Venice and thoughts on the cruise

Some of this may be repeating things I’ve said in an earlier post, but since I can’t see the blog when I am offline, I wanted to put say some things for my own memory of the trip before I forget. We had a great day today on our trip out to Burano and Murano. We did an extension with the ship and I was glad we did. It seemed rather expensive but since we had to be back onboard by 1:30, we were assured that they would not leave us. I did not realize how far out the islands are-or at least that the boats cannot go very fast so it takes an hour from where we were to get to Burano and then about half an hour to get back to Murano and then 40 minutes back to the ship. We went to Burano first and I was so surprised at how pretty it was and what a neat place it was to visit. It is small so we could wander around and we had an hour to do just that. It was plenty of time and we enjoyed looking at the lacemaking process and all the beautiful things they had for sale. There was an older lady who was showing us how it is done and it is a dying art. They said that not many young people were wanting to learn how to do it. With Jim’s mom tatting so much, we could really appreciate the time spent and how special the work is.
The boat we were on to go to the islands had an upper deck. It was cold and sprinkled rain at times, but the views were wonderful. At one point, there was a complete rainbow across the sky and then later, there was a double rainbow! What a sight to see. Driving by St Marks square was much better today than yesterday.When we got to St Mark’s yesterday, it was actually lovely, but of course, the rain and high water were what we were remembering the most when we passed by this morning. The sun looked much better! After Burano, we went to Murano and watched one of the glass masters make a couple of pieces of the famous glass. What an art it is. He made a vase and then he made one of the glass horses and I thought of Delaney and Emily-we almost bought them one but they were so fragile and one of the men told us that they were extremely hard to get home without breaking. I just don’t think there is any way we could do it. But they surely were pretty to see.
We made it back on the ship in plenty of time and it was good to be warm and dry again as it started raining as we boarded the boat on Murano.
This cruise has people from so many countries. I don’t know if it is because of where we are cruising or what, but there are many languages being spoken. To clarify some of what we have said earlier, the main restaurants on the Jade are wonderful. They are as good as any we have eaten at and we have had no trouble getting in any time we want. But the garden café buffet is less enjoyable than it has been in the past. And starting today, the burgers have garlic in the meat. Great-NOT.
We went to the show this evening after dinner and it was very good. It was a flaminco group from Spain and they were excellent. Other shows we have enjoyed were a tenor who was just excellent and a show based on “Shout”. I decided tonight that the flaminco dancers must have restless leg syndrome. Or maybe I just need to take it up when I have problems with mine-that is what it feels like I need to do when it acts up!
Instead of fish on the carpet which lead you to the front of the ship, the Jade has seashells but there are dolphins on the edge that lead the way. We’d be lost without those dolphins! In Venice, we have to go through security on the outside near the dock. It was not much fun to stand in the rain and go through that yesterday. Today it was not raining so it was not a big deal. We ate lunch with a couple from Vancouver, Canada today and they got lost this morning in Venice and almost didn’t make it back to the ship’s last shuttle. It sounded like something we’d do. It made me glad we did things in the order that we did.
This may seem like a bad time of year to do the cruise and it definitely has more rain, I think ,that other times. But I cannot imagine Venice in the summer time with the crowds and the smells. And I think it is neat to have been here and walk on the planks because of the water. It can vary at least 4” they said because of the tides and I am sure that is part of it yesterday when even the inside of the cathedral was flooded. In the morning, we walked in St Mark’s square, only having to watch to avoid certain puddled areas. But by late afternoon, there was 8” or more of rain and puddles in places. It was like walking a maze to figure how to get into the cathedral to see it. I kept being afraid that someone would push me accidently and I would lose my balance and fall in the water. Some people refused to walk single file and it was impossible to keep walking when that happened. It is a beautiful city.