Jessie and Kevin's World Travels: Venezia

Kevin and I left for Venice last Thursday, August 6. We flew from Colorado Springs to Atlanta, and Atlanta direct to Venice. When we checked in in Atlanta the ticket scanner beeped at us, and we both were quickly presented a ticket in FIRST CLASS! We were upgraded for free...THANK YOU KEVIN! The minute we got settled on board we were given a glass of champagne, and a bottle of water. Once we were up in the air they took our order for dinner and we were served an incredible 4 course meal! The first course consisted of soup, salad, and crab. For the second course we could choose between 4 cheese tortellini, fillet of beef, salmon, or Mahi Mahi. We both of course chose the beef that was served with a Bearnaise sauce, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Finally we had the choice of a cheese and fruit platter and/or ice cream! I definitely chose both! Then we kicked up our foot rest and layed down flat and slept for the remainder of the 10 hour flight. What a treat! I could definitely get used to that life!

Sitting in First Class before we took off for Venice

We arrived in Venice around 11am on Friday. We got on a bus from the airport to Piazza le Roma (the car park station) and then boarded our water bus to the hotel. There are no cars on the island so if you drive you have to park your car at the Piazza. All transportation is by foot, or boat. It is pretty awesome! We got a little lost walking to the hotel but finally found it around 1:30pm. We couldn't get into our room yet, so we went to have lunch near the Rialto Bridge. We checked in around 2:30 and slept until about 6:30. Then we went out to explore.

This is the Santa Maria della Salute Church. It was under construction when were were here last year, so it was great to see!

St. Marc's Square

In the middle of the plaza

St. Marc's Basilica. Just exquisite!

Over looking the Grand Canal near St. Marc's Basilica

The grand canal and the Santa Maria Church again. So Beautiful!

A cool statue overlooking the Grand Canal

The Rialto Bridge

Rialto Bridge again.

St. Marc's Basilica at Dusk.

The gondola's at rest.

We got back to the hotel around 10pm and tried to fall asleep. We had a few problems staying asleep, but nothing too bad. On Saturday, we went to the ship(s). We did a routine maintenance check on one ship and then signed on to the second ship to do some texturing. The ship was docked overnight so we had plenty of time to work. We did not know how long it would take for the paint to dry so we went a day early in case we needed to go back the following day. It turned out that the paint dried within 15 minutes of application, so we did not have to go back the next day! We worked until about 6pm, went back to the hotel to rest a bit, and then met up with some of the people from the ship. It was another great day!

Working on the ship.

Fabulous Italian dinner by the Rialto Bridge.

Under the Rialto.

Overlooking the Grand Canal.

St. Marc's Square again. No one in sight!

On Sunday we slept in late. We finally got rolling around 2 and grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading off to Murano. Murano is another island near Venice that is famous for Glass blowing and making. We unfortunately did not get to see any glass making, but we did a good bit of shopping. The items they made were incredible.

A glass comet. It was huge!

A glass haystack! Incredible!

Flower pots made with glass flowers.

Being silly with the rusty gate in Murano.

We stayed on the island for a few hours and then Kevin and I went back to Venice and went out on a date! We sat along the Grand Canal with a bottle of wine and played cards. It was perfect! We had a late dinner and then went back to the hotel to pack.

On our date :)

We left the hotel on Monday morning around 7am. We got on the water bus again, then the city bus, and arrived at the airport around 8:30. Our flight left at 10:30 to Frankfurt, then onto Denver and then into the Springs. It was a long, but uneventful day. We had another incredible trip!

Kevin on the water bus