Med Cruise II: Venice 2, Electric Boogaloo

May 25, 2012 – Venice, Italy, Day 2

The next day, Day 10 – Venice (Day 2 of 2), was a little bit more Venice and it was wonderful. We only had a half day as the ship was requiring us to be back on board by 2. The agenda for our excursion was a gondola ride and free time, and that was pretty damn cool. When we got to where the gondola ride picked people up, we saw our first Hard Rock Cafe of the day, which was perfect, as I knew where to go when it was time to buy souvenirs. The gondola ride itself was very nice, and we shared it with a Filipino group, who ended up being very nice and funny. The ride actually went into the Grand Canal for a bit and it was right near the Rialto Bridge, which was exactly where I was hoping to go later on so it was good to see the perspective and figure out where it was.

After the gondola ride, we then had plenty of time to go souvenir shopping, which was fantastic. Found a few neat shops and hopefully picked up enough trinkets, although I really hate that part of the trip, to be honest. Ugh. We also got our last Italian lunch/meal in on the continent, and enjoyed a prosciutto pizza and a dish of spaghetti carbonara. Yum. We then got back on the ship, and after the whole process (boat ride to dock, walk to bus, take bus to the port terminal, process through terminal with passport, walk length of deck to Equinox’s entry, final security scan into ship) it was time to enjoy a half day at sea, but before that, enjoy the view of leaving Venice from our stateroom balcony. The approach in was on the other side, but you leave the same way you come in, so this time we got to see Venice from that amazing perspective. And while we were taking pictures and gawking at the amazing scenery, we heard some camera noises from our neighbor’s porch and saw a white camera that was awfully familiar. Turned out that the guy we met from our yesterday excursion was our neighbor as well! Yep, Dave was our neighbor in this trip. Crazy coincidences.

Larry & I embarked on a sure-fire way to battle boredom and we drank at the Martini Bar that afternoon. That’s when we met Chloe & Christian for reals and got a bit buzzed chatting with them. They’re a lot of fun. Dinner in the Silhouette room followed with another great meal but far too much food, as Larry ordered a second entree to see what their carbonara was like. Ugh. We caught the show (cute, funny magician) and after that, it was totally time to get sleep. Seriously.

Skiff Ride into Venice

View from our room

The ship from the skiff

Equinox as we depart

This island in Venice is called Giudecca

Il Redentore on Giudecca

St Marks Square

While waiting for our gondola ride, found the Hard Rock

It’s a touristy thing to do, but it’s worth doing

The hotel on the right is Best Western

And it’s likely very very nice

Looking down at the water

The 6 tabs represent Venetian regions

The Doge gets the fancy flourish at the top

Excursion: Gondola Ride

Our chariot awaits

We shared our gondola with a nice Chinese family

I got my bow position

Ready to navigate the canals!

Each bridge I wondered, was this in the Like a Virgin video

Lots of shots from the canal – just pretty buildings everywhere

Was afraid to move fearing we’d rock the boat

Close to the corner

It’s neat that there are little canal entrances

The gorgeous Rialto Bridge

It was quite the experience to emerge out into the Grand Canal

The Grand Canal is seriously chaotic

Ah, Venice

Back in the quaint canals

Awesome little outcropping showing off their wares

Heads up

Boggi had my attention

Visiting the Rialto Bridge

We got some great artwork from here – you can see what we bought in the left window

Little path on the walk to the Rialto Bridge

The Rialto Bridge

I think there’s meaning to these locks…

The Rialto is a beautiful bridge

As we were taking pics, a flotilla came through

And flowers were tossed en masse into the water

It was neat to experience that

On the Rialto Bridge

Looking south from Rialto

I like when I’m a step higher

Larry’s closeup

Lunching in Venice

Grabbed some lunch before heading back to the ship

Including some vino

Wonderfully delicious pizza

And Spaghetti Carbonara…yumm

The attractive waiter trying to grab tourists into the restaurant

The place where we had lunch

Returning to the Equinox

Back at St Marks

The tide was high and the water seeps in

I’ve seen pics of it much higher though

The cruise ship tender meeting point

Had to wait in line as this water kept getting higher

tick tock

Equinox is detached and heading out

Equinox’s former berth

Leaving Venice

On the way out, Equinox left the way it came in

Meaning we could see Venice from our room

hese photos will seem almost exactly like yesterday’s

A River Cruiseship – seems a bit too small for us

As we left, the rain rolled back in

We got lucky with our weather

That building’s tower is seriously leaning

I mean, seriously, it’s leaning

Equinox’s old home in the distance

The Campanile – again in grey clouds

Even rainy, it’s still crowded

Such a beautiful city

Bridge of Sighs

Goodbye Campanile, Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s cathedral

Big sailboat

Afternoon on Equinox

The menu for Tuscan Grille

Murano’s menu – awww yeah

Where many of the specialty restaurants are

The loungey bar we frequented often due to trivia contests

Neat decor in the area before the elevators

Back at the Martini Bar, our 2nd home

Bulent, the very cool bartender there

Drinks for everyone! Drinks for everyone!

Oh blue wave martini, you never fail me

Elaborate drinks for everyone!