0
0
Saturday 7th April 2012
Weather: Cloudy start but sunshine breaking through!
No need to set all the alarms as Jon and I were awake bright and early about 6pm. The pilot was alighting just before 6.30am (actually a pilot and trainee pilot) and we would be entering the lagoon just before 7am.
The sun was rising and a pink misty glow shrouded the city. No sign of the heavy rain that was forecast on the BBC website the previous day.
Coffee and Hot Chocolate didn’t arrive at the cabin at the planned time. Our 7-7.30am wake-up call arrived at 8am so we’re glad it was only a backup! I guess a fair few of our fellow passengers had the same idea.
[easy-image-collage id=2624]
Just before we sailed past St Mark’s Square, we woke Callum up. It was quite fresh out on the balcony so Callum insisted on wearing his dressing gown and sitting in his chair wrapped up in his duvet!
It was quite quiet at this time – just a few joggers pounding the embankment. Being a Saturday, and Easter Saturday at that, it was going to be really busy.
Once we had docked in the Bacinodella Stazione Marittima, we popped down for Breakfast. Callum stocked himself up … orange juice, fruit n fibre and bacon, fried egg and mushrooms!. Within an hour, he would no doubt be hungry again.
After breakfast, we headed up to Deck 19 as the view would be so much better. MSC Magnifica had come into port. She was on the other side of the dock just diagonally back from Azura and we would have a pretty good view of her from our balcony.
We then tried to work out where the people mover was (the new mono rail that took you from the dock to Piazzale Roma). It was just outside the dock entrance so we decided to give that a whirl (Euro 1 each way) rather than use the water taxis (£35 for the three of us).
The People Mover was very easy to use and Callum loved it, even though we couldn’t sit up front. We arrived in Piazzale Roma and decided to wander around the Santa Croce and San Polo districts (North of the Rialto Bridge). It was really busy as we walked past Ferrovia (outside the train station) so lots of people with luggage as well as being busy with tourists. The Vaparettos (water buses) were totally rammed with people so we would have to wait before talking Callum on a ride. As soon as we crossed the Ponte degli Scalzi and headed into the narrow alleys it got much quieter.
[easy-image-collage id=2625]
[easy-image-collage id=2626]
We made our way to the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari church and just wandered around the alleys in the vague direction of the Rialto Bridge. Lots of canals and bridges (very glad we didn’t have to worry about the buggy this visit!) and Callum lost count of the number of boats we’d seen within 5 minutes.
We wandered through Rialto Market – first walking past the fruit and vegetable stalls and then ending up in the fish hall with their amazing stalls packed full of fish, shell fish, squid, octopi (if that is the correct word for many octopus!) and eels.
[easy-image-collage id=2621]
We found a little caffe for a drink just outside the market … Callum had another lemony lemonade whilst Jon and I sampled the local beer.
We set off again and we’d decided to go for Pizza for lunch and we’d go back to Le Caffe in Campo Stefano – the caffe that became our favourite for lunch when we were here for Nic and Aly’s wedding.
[easy-image-collage id=2627]
There were far fewer market stalls on the approach to the Rialto Bridge than we remembered but once we crossed over, we walked around the embankment to The Palace Ca’ Farsetti – where Nic and Aly got married. From here we cut across to Campo Stefano but there were no seats left outside as the sun was now shining brightly. We were just about to try somewhere else, when Callum announced he wanted the toilet … so found a seat inside in the end. We ordered ham and shrimp pizzas to share which were extremely tasty then doubled back on ourselves to St Marks Square.
As only to be expected, it was packed solid. The caffes were all vying for custom and The Florian and Caffe Quadri both had little stages outside featuring classical musicians to try and attract custom! This time round, only a small part of the basilica was covered in scaffolding but the bell tower was cordoned off for renovations.
[easy-image-collage id=2628]
We walked down alongside the Doges Palaces and showed Callum the Bridge of Sighs. Then we walked back along the embankment as far as we could before cutting across back to Campo Stefano.
We crossed over the Ponte dell’Accademia and started to wind our way slowly back through the alleys towards Pizzale Roma. We only got lost once (as Jon refused to get the map out to check! J). These alleys were so much quieter than in San Marco district – hardly anyone in sight.
[easy-image-collage id=2629]
Back at Piazzle Roma, we caught the People Mover back to the ship – Callum was delighted we were in the front carriage – for the single minute we were onboard! Quite a few Italians with suitcases were using the people mover – it was change-over day for the MSC.
Back onboard, Callum wanted to go to Kids Club for the hour before Kids Tea so Jon and I sat up in the Planet Bar reading and taking in the views across the city. The MSC was departing before Azura and we were surprised how few people were up on deck. Jon got his binoculars out and all was explained. The passengers were all on the prom deck, wearing life-jackets for the muster drill.
After Kids Tea, we headed up on deck to watch the sail away from Venice. No sailaway party but classical music was being played around the midship pool (and Chelsea-Wigan was being shown on the sea screen!). We sailed away from Venice on schedule. Six people had been reported “missing” … whether they made it back onboard, we don’t know!
[easy-image-collage id=2630]
We stayed up on deck until we had gone past the main island on Venice then headed back to our cabin to get ready for dinner. Callum headed back to the Kids Club after the Magic Show for the evening whilst Jon and I decided to have a steak in the Glass House this evening and sample a glass of red wine. I had the Argentinean Malbec whilst Jon tried a Spanish red. The steaks (Ribeye and Sirlion) were really tasty and the chips were served wrapped up in a Horizon newspaper.
Another earlyish night beckoned and we were all asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.
