Preparations to Sail

Sunday, 3 May 2009, The Port of Venice. We have returned to the ship and spent an hour or so waiting for sailing time up on the top deck. The sun is setting and it promises to be a beautiful sunset.

Whilst there was still a while before sailing time I looked over the side of the ship towards Venice and took this photo. The buildings to the right look like a railway station and the straight strip of land, though bare of lines, suggest that it may well have been once.

The sun is starting to slide down the sky, though thankfully without any of the sound you get when fingernails slide down a blackboard...

We missed all the sights as we sailed into Venice, so we crossed to the other side of the ship - the port side would face Venice as we sailed out, so we wanted to "bag" a good spot! Parked against the opposite wharf was Costa Serena, seen above. Behind us was MSC Musica. MSC Musica was the first to move, being pulled by tugs out into the channel and turning to sail majestically away from us.

We shared a wave with a few people lining the decks of Costa Serena. This started Fran going. She waved at everything that moved on the water to make people wave back. Liners, ferries, shuttle boats, tugs, ducks... everything! As time came near to our leaving others joined us at the rail and they all started to wave as well. It was catching...

Two Filipino girls from the crew came up to take photos of each other. The first stood near me with her arms outstretched. It was too tempting. I took hold of her hand and smiled at the camera. They thought this hilarious! The second came straight in for the cuddle and they were squealing with delight at the resulting photo! "Oh, thank you, sir, thank you!" she beamed. A bit bemused I said, "No problem... I'll be here tomorrow..." By heck, wife at hand and thinking I was too bloody old to stand a chance with young girls and now it gets easy?!? I must have had my posh aftershave on... And where was Fran's camera? These things don't happen every day - I need a reminder!

Hey up! A little panel on the side of Costa Serena has dropped down and there is a perfect little platform for the Captain to come out to supervise the reversing out of the dock! Blimey, we brought my mother on a cruise last year and I couldn't get permission to bring a plank for her to walk and now, when it's too late, I find that modern liners have a built-in one ready to pop out at the push of a button!

So now we are all on our own in the dock and after a while we cast off and start to move. As Costa Serena pulls out she reveals Costa Luminosa in the next berth. The long-awaited look at Venice in the sunset is about to start.

The dock looks quite empty after we are towed out to the channel and have the room to swing around to point in the right direction. Reversing out through Venice would be so embarrassing...! We are looking forward to this and in my excitement I forget to keep an eye out for any more girl crew members coming for a photo! Settle down, you sad old fogey, it's not going to happen again!

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The Canals of Venice

Venice, Sunday 3 May 2009. We walk from St Mark's Square towards the Rialto Bridge, through narrow alleyways, crowded shopping streets and small courtyards (campis) with just a narrow doorway as an exit. Almost always you can find small signs saying "Rialto" or "S. Marco" to guide you as to which way to go.

You come into a small square with exits almost hidden away in a corner and as soon as you find your way, you find yourself on a bridge over one of the many canals.

Gondolas weave in and out of other traffic on the canals and tend to stay close to the walls of buildings so that gondoliers can "scoot" along using a foot. The buildings on either side make the canals a contrasty mix of light and shadow.

The Rialto Bridge. We found it safe and sound without the aid of a map, though not without Fran casting doubt on my navigation at one point!

It was extremely hot. We spotted a slush machine - fruity ice and I nipped into the shop. "Due granitas, per favore," I said confidently. Hey!! I got it right too! I've always wondered what the Italians would make of it if you translated the English Slush Puppy literally, not knowing that they call it a granita: "due cuccioli di fango, per favore." "What? You want two rotted corpses of dogs???" Actually if you translate it back it would be cubs of mud...

In the heat, the ice drinks were delicious. I've always thought you can get a long way and make people more inclined to help if you can count to five, say please and thank you, including thank you very much for extra brownie points, know left and right and know what basic foodstuffs are called. Which is fine if I'm in a French, German or Italian-speaking country and I'm almost there with my Spanish. But on this holiday, Croatian and Greek would be good!

We spend a bit of time at and near the bridge before making our way back through the alleyways, piazzas and canals towards St Marks Square and the waterfront.

We pass one of many glassware shops with some glass penguins and Fran prompts me to take a photo. Unknown to me the shopkeeper is standing next to me, enjoying a cigarette. Luckily he is quite amused and nods quite amiably at us and shares our laughter at being found out!

We wander along the waterfront back to our rendezvous point for the shuttle boat. We have a look around a couple of shops looking for some souvenirs to take back and wait as a party of Japanese file onto a boat for a lagoon cruise.

Our shuttle boat is forced to wait whilst they embark and then we set off back towards the Ocean Village Two.

The sun is sinking in the sky and the colours are getting warmer. I wonder whether we will get a sunset on the way out, but realise it will be shining on, not from behind, Venice.

The shuttle boat takes us under the bows of MSC Musica, giving us an unusual perspective of the size of these ships.

Ocean Village Two had a service boat alongside which I jokingly called the "shit ship", but I've no idea really what it was taking off, or loading on, for that matter! I apologise unreservedly to the crew! It was late afternoon. The sun is starting to slide down the sky. The sail out will be against the backdrop of Venice seen under the rich colours and shadows of sunset. Next entry, though will be a look at some of the cruise ships next to us in the docks.

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