We had simply the best, low stress day in Venice. I love this city!
Is there anything better than being welcomed by name and having a napkin placed in your lap first thing in the morning? That is one wonderful way to start the day! We both had fruit to start (we agreed with the waiters that those deliciously sweet Moorea pineapples are sorely missed), and I had an egg white veggie omelet. We dawdled over breakfast, re-reading the Venice section of Rick Steves' book and making minimal plans for the day. Back in the cabin, we took a few minutes to do some straightening and organizing and send out a first load of laundry, and then packed up for an easy day of sightseeing.
The day was cool and never sunny, and on the water it felt almost cold. G wore his jacket but I just wore a vest and we walked through the Port of Venice, past the People Mover and across a bridge to the Piazzale Roma, the transportation hub in Venice. In case you want to skip the 1,50 € People Mover, TomsPortGuides.com has an excellent map showing how to walk the (roughly a) mile to Piazzale Roma instead. Once at the Piazzalle Roma, we had to ask where to board the vaparetto (basically, a boat that functions as a bus), and bought one way tickets for 7,50 €. We had Rick Steves' Grand Canal tour on audio (I listened to that) describing what we were seeing as we traveled north on Line 1 along the west end of the Grand Canal. This was my WOW moment, seeing the rooftops and bell towers (so many bell towers!) and cathedrals and gondolas and all the arched bridges (including the famous Rialto) and the striped poles that the gondolas tie up to.
We took the vaporetto to San Marco (St. Mark's Square) and disembarked to walk around and do some sightseeing. We did not go into the Basilica today- we had to be back on the ship by 2pm for a 3:15pm muster drill and 4pm sail away- and instead just used the time to explore the square. It was 1 pm when we boarded a Line 2 vaporetto at San Marco and rode it back down the east end of the Grand Canal. We were dropped at the final stop, Tronchetto (train station) near the port on the west side of Venice and walked back to the Pacific Princess, arriving just before the all on board time of 2pm. Seldom early, never late...we started the season as we ended the last one.
Once back in our cabin, I (instantly...it's so easy!) downloaded the photos from the camera's SD memory card to my iPad. In reviewing the photos I had taken, I had my first learning experiences about Venice: 1.) Every photo taken from a vaporetto needs to be straightened because the boat bounces; and 2.) it's tough to take a photo of a building without a boat in it. Nearly impossible. But that's part of the draw of the city. But I was thrilled at the photos I took with the new Nikon camera. The day grew increasing grey and cold, and I wondered if I was going to capture any color at all (I'm used to the iPhone camera and one of its only weaknesses is its low light photos). The new Nikon made the most of what little light we had today.
Muster drill (our only one of the winter!) was held at 3:15pm. Our muster station was in the Cabaret Lounge, and it was great to see Deputy CD Michael and a couple of the dancers we hadn't yet run into. The first question from all of them? "How many cruises this time?" We are so predictable. We watched one of the best sail aways in the world from Deck 10, bundled up in jackets and hat/headband and gloves. The wind was brisk and very cold that high on the ship. When we arrived in Venice yesterday in sunny heat, we wondered if we had packed enough warm weather clothes; today we 're certain we didn't pack enough cold weather clothing. If Venice is pretty when viewed from land or the canals, it is spectacular when viewed from a cruise ship. People on the vaporettos and water taxis were waving as the Pacific Princess slowly sailed up the east end of the Grand Canal and into open ocean.
You can see the different perspective of these photos compared to the ones taken while on a vaporetto at water level...
Basketball along the Grand Canal. I took this one for the twins.
And then we rushed back to the cabin and turned up the heat to warm up. This ship is familiar, but this ship in this cold weather is not. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer and sunnier and we are ready for both! I started this blog post while G napped, and by 5pm we began to get cleaned up for the evening. One advantage of today's chilliness was that we didn't need to shower again before dinner. What a time saver! Maitre d' Oscar had caught us on our way off the ship today to tell us he had sent a change of dinner table notice to our cabin (it hadn't yet arrived when we left). He said that we are now at table 35, the only two seater near a window, the table we've mostly had for two winter seasons. We hadn't even asked for it; he just remembered we liked it and assigned us to it. When we returned to the cabin after the day ashore, the new assignment notice was there, and Oscar had added "Welcome home" at the bottom.
There's no place like home! :-)
Dinner again included some new menu items. I had spanikopita as my starter and sea scallops with green olives and white and green beans as my entree. Wow, were they delicious! For dessert I chose a new (to us) Norman Love Chocokate Journeys dessert, with a crunchy almond cinnamon nougatine base topped with a layer of caramel and a big scoop of chocolate mousse. Luckily I walked right out the dining room and into the executive chef, so I could tell him exactly how good dinner was.
Grilled chicken salad with black bean pico de gallo
Greek spanakopita
Scallops, green olives and white and green bean entree
The Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall was held in the atrium at 7pm (Maitre d' Oscar appeared in a Venetian mask and hat and wore an ornate cape. Only he can pull that off!). The Welcome Aboard show was held afterward, with an intro and wrap up by the singers and dancers and a short performance by comedian singer Jo Little. She is a wonderful vocalist...and a so-so comedian (at least to Americans. She had a very British sense of humor). G stayed out to attend the Passenger Feud show, but for me, the one who was up first morning didn't nap this afternoon, the day is done. Fingers crossed that I can get this post uploaded!
