Quote of the day: “On our last cruise, one guy was put off the ship after having an argument with a lady in the laundry, and throwing an iron at her.”
Sailing into Venice is an experience not to be missed. It’s like sailing down the main street, as St. Mark’s canal passes the center of old Venice, before taking the ship to the port area.
This is one of the few ports that has an overnight stay. That meant we did two trips into the city center, one yesterday afternoon and one this morning. Both trips were hot and humid, so we were both dripping by the time we got “home”. Yesterday’s plan was to get to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, but when we got to St. Marks Square, we took advantage of no queues at the Doge’s Palace, and did that instead.
The Palace is a magnificent building, very richly decorated. In olden times, the Doge was elected from the nobility of Venice, and then held the position for life. Most seem to have only lasted a few years after election – a bit like the Popes: elect them old, and hope they don’t last too long so as not to have too much influence! Or they were quietly poisoned off… Once elected, they were virtual prisoners in the Palace, and seemed to have rushed around madly to add to the décor of the place…
From there, the rest of the day was all downhill. We had a great wander around the little alleyways and over the cutesy bridges, before getting hopelessly lost… JB’s answer to being lost was to go round another corner, over another bridge, up another alleyway, and hope we get somewhere recognizable… a strategy that failed miserably! It took us a good two hours to find our way out of the labyrinth, by which time I was crabby, tired and not good company…and that’s why there was no blog yesterday in case you were wondering…
We regrouped overnight, and studied the map carefully before setting out today, and surprise, surprise, managed to get to the Guggenheim. Most enjoyable it was too, all set in the house where she lived for about 30 years, and where she is buried, alongside her multitude of pets.
So I finally forgave Venice for yesterday, and changed my mind about coming back – I now think I’d like to spend a good week or more here one day to explore the place properly…
Oh Dad - this is where you needed Rick Steves. His first page on Venice says that the only way to truly experience it is to get lost. If you go in expecting not to know where you're going, then it really is a fantastic experience. You can't go to far cos you're on an island. I can see how your blood pressure may have risen if you weren't expecting it, though!
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