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Wanderung 10

Boating around the Boot & Gallivanting through Gaul.

October 2005

Wednesday October 12 - Venice, Italy & Embarkation on the Astor

A breakfast was included with our overnight stay and around eight o'clock the next morning we trundled down to the small dining area on the hotel's ground floor to take full advantage of it. Fortunately the breakfast buffet was a full German menu that included soft boiled eggs, yogurt, meat, cheese, and rolls plus cereal and assorted beverages, so we made out all right. My body was confused by jet lag, but I managed to convince it to eat a hearty meal because I knew we were in for some more walking. After breakfast we were off like a shot to explore as much of Venice as we could before our check out time at noon.

We started off by crossing immediately over to the opposite bank of the Grand Canal and then working our way over to the Jewish ghetto section of the city. I was expecting to see a synagogue or two, but I did not discern anything that was clearly designated as such. The ghetto area was, however, a relatively non-commercialized section of Venice with only a few folks walking around. That was restful after cutting through throngs of folks for most of the previous day, and it allowed us to really take a slow, careful look at some of the old buildings and courtyards. I found these courtyards to be very pleasant oases of space in an otherwise rather crowded city where space is clearly at a premium.

We recrossed the Grand Canal and dwaddled along looking at side canals, bridges, courtyards, and the occasional store along the way. Monika finally broke down and bought a necklace of blue Venetian glass beads that we both liked. I also liked the glass craftwork in that shop, but the lamps were too difficult to take with and I could not find any airplanes among the small, portable items, so I gave it up. We both suddenly realized that time was running short to check out by noon, so we started hurrying back toward our hotel, only to find out that hurrying in Venice is difficult if not impossible. First, there are crowds of people on any major street (alley?) and you just just can't walk fast while dodging other people; it's kind of like broken-field running in football, but in slow motion. Secondly, there were still beautiful photographic sights that just cried out for a picture, and we found that we could not just walk on by. Delayed by both factors, we barely made it back to our room in time to throw our clothes back into our suitcases and check out at 12:00 on the dot.

Fortunately after checking out the receptionist let us store our luggage in a locked anteroom until we had to leave for our cruise ship at 2:30, so we were able to squeeze another couple of hours of touring Venice out of our day. Heinke and Gustl gave us their 3-day water-ferry pass, and we took a waterbus directly down the Grand Canal toward St. Mark's plaza. The ride was great because we could have a water's-eye view of the buildings and bridges along the canal and also because I could sit and rest my weary feet.


 

At St. Mark's we transferred to a ferry out to Lido Island, which reportedly has the local swimming beaches. Not having time to take a swim, we boarded another ferry that carried us on a different route back to the stop beside our hotel.


 

Arriving back at the hotel at 2:15, we hooked up with Helga, Jim, Heinke, and Gustl and retrieved our luggage from the storeroom. Then we started our trek over canals and bridges to the cruise ship terminal that lies on the western edge of the main island of Venice. Even with the advantage of wheels on all of our luggage (except my backpack that was on my shoulders), the route over to the cruise ship terminal was rather long and circuitous.

Despite being October, the sun was beating down and we were hot and tired by the time we reached the Astor and finally could relax in our nice, cool cabin. As the discerning reader might have noticed, lunch had been missing from all of our morning and afternoon activities; we had been so excited taking a last look at Venice that we just hadn't somehow thought about it. So we were both were getting somewhat peckish by three p.m., but we were saved by the good old German habit of Kaffeetrinken that was preserved in the forward lounge of the Astor. Thank goodness they not only served coffee and cakes but also sandwiches, so starvation was once again held at bay.

Heinke and Gustl had fortunately signed us up for the early seating for dinner, so we roamed around the ship a bit before we met the others for dinner. The Astor was built in 1989 and has a fairly typical layout for a modern cruise ship That is, several layers of passenger cabin decks start just above the waterline so that each exterior stateroom has at least some kind of external window. On top of that come the decks with restaurants, swimming pool, lounges, and shops. At the top of the ship were decks with the bridge and recreational areas.

The official ship's language on the Astor is German, and the Gentle Reader could be excused for wondering what in the world I was doing on a German cruise ship. Well, the short answer is that German was the one language that all six of us knew enough to be comfortable. Even though I am still a bit awkward in speaking German, I could understand it quite well enough to feel completely at home on the Astor, and certainly I would prefer having my great in-laws with me on a ship with a somewhat unfamiliar language rather than being on an English-speaking ship with nothing but strangers.

Anyway, after dinner we all met on the forward part of the promenade deck to watch the Astor depart from the dock and work its way out of the complex of islands that comprises greater Venice. The ship proceeded quite slowly so we had a great view of Venice at night as we glided by on the black waters of the lagoon just south of the main island. A tug was guiding us for the first section of our exit, but it peeled off when we neared Lido Island and our ship proceeded out to sea using the lighted channel buoys. Heinke and Gustl are experienced sailors and could actually explain all the buoys to us, which made it a lot more interesting. Heinke even joined me in singing some verses of German sea shanties, so one way and another we entertained ourselves until the ship reached the open sea, whereupon we returned to our cabin for the night. I had a good night's sleep until 5 a.m., when my biorhythms again popped me awake for the morning.

Copyright2006 by R. W. Holt and E. M. Holt
Prolog
Map
October 2005
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
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9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 27 29
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Epilog

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