Monday –brought to you by Joanne!
Last night was our first sleep on the ship. Given we were still docked at the port of Venice; it was a very smooth night. We are heading back into Venice today to get all the final tourist things done! We wanted to get up and get going so we thought we would take advantage of ordering room service for breakfast. Shannon enjoyed picking out what she wanted to eat from the list. Breakfast showed up at 7:30 and we all sat on the beautiful balcony and had a wonderful breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausage etc. It was quite a treat! With full stomachs we headed out on our final Venice adventure. Having missed the turn at the ferry, we headed the correct way today and hopped on the boat. I feel like we are in the amazing race…without Phil! The boats are packed with people and just when you think they won’t let anymore on – 20 more people cram their way through! We headed back to the Hotel American to get a water taxi to Murano, as this was included with our stay. Murano is a small island just north of Venice that is famous for its glass making. Yes we were getting in yet another taxi to brave the waterway! You have to understand what its like – there are boats of every size coming and going everywhere….as long as I know where the life jackets are I will be just fine. I must say the kids find it quite amusing!
Had a brief tour of the glass factory, and then some man toured us through the store showing us all the fabulous works of art. They were amazing. It’s hard to believe they make these pieces the way they do. Everything was amazing. Maurice thought we should buy a small piece to take home as a souvenir. We found a really nice vase that was about 10” high and asked how much…..the gentleman said business has been slow and he would give us a really great price. Only $400 Euro’s including shipping and insurance. Not bad I say! I took one look at Maurice and we made a polite exit!
We found our way along the waterway to get the water taxi back to town. Maurice and Scott relaxed at a small café and had a cold drink while Shannon and I …yes…shopped for a few souvenirs!We headed back to Venice and hit the Doges Palace. Thanks once again to my husband’s careful planning, our admission passes were included with our Venice connected passes and we bypassed all the people in line and went straight to the entrance. He should have been a tour guide! We saw the very ornate Doge’s apartments, spectacular ceilings and the largest painting in the world. We toured the prison cells and crossed the Bridge of Sigh.
We headed straight back to the ship. The sail away from Venice was beautiful. It was amazing to see it from the water and from that height. We had the usual life boat drill where Shannon enjoyed pretending she was a bumper car smashing into us all with the big huge life jackets on. We headed down for dinner and then took in a short show. Even Scott came to the show with us!
Tomorrow it’s off to Split, Croatia.