Lost in Venice with a taste of Turkish Delight and Souvlaki

[romney]

Great trip report Pushka! Can't wait to hear about Greece and Turkey - I have them pencilled in for 2016 so am keen to hear all about them

 

[TomVexille]

Pizza with a view. We've had three pizzas in three days. Ooops.

Nothing wrong with that :mrgreen:

 

[get me outta here]

Pushka, that is a beautiful glass necklace and what a lovely keepsake.


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QUOTE: I purchased an exquisite necklace. The lady serving me said her husband had made it. As she was wrapping it she started tearing up and said as she sold each piece it was like parting with a member of her family. She also provided the authenticity certificate.

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[codash1099]

Terrific TR. Now I'm sorry I haven't included a return to Venice on my trip in September. Ah well, there's always spring.

 

[Pushka]

It's early morning here on Cruise departure day. The places we will see in the next few days will be stunning. We return to Venice for 1 night before we leave for home. Let's not go there!

Last night we used the vaporetto to get to St Marks Square. It was packed. We toured around the five star shopping district which reminded us of Dubai. Not into the Pradas of this world. This area seems devoid of restaurants but eventually we found a nice one where the vino was nice and cheap and good. Ordered a chicken dish for dinner. It came with a wonderful gravy so did the classic bogan thing of using the bread to mop it up. I don't tend to do this at home but MrP noted the local (well, they were Italian) family next to us saying they hoped they could do it with their dish.

Ending this post without photos as you can't post photos in editing phase on the App so ciao for now. (I speak Italian. )

 

[Pushka]

After dinner we ventured into St Marks Square to see if it was flooding with the high tide due in about 90 minutes.

It was! But not to their warning levels.

More gum boots. This waiter is at the really expensive restaurants around the square. We might have a final drink there if we have any money left.



The paving holes were bubbling up with water throughout the square.
Kind of like a bidet at a restaurant?



Lots of bare feet splashing away



And there is a super full moon due tomorrow. We'll be on our way to Dubrovnik by then but will try catch it on the ship.

 

[Pushka]

Digressing again. Back to the shopping.

I found my next gym shoes last night.



The ones on the left.

We passed by a beautiful opera house that was just opening for a performance. There was one guy on the stairs who was clearly DYKWIA with all the bulbs flashing. I tried getting a photo but by the time I'd divested myself of all the tourist rubbish I carry, he'd whisked his fur enrobed partner away and I missed it.

The police had dressed up for their performance though.



But this is more my style:



This little puppy was waiting with his owner in one of the high end fashion shops. He was wearing a cute little neckerchief. He's obviously in the teething phase.

We'd read stories that Venice was dirty with dog poop as the owners don't clean up. And dogs are everywhere. But thankfully they seem to be quite responsible so the stories were just that.

 

[love_the_life]

Great report Pushka. You always do manage to find the interesting angles for your posts and pics! Can just see you in those shoes (you were referring to the ones on the right????, No?????).
Hope boarding goes well and you manage to find your way around the ship but with your navigation practice in Venice so far it will be a cinch. Happy sailings….

 

[drron]

I found my next gym shoes last night.

Now I really thought it would be the pair on the right.They would be just the thing for the gyms aboard the Cunard Queens!

 

[Pushka]

Naughty drron. No wonder you two ended up with ortho issues as you don't understand proper footwear for gyms.

Dame, I'll post some photos of you if you don't behave. Green comes to mind. I can crop me out.

Quick breakfast of croissants and coffee. If you just ask for latte you end up with frothy milk Garçon advised me today.

Located in a nice courtyard square



Right next to the Fish market.



It's Saturday so its pongy. We need to walk there in a hour or so to be collected by the shared water taxi.

 

[Pushka]

Waiting for transport by the fish market.

I think the fish is good but I'm not a seafoodie.



The name is correct.

 

[love_the_life]

….

Dame, I'll post some photos of you if you don't behave. Green comes to mind. I can crop me out. 

Eek - don't tell me you still have the St Patrick's Day glamour look????? I promise, I'll behave.

The fish pics are fantastic. We love seafood and the fish looks fresh and yummy.

 

[Pushka]

Well, we are currently onboard and in a rather excellent buffet. There's an open eating area. The food seems very fresh and tasty. Dame, beats the Kings Court hands down. Mind you, so does Coles cafeteria.

Some issues this morning I'd rather forget. But involved the non arrival of transport, a long long walk with luggage (more than 40 minutes) and me falling twice. No damage. A Pinot required at lunchtime though.

Photos shortly but a lovely lovely ship.

 

[Pushka]

The gym has met with MrPs approval



Nice bar for pre dinner drinks



This:



Is real grass.

There's a line up at 5pm for departure. We'll need to rotate first

 

[Pushka]

Departed Venice in the midst of a cracker of a thunderstorm that rolled in really quickly. Mr P was excited by the thunder and lightening and I was looking forward to the closing views of Venice.

As we back out we passed Regal Princess which I think was the ship recently launched by Princess Kate.



You can see the storm clouds rolling in behind.

Progressed with use of tugs. I'll just post the photos as we go. Thunder booming as we depart and a lot of lightening.

 

[Pushka]

 

[love_the_life]

Spectacular - the storm would have given it so much atmosphere. Try out Bistro on 5 for lunch - crepes, panini and soup.
Just off for a Sunday morning walk with Sue - going to be a nice day but minus 4 at present. Envy your warmth!
Enjoy the gym.

 

[PennieTurrill]

Europe does really good thunderstorms, doesn't it? Our best one was in Rome. Spectacular!

 

[Pushka]

It was a stunning few hours sailing out of Venice. We tracked a thunderstorm that flashed continuously for around four hours. I don't think it was the coughtail gimlets we'd discovered earlier and which were included in our package.

This is an example of what was happening every 20 seconds or so for several hours, along with booming thunder.



Then




Enjoyed a nice dinner last night with all drinks included. The buffet is also really nice. They've dispensed with trays in an effort to reduce calories ingested. Luckily we seem to not have that issue with food. And the calories in alcohol doesn't count right?

Breakfast in the buffet this morning and the pink grapefruit is delish. I laughed on QM2 when this guy with the usual stomach and piled up plate of bacon, eggs and sausages said he couldn't have grapefruit because it messes with the cholesterol medication. And the gym hurts his back. I know it does mess with cholesterol meds but the root cause seemed blindingly obvious but just to me apparently.

Gym this morning was packed to the brim. Hopefully this is the busiest morning.

Currently we are tracking along the Croatian Coast and should be in Dubrovnik shortly. Weather a bit meh. There's a few white caps but we aren't rocking too much. Should calm off as we head towards Greece tonight.

 

[drron]

He was suffering from caloric amnesia.Becomes an epidemic on cruises.