Venice - Day 2

On our second day, we had a tour booked for Doge's Palace before heading to the cruise terminal.  Since the weather wasn't looking good for after Doge's, Dad skipped the tour so he and Mom could do their gondola ride while John, William and I headed out.   In what turned out to be great foreshadowing of the day to come, William pointed out the restaurant where we had dinner the night before - and specifically that the water was significantly higher on the steps than it had been 12 hours earlier....

When we arrived in St. Mark's we reveled at seeing the water bubbling up into the square through what yesterday we had assumed were drains.   We had figured out the water....we thought!  Crowds were higher than I was expecting for a Sunday morning, but the Venice Marathon was being run, so maybe there were crowds related to that.   It was fun watching the runners pass through but as the water got deeper and deeper, it was quite the sight!

Inside Doge's Palace, we did the Secret Itineraries tour.   It was basically the prisons and prisoners tour!  We really enjoyed it but then ran out of time to tour the regular, artsy parts of the palace.   One of the reasons we ran out of time was that the lights went out at the end of the tour and though you could still get around via the sunlight coming into the windows, there was some confusion.   A German family touring with us also showed us the high water level website that their Airbnb host sent them.   The water was rising, but today's high was going to be tomorrow's low.   I didn't realize what that was going to mean THE FLOODS were coming the next day. 

When we left the tour, it was time to get back to the hotel and head to the cruise terminal.  Only we walked out and our exit was flooded.   As in, no way to get across the square without traipsing through a foot of water.   As the only member of the family wearing waterproof booties, I took my cash and headed to the vendor selling the shoe covers we saw yesterday that people were wearing "for fun."  I had heard they were 8 euros from the stalls (whereas off square you could get them for 5 euros).   As I tried to hand the seller 25 euros (for 24 euros worth of boots), she said 30.   Of course they were!   So 30 euros later, we all had new souvenir shoe covers and were on our way across the flooded streets!  There were parts where we had to pick up William because the water would have soaked his jeans due to the splashing above his knees.   It was interesting to see that all the shops had a half wall across their doorway to keep the water out.  But even as we walked back we could see them fighting a mostly losing battle to dry their floors.

When we got back to the hotel, the porters had already loaded our luggage and Mom and Dad onto a water taxi, so we jumped in and head off on a bumpy ride out to the cruise terminal.  We were lucky that we left when we did because many of the taxis and water bus options were halted due to the high waters.   Only emergency vehicles were going to be allowed.  We saw on the news in the days to come that 75% of Venice was underwater Monday.   The raised platforms had to be taken down because they were underwater obstacles.    The 110+ centimeters of water we had caused the warning sirens to sound but paled in comparison to the 156 centimeters (over 5 feet) the next day!  The technical term is Acqua Alta, which means High Water. 

We had big adventures in our 24-ish hours in Venice and now had big adventures ahead of us for our 8 day Adriatic Cruise!

Venice - Arrival Day

Our overnight flight landed around 10:30 am Saturday and once we cleared through passport control, we boarded our pre-scheduled water taxi to San Marco Island.   Our hotel, the Gritti Palace, had its own dock, so this seemed like best way to get there.  It was so strange to be out on a water expressway - just zipping along in our water taxi!  We did get some great views of the Grand Canal on our way in.

I originally booked a Westin hotel for the trip, since it was one of the few Starwood/Marriott/Hilton hotels near St. Mark's Square.   A few months before the trip I got an email that they would be undergoing a renovation and be closed, so they upgraded us to the Gritti Palace.  And wow was it an amazing hotel!   It was built nearly 500 years ago and was very old world luxury.   My favorite was the shower in the bathroom.  It was unfortunate that we were only there one night, so I only squeezed in two (three?) showers!

 After showers, Dad, John and I went for a walk about to check things out.   I knew the streets changed names and directions regularly, and that the bridges would lead us in circles, but I was actually most shocked that the streets were so narrow between buildings that you couldn't visually orient yourself.  I guess I'm too used to having skyscrapers to cue me - or wide open landscapes that you can see across - because it was very maze-like to be wandering between buildings with no ability to see the church steeple or a tower.  But eventually we stumbled out into St. Mark's Square and the main attractions.  We were fascinated by the standing water in various spots in the square (boy....did we have a surprise coming the next day!), the raised platform "sidewalks" to cross the water, and people with their shoe covers splashing about.

 I couldn't believe how much the washed out colors of the canal make me feel like it was a movie backdrop - or perhaps more appropriately, a Disney backdrop!   Funny enough I have since learned that some of these Venice sights ARE in the Italy Pavilion at EPCOT.  I had no recollection of it at the time though.

 

Our hotel concierge recommended a very close by restaurant where we could walk, and we loved the food and drink!   I had Spaghetti Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino (spaghetti with garlic, olive oil and peppers) that was outstanding.   Day one in Venice was a really great start to our amazing trip!

Cruise Overview

Although I usually plan and book our travels well in advance, this trip was an anomaly even for me.   I've already forgotten how I stumbled across this cruise itinerary originally but it hit all of my must haves: a few days when school would be out, the opportunity for full days in Venice and Rome, and a great price, so I booked it more than 18 months before departure.  And then I stalked the Norwegian Cruise Line website for new deals and ended up pricing matching a year out for even more of a discount.  My travel lover and frugal accountant personas were both thrilled!   Of course that far in advance I hadn't considered what a big travel year 2018 would be with my 40th birthday trip to Disney and Desiree's 40th birthday trip to Peru.   So we ended up collecting a lot of airline miles this year and even more bucket list memories!

Our itinerary

• Friday evening:  fly nonstop Chicago to Venice (arriving Saturday mid-morning)
• Saturday and Sunday:  explore Venice
• Sunday: Embark the Norwegian Star
• Monday:  Dubrovnik, Croatia
• Tuesday:  Kotor, Montenegro
• Wednesday:  Halloween at Sea
• Thursday:  Athens, Greece
• Friday: Santorini, Greece
• Saturday: Day at Sea
• Sunday:  Naples, Italy (Pompeii) 
• Monday:  Disembark in and explore in Rome
• Tuesday:  Explore Rome
• Wednesday:  Fly home (Rome-London-Chicago)

Traveling on the trip were my family of three plus my parents!   And since our crew was full of history lovers and gelato aficionados we had an amazing time!   

Chef William

William has been helping in the kitchen since he was two or three, and this fall he has elevated his chef game from sous chef to lead chef.   He made our family enchiladas almost entirely on his own, and he made beef sliders in the Instant Pot as part of a Cub Scout requirement.

To get into the fall spirit we swapped out our usual Sunday pancakes for pumpkin spice French toast.

I asked for his help making enchiladas one weekend and he ended up owning the entire process.  He has made this a few times now.  We observe Taco Tuesday all days of the week!

For the meal he had to make for Scouts, he was in charge of the menu, budget, shopping and preparation.  He wanted to make shredded barbecue bison loin on Hawaiian rolls.  Since we went to Target for the meat, we ended up with beef roast instead, but the rest of his plan was spot on.   

He really is so much fun to have in the kitchen - learning about flavors and techniques and having time to spend together!

One other project he "cooked up" was this diorama for a book report he presented to his class.   I was so proud of his creativity on this one to use the snake he had and make a landscape for it.   A+ for effort and on his speech!