Venice

Sailing along the Grand Canal into Venice was wonderful. The views from the ship were remarkable and we took the shuttle into San Marco and had lunch at the Rialto bridge. We will be here for 3 days.

Today, we took a boat along the Grand Canal from Piazza La Roma to Piazza San Marco. We took lots of pictures of Venice. It is hard to believe that the city is sinking slowly, but in several places we saw caissons around building foundations, where walls were being built to keep the sea out.

Saturday, we went to the Gallerie dell ' Accademia to view the masters. The paintings filled about 28 rooms and the most prominent artists were Titian, Tintoreto, Veronese, Bellini and Carpaccio. Many paintings were massive and all were assembled from many different original locations. It was mind boggling. The tickets cost 13 euro for two. www.gallerieaccademia.org is the site.

The route to the art gallery, took us from Piazza San Marco along the Calle Moise, which looks to be the fancy shopping area, with all the shops you would see on the Champs Elysee. A "must" part of a Venice walking tour.

We didn't find the Jazz Bar where Brad Pitt hangs out currently, but will look again next time in Venice.

We did find Harry's Bar, about two blocks west of Piazza San Marco, on the Grand Canal. The bar is famous for having hosted many luminaries and famous writers, including Steinbeck, going back over 70 years. Apparently it was created by the same Harry who created Harry's Bar on the Via Veneto in Rome. We arrived just before noon and each had an apertif - a red vermouth, and Harry's Apertivo" - vodka, campari, a hint of olive juice, and lots of ice. Yum. 25 Euros!

And then it was 2:00 PM, and we wanted to catch our water taxi shuttle back to the ship. We grabbed two paninis from an enotecha and ate them as we hurried to the dock near Piazza San Marco. And San Marco was as busy as ever, as was the crowd on the Bridge of Sighs.

At 5 PM, we leave Venice, out to sea along the Grand Canal, Dubrovnik next.