“The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” Saint Augustine

So our latest adventure had begun. I had already said,"Pinch me." to Allan at least twice, once as we boarded the first class section of the aircraft and settled in for what proved to be a perfect flight (not counting Allan falling on a slippery floor near the bathroom - but he wasn't badly hurt so even that didn't spoil the experience), and again when we arrived in Venice. It's a good thing I like a bit of pain because there were an awful lot of "Pinch me." moments on this trip.



I've already showed you pictures from the day we arrived when it was bitterly cold and raining, so you know how grey and miserable it looked. We threw our carry-ons into our stateroom and dressed in all the warm clothes we had with us; heavy jackets, gloves, I had earmuffs (don't laugh!) and a hat, Allan wore my scarf because his was in his suitcase and our bags hadn't arrived in our room yet. That meant I didn't have my hiking boots either which are waterproof and much warmer than my walking shoes, but we didn't want to miss a minute of Venice so we bundled up as much as we could and walked down the pier where we could catch the water bus into Venice.



We originally had thought to stay in Venice for the evening and have dinner before returning to the ship, but the last waterbus left for the Marina very early, and the ship was conducting the Lifeboat Drill at 4:30 and since that's mandatory for all passengers, we knew our time was going to be limited. As usual, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to see enough things to satisfy my 'historical (Allan swears that spelled hysterical...please don't encourage him) craving' in such a limited amount of time. I needn't have worried. It was so freaking cold that after an hour I told Allan through chattering teeth that I "h-h h ave t t to go b b b ac ck t tto the s sship." My feet were like two blocks of ice and I thought I would never get warm again. In fact it was so cold that they didn't make us line up outside during the lifeboat drill, for which I was very grateful. *g*
But what a difference a night can make! This is the view of St.Mark's Square as we approach from the waterbus the next morning.

I couldn't leave Venice without showing you a picture of the Bridge of Sighs.
Next stop - Dubrovnik. "Pinch Me!"