VENICE

October 11-13, 2008
Venice, Italy

This has been a great long weekend!  It started out Friday night when I received unofficial word from my musical director that my request to extend my contract through April had been approved, with the option to stay until May.  I am still waiting for the head office to notify the shipboard crew office so that I can sign the necessary papers, but currently, I am looking forward to circumnavigating the globe aboard the Queen Victoria!  Extending through may would afford me the opportunity to visit additional European ports that I would otherwise not see, including Amsterdam, Belgium, and Norway, so I will probably stay for a bit longer to enjoy these places. 

In addition to the extension approval, I moved out of my old room yesterday and am living with the trumpet player from my orchestra now.  He leaves at the end of this voyage, but from what I hear, his replacement and I will get along as well.  It is nice to not have to worry about waking someone up by dropping a pin in the middle of the night.

Lastly, the main reason I have enjoyed this weekend: VENICE!  We docked at noon on Saturday, set sail today (Monday) at 2:00pm, and I made the very most of my time here.  Though the ship does not dock right in the heart of Venice, crewmembers were able to purchase a ticket for the shuttle to St. Mark’s Square for $10.  It was valid for the entire time we were in port, so I purchased it and headed into the square.

As I said in one of my first shipboard posts, while I initially boarded the ship in Venice, I did not have a chance to explore it in the least.  I was able to see parts of the city from the ship as it left the city, but it was too dark to take it all in.  When I arrived at around 2:30pm at St. Mark’s Square, I knew I was in for a treat. I ended up running into a few of the singers from the ship on the shuttle and we decided to all hang out together, so I had a chance to know what I was seeing since it was not their first time in the city.  The shuttle boat did not drop us right in the square, but the short walk allowed me to take in all that is Venice.  We walked along the water towards St. Mark’s and I saw a gondola with my own eyes for the first time.  Then, I crossed my first Venetian footbridge (which was complete with five separate vendors selling knock-off sunglasses and handbags).  When I reached the top of the second footbridge en route to St. Mark’s Square, I paused and looked at the suspended bridge between two buildings on my right: The Bridge of Sighs.  This is the bridge between the Doge’s Palace, which housed the tribunal, and the prison where many would end up spending the rest of their lives.  It would be the last time to see natural light for many a prisoner. 

After crossing this second footbridge, we arrived in St. Mark’s Square, and following a few photographs, we decided to go inside the massive Basilica.  Admission was free to enter the main hall, but to see all the separate areas, you had to pay four or five Euro for each one.  We ended up going upstairs so that we could take in St. Mark’s Square from the balcony above.  We were also able to see some beautiful tapestries, sixteenth century music notation in a couple books, and also the original four horses, which were taken as war booty from the old Hippodrome in Istanbul and set outside atop the balcony of the Basilica for centuries.  They had been moved inside about twenty years ago for conservational purposes.  I was able to snap a great ‘forbidden’ photo of the horses before we left and got some wonderful dinner.

After dinner, I ended up heading back to the ship and getting ready for work, but I was excited to know I would have another day and a half to spend in such an amazing city. 

VENICE – DAY 2:

My second day in Venice was filled with more sightseeing and more pizza.  I arrived in St. Mark’s Square with one of the singers and one of the girls on the youth staff at around noon and we immediately headed to McDonalds (their idea) where I purchased my first happy meal in about seventeen years.  The thing with Venice is that you do not even need to do anything to enjoy yourself.  Walking around is exciting enough since the place is like nothing you have ever seen.  With this in mind, every time you actually do anything (even eating at McDonalds), it is makes it seem even more exciting.  We found a place to sit where there were some steps used for entering boats on one of the small canals, and enjoyed our lovely snack before we left in search of a gondolier to give us a ride. 

When we eventually found a gondolier, he wanted 100 Euro to take the three of us around.  We bargained him down to 60, but I fear that he shortchanged us and gave us a shorter ride as well.   It was still one of the most exciting things to do.  The ride could have been half as long and it still would have been just as special.  We passed the former home of Giacomo Casanova and also the former home of Marco Polo.  It will easily be one of the highlights of this entire contract.

After we got off the gondola, we stopped at a restaurant near the shuttle stop for some proper food (I had some pizza, and it tasted amazing), before Amy, the youth staff girl who I was hanging out with, had to go back to the ship to work.  Jamie (the singer) and I proceeded to the Doge’s Palace so that we could walk across the Bridge of Sighs, but in order to cross it, we needed to go through the entire palace.  The palace, a massive structure situated on the southeast corner of St. Mark’s Square, is filled with gigantic courtrooms, living quarters for the Doge, beautifully painted ceilings, and even an armory.  Once again, I was forced to take forbidden photographs but they did come out okay.  I found the armory to be quite interesting since it contained weapons, mainly swords and small firearms, from the 15th-19th centuries.  It also had a cannon and old Gatling guns, and mixed in with all of these crazy weapons was a chastity belt.

We walked from the palace across the Bridge of Sighs to the prison, which was also like nothing I had ever seen.  It was quite surreal to walk across this short bridge (no more than 20 feet long).  I looked out at all of the tourists outside through the tiny holes in the stone wall and wondered what it must have been like to be a prisoner, knowing that you would never see the world again.

The prison itself was dark and creepy.  The ceilings were low, but the cells themselves were big so I am guessing they had more than one person in each one.   I cannot tell how expansive the prison was but I walked past five or six large cells that could comfortably sleep seven or eight people, if not nine or ten. 

After leaving the prison, I did a bit of shopping and ended up buying myself a Carnivale mask from one of the vendors by the shuttle boat stop before heading back to the ship.

VENICE - DAY THREE:

Today, I woke up bright and early (6:30am) to escort my first tour of the new voyage: a trip to the islands of Murano and Burano.  Murano is famous for its glassmaking factories, and Burano is famous for its lace-embroidery.  Additionally, I had seen just about everything one would see on the other offered tours so I decided to visit a different area.  

After a long boat ride from the ship, we finally arrived in Murano and proceeded to go to a glass-blowing demonstration.  The items they were making in there were like nothing I had ever seen, and it was even more extravagant in the showroom.   I ended up purchasing a couple of solid-glass pieces to take home, but nothing too crazy.  I will say, however, that I spent more money in Venice than probably all other ports combined.  I went all out here, but it was well worth it.

When we got to Burano, I decided to avoid the lace demonstration and show presentation.  I am twenty-five, male, and am NOT into lace pieces one might frame and hang from their wall, so I decided to take the time to explore Burano.  In some ways, the island is similar to Venice in that it does have a few canals, but there are no gondolas, and people are permitted to own their own boats and keep them there whereas in Venice, the majority of boats you see are either water taxis or gondolas.  The houses are all much more colorful since building codes and regulations are a bit more liberal than in Venice, where the goal to preserve its historical importance are more evident.  After purchasing some small trinkets for friends back home, I headed back to the tour boat and rode back to the ship, thus concluding the time I spent in the city of Venice and its surroundings.

Summarizing my time in Venice was a bit difficult as I did so much in such a short amount of time and obviously, this is another one of those cities where it is tough to put my emotions at the time into words.  I expect that in other ports [prior to the world cruise, at least], I will have a tough time finding anything quite as emotionally pleasing as a ride in a gondola or a trip to St. Mark’s Square.