Day 11 - June 19

Most of this day we were at Sea sailing to Venice, Italy. I did not think I would enjoy the days at sea, but found they were well needed after day's of sight seeing and walking a lot. We arrived in Venice around 2:00 in the afternoon. As the ship arrived in Venice and before we arrived at out docking station, we were able to view the city while the cruise director pointed out attractions. There are not other words for it accept amazing. Several different places along our trip there were huge Yachts docked. Venice was no exception. One quite large yacht that was pointed out was that of Andrew Lloyd Weber. On our next email to Travis we told him he needed to pursue his music career much harder. After we arrived and were able to depart the ship we headed for the People Mover. It is like the subway but above ground and only has a few stops. This took us to the outskirts of Venice.

From there we began walking to see some of the sights. The first picture below is taken from a bridge that we crossed. It shows that the city really does sit on top of the water. Wade wanted the second picture so we could see that doors from homes open right onto the water. It did not look like they ever opened the doors that were right on the water.

We continued our walking which took us to St. Marks Square (Piazza San Marco) which is called the "heart of Venice". The picture below is of the St. Marks Basilica. In what I had read about it, the outside was made so elaborate as to serve as an altar in order to give the people the opportunity to participate in religious ceremonies from the St. Mark's Square in a dignified setting. The Doge Palace is attached to the basilica. We got to that the following day.

We decided it was time to try and find our way back to the People Mover and head back to the ship for dinner. They definitely needed Brigham Young in Venice. The streets were so confusing and never ran in a straight line for very long. The entire time in Venice I felt completely lost. The walk had taken us a ways away from where we needed to be, so we decided to try out the Water Bus to get back. We bought out tickets and went to get in line. What, no line, just people pushing and trying to get on the next Water Bus because they were so crowded. Not even sure we got on the right one, but it was headed in the right direction. Dennis should have been able to ride for free because he ended up taking care of the gate, opening and closing it. It was worth it just for the adventure of riding one.

That evening we had signed up for an evening Gondola Ride. So, after dinner we headed back into Venice. This time the transportation was very nice and we were taken almost right where we needed to be with just a short walk.

It was the perfect evening. Wade, and I, Bud and Linda were on the same Gondola and we were lucky enough to have the musicians on our Gondola with us. They were very fun to listen to and it was very romantic! We were told that every time you went under a bridge you were supposed to kiss, so we did. It was a very fun evening.

This was our Dinosaur friend that evening!