Venice

August 12th-14th
Venice

Yep, three days in Venice, not too bad right? Well, I’ll group them all into a single post.
I made it up to the bow for the sail-in around 11AM on the 12th for my first view of a city I’ve been eager to see since starting ships (woh, 4 “s” words with out even trying, I’m getting better at this). The scenery was everything you might imagine it to be, one huge ship traveling down a watery road, surrounded by what seems to be a floating city and dozens of little water taxis. Everything instantly projected a feeling of being somewhere a little different, something that was strictly Venice. We ported son after and I hurried off the ship with my tour entitled “Hidden Venice Walking Tour.” I figured a walking tour of the “hidden places” would be a good place to start seeing as I’d have no difficulty finding the popular places on my own. The tour left on a water taxi where we were then dropped off along side the Canal Grande in the western part of town to begin the walk. It was great being in such a famous city and the architecture and canal system didn’t disappoint. As we walked, I talked with an Italian escort assigned to the tour and took in what I could. 4 hours later, after a café stop, we made our way to a pier, got on our taxi and returned to the ship. The tour was ok, but come to think of it, I don’t feel like I found “hidden” Venice at all. Nothing about the tour was hidden, secretive, mysterious, undiscovered, or any other words you might associate hidden, including cool. But whatever, I saw some stuff, familiarized myself with parts of the city, and discovered hidden is a cruise ship euphemism for “understandably less popular tourist area.”
I wasn’t back at the ship for long, barely enough time to eat, before I was out again meeting up with the band in St. Marks. We had the night off and were planning to have a great late night experience in the town - I was excited. We met as planned, and after little discussion made our way to the first stop, a restaurant. Well, I had just eaten, so I dismissed myself and went wondering while they ate, planning to meet them later after dinner. I figured I had an hour, and armed with my detailed map of the city, set out for an exploration into my own hidden Venice. I returned about an hour later, no more, to find their table empty and totally cleared. I’d been ditched. Now, I’m sure my friends weren’t conspiring against me, and I assume they must have waited at least a few minutes for my return, but how they went through a three course meal in such little time is a complete mystery to me, so there I was, alone and disappointed at prospects of a wild and crazy night.
Venice closes down at night. Being primarily a tourist destination, and most tourists being grumpy old people with limited vision and mobility, almost all the streets completely clear out after 8PM. My hidden tour took me down streets packed with people (more proof of it’s un-hidden-ness), where as a few hours later, I could walk for 5 minutes without seeing a single person. In an attempt to find my group again, I walked to the two areas with people, the Rialto Bridge and St. Marks Square, both of which yielded no results after 2 hours of searching. Then I had a bright idea, why not forget my friends, go to the crew water taxi drop off point, and meet up with some other friends when they get dropped off. Within 20 minutes I had found my roommate, gotten a name of a jazz bar, and figured out I could wait for one more water taxi to catch up with some other friends following close behind. The evening ended up with me finding the jazz club (after great difficulty cause Gordon can’t read maps well), which was simply a jazz themed bar, but still cool, and then catching a 1AM water shuttle back to the ship. Maybe not so late of a night as expected, but as I said, everything was closed down, it just wasn’t in the cards.
As a small victory, however, I did find out that my friends who ditched me left only to head back to the ship after dinner. But what should have been a 15 minute walk to the shuttle resulted in over an hour of confused navigating, utter frustration, and a situation I was glad to be a part of. I, on the other hand, never got lost :)
Day two was walking day. After waking up late, I hurried off the ship to begin my own walking tour of Venice. This was approximately 5 hours of aggressive walking, covering almost the entire island, complimented with an ice cream cone and pizza slice along the way. It was great though, no one to slow me down, just me, a map, and an over ambitious desire to cover as much ground as humanly possible. My feet were pounding by the end of my quest, but I’ve probably gone over enough bridges and seen enough gondolas to last me the rest of my life. I walked back to the ship for a couple sets we were playing for a different band (so that they could have a night off) and that was the end of the day.
Day three consisted of a rehearsal at 11AM and a departure immediately following, meaning I got screwed out of a day. The original production cast has now left the ship, meaning the band is going to get hit with a bunch of rehearsals to help out the new group of singers and dancers, not my favorite scenario when the only reason I’m here is to see the ports. Unfortunately that’s about it for the 14th, however, I did spend the sail away running on a treadmill in the spa, meaning I had a front row seat 10 decks up as we sailed out of the archipelago…nice.
To sum up, Venice is an unbelievable city. The maze of canals and alleys (over 3000) is almost not navigable, as demonstrated by my friends, and commands your respect and appreciation for the culture of the city. The gondolas, though ubiquitous, never got old. I always enjoyed turning a corner and coming across an unexpected bridge being negotiated by a long black boat, always steered by an Italian man with a horizontally striped shirt and a single paddle. I didn’t try much food however, some times I’m too cheap for my own good, but Venice is not wallet friendly, certainly making it not cruise ship musician friendly. It was for that same reason that I didn’t get on a gondola, though I toyed with the idea, the price was too high to take a friend and six musicians sitting in a gondola probably doesn’t capture the romantic spirit of the tradition…not even close. Regardless, it’s a beautiful place that you just have to see, maybe not specifically for the canals or bridges or buildings or people, but simply because it’s Venice. Thanks for reading and have a great one!