July 9th – Enjoying the Majesty of Venice

We start with breakfast at the Olimpia Hotel

and decide on a trial run to the People Mover Monorail in preparation to meet up with Celebrity Cruises tomorrow. Jane has everything so organized!

Next we splurge on a water taxi ride, meandering our way down the Grand Canal from the train station to St Mark’s Square. ‘Here comes the Rialto Bridge’!

We pass other boats and gondolas and travel under the Accademia Bridge. Our next stop is St Mark’s. It is already hot and humid, but this experience is special and if you travel to Venice be sure to consider touring the Grand Canal. It’s an unforgettable introduction to this special place..

Kari and Izzy have tickets to the Basilica, so Ron and I find a table at Cafe’ Florian, the oldest cafe in Venice, which was opened – take a moment and guess? – That’s right, 1207!! I cannot even comprehend what it possibly looked like then, let alone imagine the menu! However, we love it!

After snacks and drinks we decide to do a self-guided cicchetti tour (small tastes of food) – a tradition which is famous in Venice. Equipped with a list of 7 possible locations well-researched in advance, we proceed in the direction of the first. In the old days we would be lost by now, but not today with ‘navigation by Izzy’. The first stop features unseasoned, almost inedible food, which we ditch and decide that is enough of the cicchetti tour! Be advised, we have had incredible ‘guided’ cicchetti TOURS in the past and greatly enjoyed them, but somehow our “self-guided tour” misses the boat. (pun intended).

As we often do in our travels, we make a Plan B. Now what? We decide to eat near the Rialto Bridge where we encounter higher prices than anywhere in Italy. We also encounter a man who takes out his frustration on pesky seagulls by striking them off the tables with his hands, hitting a couple. (Don’t worry, Ron stopped that instantly, confronting the brute).

Plan C? Take the vaporetto – (water bus) – back to our hotel and eat near there, where the people are friendly and the prices are more reasonable.

We are tired and sweaty, so it’s time for ‘nappy-nappy’. However, we are detoured for a moment as we spot a gelato at the gelateria next door. We feel that we are prepared for tomorrow’s transfer to Celebrity where we can finally unpack our bags and unwind completely enjoying the 10 day cruise!