Our flight plan on June 15 was from Phoenix to Detroit, to New Jersey, to Amsterdam, to Venice, arriving the evening of June 16. Can you tell we booked with frequent flier miles? They had more direct seats available, but not to us, as I was informed. So, upon arriving in Detriot and having a sandwich, Northwest cancelled our leg to New Jersey with 15 minutes to spare. Since cruise ships don't wait and we had barely started out, we were thrown into a panic. Thankfully we happened to hear a last call for a flight from Detroit directly to Amsterdam, and were able to jump on at the very last possible second. We were stuck in Amsterdam for 8 hours waiting for the Venice flight, but were just glad to be there. Not suprisingly, 2 of our 3 suitcases were completely lost. I'm so glad I followed my mother-in-law's advice to pack some clothes for each of us and for each occasion in each suitcase, so each we had a little of what we needed, plus I had a couple things in my carry-on. Of course, you are not allowed to fly with most toiletries in your carry-on anymore, so we were in immediate need of some of those, a few of which were sold onboard the ship.
We turned the whole problem over to the concierge on the ship, spent a night onboard, and had half of the next day to take in as much of Venice as possible.
We had been warned that it might stink in Venice this time of year, but it was chilly and cloudy while we were there. Smelled fine to me. (Thanks to Lana for picking up the black bag I'm carrying in this picture. I was never without it. Ladies, you know what I mean when I say that a bag has all the right pockets in all the right places. It was perfect for traveling and crossed over the shoulder nicely.) 
St. Mark's Square is one of the places Venice is best known for, and was my introduction to the amazing architecture of Europe. Grandpa and Grandma Hollewell and Franz's parents disembarked when we did and we got this group shot before splitting off for the day's activites.
One of the most recognized landmarks in St. Mark's Square.
Another famous part of the square - the pigeons. They were crawling all over the landmarks and the people, especially those nutty enough to think feeding them would be a good idea. All I could think was: plague. Yick.
Doesn't he look good in Italy? (Senior pictures backdrop anyone?)
An obvious must on the tourist's list is the gondola ride. Our guide didn't sing to us (our most asked question) but we did hear another guide behind us singing while playing his accordion. Talented guy. They used their feet to push off the walls if they got too close, and could maneuver those boats with finesse.
The narrow passageways were lined with colorful buildings, flower-covered balconies, and laundry hanging out to dry. Picturesque.
This was our view as we took our tour of the city. Every time we came to one of the low bridges, our guide would stand so as to tilt the boat in order to keep the tall point at the front from scraping the bottom of the bridge as we passed.
The stores were fascinating, and often designer. Lots of leather. Lots of style. We found a post office and sent off the second batch of post cards to the girls (the first going out from the airport in Amsterdam). I purchased a wide scarf to use as a jacket from a street vendor, and we found two small glass hearts for the girls. (Venice is also well known for its Murano Glass.)
We took a small boat, called a tender, back to the ship just in time to dress for dinner. Exhausted from the time change, the traveling stress, the missing luggage quest, the touring around Venice, we nearly fell asleep with our heads in our plates. It was almost a week before we could do anything after dinner other than go straight to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment