Venice, Italy

  We arrived to Venice about 10-1030. There is some discussion that after this year ships may have to dock further away. Approaching Venice for us may never happen like this. It was a beautiful arrival, but the mood was sort of ruined by very loud Opera music playing as we arrived. It felt forced and fake. I like quiet or hearing what others are saying- not some lady screaming on a loud speaker. But I digress....Here is what our arrival to Venice looked like.They are building breakers so the water from ships doesn't erode the already sinking Venice. Venice is an Unesco World heritage Site.

                                         See the mountains behind Venice.

                                         Arriving in Venice.

                                         St. Mark's Campanile/ Bell Tower - below

                                          Doge Palace - below

                     St. Mark's Basilica was under refurbishing. The reliefs were beautiful.

                                  Pigeons were in the square. It was quite  interesting to see.

 We walked around and enjoyed the sites. We stumbled upon a Hard Rock Cafe- Venice and enjoyed watching the gondolas, gondoliers and the people loading in them.

                                          Reading on his break time

 We didn't really have the desire to ride them, as 1 person pointed out there are really only 2 good seats in a 6 person and we thought they were slow. We would rather walk around. DON'T ask them to sing (it would be like asking your NY Cab driver to sing) It isn't Las Vegas!
We enjoyed walking along the streets. It did not smell bad, as we had heard, but we were also going in May. August may yield a different smell.

 This is where you can catch a water taxi to another area. Learn how this works. It will save you time and money!

                                         We are medical so we enjoyed seeing the AEDs nearby

                                          or DAEs as they are called in Venice

                                         This is what the highway looks like

 This was a beautiful sunset as we went back on the ship. It was the 1st time we "over-nighted" on a ship. Tomorrow bright and early we will disembark & head to the Dolomites.