t happen with me. But Venice slayed me.


This is one of the first alluring charms of the city – a board stuck to a fence, where you can put the stuff you don’t want…like chewing gum and cigarette butts. Lovely!


This is the bridge the leads from Venice the island to Venice proper on the mainland. We saw cars here, but really, there is no traffic once you really head into the city, as there are no roads. You’ll see.

With no real map or directions whatsoever, I was just walking based on my compass and where I think Piazza San Marco will be. We were told it takes about an hour on foot to reach the Piazza, but with neither of us really knowing what to expect, this could take all night. In the meantime, let’s enjoy the scenery as we pass, shall we?


This is the first canal sighting once we had reached the gateway into the city, Piazzale Roma.

We were a little taken aback with the hub-bub that was going on around us – the water buses, loaded with people, were puttering off in one direction and many other smaller boats cruising to and fro. The late-night crowds were moving about alongside the water which was lapping against the concrete barriers. The air was muggy at best…a kind of heavy heat not expected for October. We soldiered on, taking Venice in.







Some youtubes!



Can you get a feel for Venice yet? Like, Dubrovnik, this place must be seen to be believed as it is beyond comprehension. The alleys narrowed and widened, and we followed the signs in blind faith that they would lead to the Rialto Bridge and, ultimately, Piazza San Marco. The darkened and sometimes only two-shoulder-width paths seemed to belie the fact that innumerable tourists pass through theses walls daily. We could see the starry sky peeking through the slits of darkness between the buildings, and despite getting horribly lots and plenty of back-tracking, we eventually emerged on the Rialto Bridge.



The Rialto Bridge crosses the Grand Canal and is home to a portion of Venice’s vibrant nightlife. While the alleys were quiet and dark only moments before, the sound of shouting gondoliers and clinking glasses from the cafes now filled our ears.









As we had gotten lost, we used nearly an hour to find the Rialto Bridge…but this wasn’t the final goal, so we left the flurry of activity behind and headed back into the dark alleys to find the hidden Piazza San Marco.




Some singing gondoliers passing on the canal below.



Yet another youtube-r:





The wandering lost plague that had come upon us suddenly vanished after we passed over a small bridge, under a slightly larger archway and strolled, surprised, into the expansive and majestic Piazza San Marco.


Basilica San Marco







This is where the action lies. At night, it was illuminated with ornate lampposts and chandelier-style lighting from the small cafes that dotted the perimeter of the square. People, clearly tourists, were milling about and gawking at the vast open space that seemed out of place in the otherwise cramped city. There were small stages set up every 20 feet or so, each with their own tuxedo-donning quartets playing stringed instruments to heighten the atmosphere. We continued our walk past the Basilica, Doge’s Palace, and toward the waterfront and boardwalk.



Youtube of the bands playing:










Doge’s Palace






Chit-chatty gondoliers









Despite the late hour (nearing 11 PM), the geris were still out in full force. While I admire their staying power, they seriously need to give me a break already. Wait, what? They won’t? Geeze.

We eventually heard our cruise ship beds calling our name and started the long journey back. Even with three people, all determined to remember at least part of the way back, we managed to get lost once again. We were walking alongside one canal when suddenly after passing under one archway, the sidewalk stopped and we hit and honest-to-goodness brick wall. Very befuddling. After a substantial amount of back-tracking again, we did manage to find our way back to Piazzale Roma and, subsequently, our floating home. As this is the only port we are docked in overnight, I would be remiss if I didn’t shoot our fair lady dressed in her evening’s finest.



I sat out on deck for a while and cooled off…the muggy heat had got the best of me and I was now sitting in some seriously sweat-soaked garments. Ew! Oh Venice. Tomorrow we will try again, this time with Rachel along for the wild Venice ride. And we won’t get lost! Hopefully.