Day 3 (Saturday 9Nov19)a full day in Venice

Up early after a solid night’s sleep we arrived at breakfast located on the second floor of the apartments. It was a typical Italian breakfast of cold meats, cheeses, breads and cereals helped along with delicious coffee and breakfast sweets. Of course it was all you can eat. The other guests joined us, all were Europeans. 

Our apartments are well located and we enjoyed the balcony this morning. We watched the sun rise above the church towers and sunlight danced off the water of the canal. I could live in Venice ( assuming we won gold lotto and learnt Italian.) 

Down at the docks near San Marco we watched a cruise ship move down the grand canal. It made us feel guilty, as the monster really had no place polluting the city scape of ancient Venice.

Experienced aqua Alta floods again, though not as high as our last visit.

From San Marco we headed to Railto Bridge. The streets are completely packed with tourists.

Near the Raito Bridge area a Renaissance era 24 hour clock still working after 450 years.

Along the way we explored the many laneways that snake their way through the city.

I got another Venice tie to add to beautiful one that Jacqs brought back 2 months ago. 

We headed back to apartments mid afternoon not before enjoying a local pizza. 

Late afternoon we explored the docks of lagoon near St Marco square. It gets dark about 5pm in afternoon.

In the evening we visited our dinner restaurant- Sestante. Very friendly staff and lovely food. 

After dinner we did a quick explore near our apartments. Interesting to see it in daylight when we return in a month’s time.

On other news- it appears that our cruise has changed due to “technical issues “. We miss out on two ports at this stage. Currently following up with NCL for more information and returned credit. Not happy but we assume they will be dealing with 2000 angry passengers tomorrow on embarkation. 

Europe Trip - Day 1 / 2 in transit (Dubai and to Venice)

Hmm not really sure of day and time, a bit messed up with time zones. I believe it is 12:39pm Aussie time (or 6:39am local time). The flight was great. Food was constant and generally good for airplane food. The plane actually landed a bit earlier than our expected 5:00am local time. 

The aircraft (A380) was huge. The engines are as large as a medium size truck. The pilot was talented with take off and landing. Thankfully we both got some sleep on the flight. 

Dubai airport is huge and complex with its own train to transport passengers to gates.  Despite size it well sign posted. All credit to our daughters who navigated before us on previous trips. Jacqueline solo. I believe you could lose it in the airport without a cool head.  Heading in the wrong direction would be disasterous. It took us 40 minutes and a train ride from disembark to gate.  Lots of airport guides to assist.  Also no annoucements over speaker system at all just leader boards. 

And of course like all airports- food and drink is very expensive. Coffee is about 8-10 Australian dollars each. Quality however of the food is excellent.

The flight to Venice went quickly. We both felt tired but soldiered on to stay awake. We found the exterior cameras on the aircraft interesting as it gave us a pilot’s view of our surroundings. The pilot requested we fastened seatbelts and the cabin crew to be secure as our flight flew over Northern Syria. Hmmm. 

Arrival in Marco Polo airport went well with very little security and customs. We jumped on a water bus for 1hour and 20 minute trip around Venice and the lagoon. We arrived in St Marks square about 4 pm local time. 

We managed to find our accommodation which hadn’t changed much in the 11 years since we where last here. This time we have a balcony with a view of rooftops and the canals. The room on the third floor is nice but much smaller than last time. 

After settling in and having a quick shower and refresh, we headed out into Venice to get some light dinner and buy a European SIM card. Of course it was lightly raining as we navigated across the city. 

Dinner was expensive and nice as expected as we found a cafe too close to the grand canal. We took a long route through the streets looking at some beautiful shops. One shop sold hand made paper and block printed books.

We have noticed that Venice had changed. Almost everyone speaks some English and are geared up for the tourist. We tried a little Italian to make an effort. It was an experience rewarded with smiles and our bank accounts balances being reduced more than I would like, however we expected that. 

Day 1 Europe trip - The Brisbane AirPort

We arrived early to join a large line of people. After 20 minutes we made it to check in relatively happy.

 Security and border force was ok, nothing to report and we made it to the other side intact.

Departure lounge 75 was a long walk but we got our 10000 steps up. 👌