July 6-8: Venice, Italy
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| Brotherly love or they are trying to snap each other's necks off. :) |
After a full 24 hours at sea on our way up to Venice we managed to catch up on our sleep and see what 24-hour a day buffets look like. It is NOT pretty. At one point I was dangerously close to a food coma and began hallucinating that I was on the spaceship from Wall-E and we would just gently move along from food to food on a giant human conveyor belt. Buffets are nobody’s friend, especially when there are swimsuits and beach days ahead. I in NO WAY needed that exposure so I escaped to… the bar at the back of the ship again. I seriously have no clue why I am always one of less than five people there. It has comfy chairs, a 180 degree view of the ocean AND people bring you tasty beverages! I think I may have found the best kept cruise ship secret!
Toby, meanwhile, has not only made friends with most of the people on the ship but the bartenders know his name, his drink preference and even have started giving him FREE tasty beverages! When we walked by the pool bar I heard, “To-by!” At first I thought that it just sounded like his name being called but when it happened again and Toby stopped to greet the bartender by name I asked, “Do all the bartenders know you by name?!” His response, “Yes. that is (whatever his name was) and he has five kids and has been here for seven months…..” and continues to tell me more about this one bartender than I know about some of the people I work with! I feel like I am vacationing with the mayor of the ship. The most entertaining moment was when we were on some shore excursion and Toby was chatting with a tour guide…. that was NOT even from our cruise line! He had somehow met her at another tour or location. I have NO idea how he does this but I do find it totally endearing.
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| Cheers! |
After we arrived in Venice we took a boat tour around the city. We were dropped off at St. Mark’s Square and TOTALLY intentionally tried to get ourselves lost in the tiny street-lined canals of Venice. From past experience this was how we have always found the best (and less pricey) restaurants and this was no exception. SOOOOOOO good! The wine, the bread, the pasta, the pizza! Even if the food had not been delicious, the actual restaurant was incredibly old and quintessentially Venice. By the time dinner was over the children (led by Toby) were going through gelato withdrawls so we had to “cone up” stat!
I was super excited to take my brother and his family to see the Rialto Bridge which is one of my favorite sights. As we followed the signs and got closer it didn’t look right. As we made the last turn I saw it…. scaffolding! All over the bridge! It looked like a construction site! Oh dear. Hello Trevi Fountain part two… Um… how about we get some more gelato! Yes! That will be fun! (Someone needs to talk to the Italian tourism department about perhaps doing renovations NOT during the height of tourist season?) We would not let this ruin our day! We wandered the alleys and crossed bridges until it was getting dark and we had to head back to the floating hotel.
Good Morning kiddies! GET UP! We have a tour to see the Murano glass factory AND a gondola tour today! We need to be ready to go at 8:00. Not sure if you happened to see my post on Facebook but our poor abused children were face planted on the balcony table as they waited for Daddy to deliver them each a large mocha. (They are truly embracing the Italian lifestyle!) The threat that got Bailey out of his SUITE (still bitter) was the threat that he would not have an opportunity to eat again for a few hours. The caloric requirements of all my children is truly astounding. They are going to be so disappointed when we get home and I tell them their dinner options…. oh! Wait! There are NO dinner options at home except to eat it or not. :)
The glass works was amazing and watching the master glass blowers create magnificent objects from red hot blobs was surreal. Of course I almost had a nervous breakdown when we were led their showroom. I seriously told the kids (and myself) to stay in the middle of the rooms and to not to make any sudden moves… or breathe too hard. A mother’s nightmare is three boys who have been together non-stop for almost a month in a confined space lined with LITERALLY tens of thousands of dollars worth of glass. I could not get back on the boat fast enough!
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| Super excited when Mom takes photos...NOT |
Of course we could not visit Venice without a gondola ride. Our gondolier was grumpy so I was not feeling the “romance” vibe that is synonymous with this activity. It also could have been the other four people smushed in the boat with Toby and me. It was still really interesting to be able to cruise down some super narrow canals that we could never have seen from a vaporetto or water taxi. Signor Grumpy did not serenade us but he did shout back and forth in Italian to the other 50 gondolas and their drivers we saw during our 30 minute tour.
We are now down to our last five days with Ravenna, Italy tomorrow. Toby and my brother, Matthew are heading off on their own to tour the Ferrari factory. I am praying that they do NOT come home with a “souvenir”. :)
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