The Daily for Thursday Jun 17, 2021

[Sharon in AZ]

Forgot to mention that our heat wave is continuing. On Tuesday it was 115, yesterday it was 114 and today it is already 106 at 10:00 am. Our pool temperature last night was 89!  It was actually almost too hot to swim but I got in for 30 minutes while Craig read in the pool (his favorite pool activity). It’s supposed to be this extreme until Tuesday I believe. 

[Norseh2o]

Crocs in the water are ok, as footwear, no thank you! Daughter and family in Hawaii always have poke on hand. 🌺 We hope to step on Venice soil in 145 days (yes, we are counting the days to the next cruise!). Venice will be our first outside of the USA visit since returning from B2B transatlantic/South American cruises, disembarking in Miami, December 19, 2019. 

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

I finally finished going through my pictures, and the problem with many visits to Venice there are just too many to choose from.  I'll try not to repeat too many.  We were there in 2016 and  2017 on the Prinsendam, and in 2019 on the Veendam.  So my pictures will be a mix from five visits, and will have to be broken up between two posts.

 

A couple of pictures as we sailed into port on the Veendam.

 

In 2016, during our first time in Venice, we got to the Doge's Palace ahead of the tours, and managed to get a senior ticket that included three other museums. The first picture is looking out the Bridge of Sighs toward the lagoon, which was the last look at the city for most prisoners.  The second picture is a repeat, but it puts the first one in .

After the three other museums, we headed to the Campanella with advice to be back down before noon as the bells are deafening.  In the last pictures, you can see the Prinsendam "hiding" behind the X ship.

 

On our second call there was after Venice had three days of heavy rain, and St. Marks Square was underwater.  We bypassed the area, and found a dry route to some of the back streets.

 

On another visit, we took a gondola ride, but without the singing.

 

We have also toured the Opera house.

 

One  of the streets away from the Grand Canal.  

 

There was an art festival one time we were in Venice, and there were various temporary displays around the city.  This one was on the Grand Canal.

 

Lenda

Edited June 17, 2021 by Quartzsite Cruiser

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

In 2017, we decided to check out the Arsenale, home of the Italian Navy and the Naval Museum, which had a display of various types of boats besides naval vessels.  These pictures are of the entrance to the restricted area of the naval facility.

 

We also visited the Jewish Ghetto, which is not easy to find.  After the bustle of the rest of Venice, it was eerily quiet.

 

We've been to Murano twice.

We like Murano, but Burano was even more interesting and prettier with it's brightly painted buildings.  While Murano is know for glass, Burano is known for lace.

 

We have been fortunate to overnight in Venice twice.  St. Marks Square and the surrounding area are practically empty compared to the daytime.  This is the walk from the vaporetto dock to the square at night.

 

A couple of pictures from the Grand Canal at night.

 

Lenda

 

[Horizon chaser 1957]

Good, well, afternoon, all! We’re traveling to the mainland, so I’m late to the party today, and I’ll keep it short. DH has a medical appointment tomorrow.

We should all be healthy in this group, with Eat Your Veggies Day following Fresh Veggies Day!
Do you know how to tell the difference between an alligator and a crocodile? One will see you later, the other will see you in a while. On that note, I’ll see myself out.😉

Happy Thursday, everyone! Soon our BHB’s will be ready to welcome us home!

Edited June 17, 2021 by Horizon chaser 1957

[happywandering]

9 hours ago, KirkNC said:

Happy Thursday, wow, where did the week go.  Today I get fitted for a mouth guard, apparently I grind my teeth when I sleep.  Exciting stuff.

 

Yea for all Nurses and their assistants.  They are the backbone of the healthcare system.

Join the very exclusive club!  I got my mouth guard three weeks ago. 🙂

[Sharon in AZ]

Venice holds a very special place in my heart.  We have been there 3 times, the first time it was just my mother and myself for two weeks and we rented an apartment.  I might have some of those pictures and will look later.  The second time was on our Med Cruise on the Rotterdam and it was the disembarkation destination and we overnighted, then stayed 4 days afterward.  The third time was a land trip to celebrate our anniversary in 2005 and we rented an apartment for a week.

 

Here are some pictures from the Med Cruise.  I'll try not to repeat too much, there is just so much to see.  Sailing in:

 

Our favorite church, Santa Maria dei Miracoli:

 

 

If you can, search out the movie Pane e tulipani or "Bread and Tulips" in English.  It's set near this area (somewhat) and one of our favorite (subtitled) movies.

 

On our first day we went to Piazza San Marco and sat at one of the outdoor cafes, I think Cafe Florian, and enjoyed the view of the Campanile, The Doge's Palace, and Balisica San Marco.  Quite a view!

 

View of the backside of the Bridge of Sighs, aka Ponte dei Sospiri, with the very crowded bridge in front of it along the Grand Canal.

 

Fast forward to a few days after disembarkation and we went to Burano, a very colorful place and one of our favorites. 

 

 

 

 

 

[bdrcole]

[Sharon in AZ]

These are from our 2005 land trip to Venice.  This is a small cafe along one of the streets, we were on our way to the white church in the background.  I wish I could remember the name right now, I know it is in Cannaregio.

 

 

San Michele, the cemetery island:

 

An ambulance:

 

 

The apartment building I stayed in 2001 with my mother, we were on the top floor.  You can see the Altana (wooden deck) that was attached to our apartment.  We would sit up there in the late afternoon with wine and cheese before dinner.

 

I have more but will post later.  Sorry it's so much but it's so hard to choose when Venice is so beautiful and unique.

Edited June 17, 2021 by Sharon in AZ
Oops, apartment building didn't copy right.

[bennybear]

9 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Thanks for the opportunity to post on your friendly Daily Rich.

Thanks also for the care list Roy which is a fantastic thing to do.

We love Venice and sailed out of Venice 3 times on Royal Caribbean Splendour of the Seas.

We stayed overnight in the Hilton Molina Stucky which is reached by water taxi and it is just across the Giudecca canal from St Marks Square.

It is 70°F and sunny today.

Today we are visiting Harrogate North Yorkshire England and we have just had lunch.

Wishing you all a lovely day.

Graham.

 

 

Did you go to Betty’s?  

Edited June 17, 2021 by bennybear

[garlictown]

Oh, it's a warm one outside!!😎😯 104° at 2:30 pm.

I would love to be able to go back to Venice and spend more time than just one day as a port call.  We had our September 3rd Nieuw Statendam cruise cancelled....had I not had the fall in May, I'd be thrilled to have the Eurodam as a replacement cruise ( Venice to Athens Sept. 12, 2021) ...actually, I'm relieved since I'm not as far along (progress) as the doctor & PT would like to see.😔 Hal offered 3 options.

😊I'm loving all the photos, however. We have been twice on Mediterranean cruises with Princess. 🚢

Katie

[rafinmd]

9 hours ago, smitty34877 said:

Thank  you  Roy @rafinmd,  for  keeping  Tana  on  our list  for  so  long. She  is  coming  to  terms  with the  situation  and  we  will  all  be  here  to  help along  the  way. The  condition is a  difficult  one  and  she  does  not  know  the  severity  yet. Please  don't  feel there  is  a  daily  need  to  be  on  the  prayer  list at  this  point,  as  I  am  sure  there  are  other  people  in  need  of  assistance. The  MD's  expect  her  symptoms  to  wax  and  wane  the  way  they  have  over  the  last  year.

For now I am moving her to the care rotation.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

8 hours ago, AncientWanderer said:

 

@rafinmd, it's a surprise you've not been to Venice, as you have traveled so much.  Funny how some places just fall through the gap.  It's certainly a lovely place

Not only have I not been to Venice but I did a bit of checking.  I had 2 cruises cancelled that MIGHT have included Venice and found that neither was booked to go there.  I fear with the city's restrictions it will be more difficult in the future.

 

Roy

[Tbay]

Thank you to all who contribute to this site.

 

@mamaofamiGlad you were finally able to visit Sam. It is hard to be separated from those you love. Take care of yourself, so you can take care of Sam when he gets home.

 

It is a good day today.  DD managed to get appointments for herself, her DH and myself, for our second jabs, next Monday.  DH has his for the 25th. 

 

We have been to Venice twice.  Such a beautiful and unique place. On our first visit we had 3 days there before a cruise.  Unfortunately we spent most of one day taking the bus back to the airport trying to find DH's luggage, which did not arrive with him. We called the lost luggage number for 2 days, and the phone was never answered. Thankfully, it was in the lost luggage room.  On Saturday night, there were fireworks for the Fiesta del Redentore, celebrating the end of a plague in 1575-76. The church, Il Redentore, on Giudecca, was built to celebrate the end of the plague. We stayed at the far end of Venice, in a mostly residential area, with a huge park.  The park was full of people, with BBQs, music, dancing, food. The fireworks were at 11, in the Giudecca Canal, and lasted for almost an hour.  It was spectacular. And I learned that Italy has many mosquitos!

Our second visit was for a week, took the train to Florence for a week, and then took the train to Civitavecchia, where we spent a couple of days before a cruise. We visited Murano (glass) and Burano (lace). We stayed on Lido, which is a  very convenient place to stay.  Lots of restaurants and a department store for anything you forgot. We were there for Halloween, and were surprised to see many kids out in costume, and doing their trick or treating on the street lined with restaurants and stores and gelato shops. We visited San Michele, the cemetery island, the day after All Souls Day, when people visit the cemetery and leave flowers for departed loved ones.  It is a beautiful cemetery, no photography allowed, with beautiful gardens, and  made even more beautiful by all the flowers left the day before. It was wonderful to have the time to just wander. 

Thank you to all who have posted the lovely pictures.  Great memories.

[rafinmd]

6 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

 

Goodness Roy, those shoes belong in a museum!!

Museum?  I bought those just 9 months ago.  They probably are a bit scruffy because they have been my nearly constant indoor shoes and they sometimes get a bit of spatter when I brush my teeth.

 

Roy

[kochleffel]

19 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

Not only have I not been to Venice but I did a bit of checking.  I had 2 cruises cancelled that MIGHT have included Venice and found that neither was booked to go there.  I fear with the city's restrictions it will be more difficult in the future.

 

Roy

 My cancelled cruise this spring had had its embarkation port changed to Ravenna. The cruise line (not HAL) promised to provide free bus transportation, but only from VCE airport, not from Piazzale Roma. I'm sure that many people, in addition to me, planned to spend a few days in Venice before embarkation. But I agree that we will probably see most cruises use Ravenna or Trieste.

Ironically, what Venice residents most object to are port calls, not embarkation and disembarkation. While passengers embarking from Venice usually spend several days there and spend significant amounts of money, those just in port for the day are thought to spend little or nothing, except at McDonald's (and then dump the wrappers in the canals).

[richwmn]

My Venice story - I was scheduled to embark there last year. It was the first cruise I had to cancel due to Covid. Rotterdam was supposed to embark there in April, then August but, of course, both didn't happen. I guess I'm not supposed to go there.

[Sharon in AZ]

1 hour ago, Sharon in AZ said:

The apartment building I stayed in 2001 with my mother, we were on the top floor.  You can see the Altana (wooden deck) that was attached to our apartment.  We would sit up there in the late afternoon with wine and cheese before dinner.

This is the picture that didn't post of the apartment, the Altana is on top of the roof.  You see them everywhere.  That is a church in the midst of restoration and the white building on the left is a hospital.

 

I'm not sure what happened with this picture, it's a split screen but it's kind of cool:

 

At night:

 

Ponte dell'Accademia:

 

There was a regatta, but I don' know which one.  It was quite fun.

 

 

We could see part of the regatta floating by from the bridge near our apartment:

 

Me waving from our apartment kitchen window:

Edited June 17, 2021 by Sharon in AZ
addition

[Sharon in AZ]

11 minutes ago, richwmn said:

I guess I'm not supposed to go there.

Just not yet, never say never.

[kb4683]

Well bummer!  We hedged our bets and had 2 TA’s scheduled for this November from Civitavecchia.

 

Last Thursday Nieuw Statendam (11/7/21) was cancelled by HAL.  Now just one week later Princess has cancelled Island Princess (11/28/21).

 

I miss Italy 😩😢😭

[dfish]

4 hours ago, happywandering said:

Join the very exclusive club!  I got my mouth guard three weeks ago. 🙂

Maybe not so exclusive.   I've had one for years.   I keep biting through them.

[sailingdutchy]

I am very late to the party .................... was fighting with my computer...........

 

We have been to Venice half a dozen times , by car touring Europe , by train from Padua ( Padova ) and a few times on a cruise . I had a large series of nice pictures plus my story prepared and while I watched the soccer game ( ....and YES !  Holland won 2-0 ! and are through to the next round ) my whole story disappeared from my computer ! 

………………..and I am not allowed to swear here, correct ? 

 

So I will randomly post some pictures of our tour by water taxi to Murano , Murano and Torcello without adding my story ……… Hopefully I am not repeating too many 

 

 

 

Our wonderful guide Elisabetta taking us to Murano 

 

 

no more for today friends  I will leave it to these  pictures , so sad  but already spend too much time on it today and dropped the other 20 nice pics .

 

Will have a long talking to my computer see if that helps , have a good evening 

 

Tony 😥

[baltic17]

Thanks for the Daily.

We definitely eat our veggies willingly.  Thanks to all the nursing assistants we see regularly.  Crocs are okay from a distance.

Poke is yummy but ceviche is even better.

We did a Costa r/t Venice in 2005.  Followed the Rick Steves advice about just heading out in any direction since you're on an island and enjoyed new discoveries around the corner.  Found a Scottish bar around one of those corners.  Also enjoyed getting our water bottle filled with wine by the liter with our picnics.  Highly recommend Donna Leon Inspector Brunetti books that take place in Venice.
@grapau27Graham, looks like a nice lunch but it doesn't look like Betty's.  We used to live nearby.

Love all the pics of Venice and Crocs in Costa Rica.

Prayers to all on the care list and those who need them.  Best wishes to all.

 

[AncientWanderer]

4 hours ago, rafinmd said:

Not only have I not been to Venice but I did a bit of checking.  I had 2 cruises cancelled that MIGHT have included Venice and found that neither was booked to go there.  I fear with the city's restrictions it will be more difficult in the future.

 

Roy

 

I bet after seeing all these wonderful photos today, you will somehow make it there.  On a small ship, maybe? 

I read a great book about Venice, "City of Fallen Angels."   Good one to read before a visit.

Or even if not visiting.

[erewhon]

Thanks to Rich for the Daily and to Roy for the Care and Celebration lists.

Thanks for all the photos, seeing Venice, brings back many great memories of two visits to the city.

We eat vegetables every day, this morning made Carrot and Kumara soup.

A surprise today, we have some feeble sunshine, temperature has only reached 8 C.

Take care everybody.