Thursday 27 October . . . Cunard – Forget the Baguette
J shot through to knock off a couple more museums after we packed and vacated the room. I began at the furthest, the Ca’ Rezzonico, which is an 18th Century Venice Museum with masterpieces by Tiepolo, Rosalba, Longhi, Canaletto & Guardi. Found it reasonably easy. Set inside a very grand old home with a delightful garden. Decorated ceilings in most rooms. Had 1 bedroom with dressing area set up as it would have been when this house was in use – very lovely. Some lovely furniture on display that complimented the art works. Kept myself on a tight schedule of just 1 hour here. Then set off for the supposedly close by Carlo Goldoni’s House. I knew I was close but could see no signs of it so asked a local hotel for directions, left, left again, over a bridge somewhere and some Italian sounding name of something or other. Got into a square and took a couple of branches off that which were no good. Then took a 3rd alley, over another bridge and there it was. Wow, I did it. Flashed my museum pass again and stepped into the inner courtyard of the residence. Stairs to the house itself of which only 3 rooms are available to view. One containing some fabulous marionettes complete with stage, 1 was a theatre and the last had modern art sculpture in centre and some information about Goldoni who was a famous playwright. Well that didn’t take long. Set off back to C, took a wrong turn but was only lost for a very short time. Arrived at the agreed meeting spot just before the final strike of the 12 noon bells.
We met at noon sharp to polish off the stale baguette and tidbits, bought a rail ticket for Rome, and headed off to board Queen Victoria. The direction to the boarding hall and luggage dropoff was a bit chaotic but the signin was very slick and we were soon aboard, with our vegetable knife and the contraband grog. We did spot the man with the much-vaunted white gloves but we found our own way to the cabin, which was very nice. Included a sofa and a WINDOW with view onto a lifeboat (as expected). It was just nice to have natural light in the cabin.
We found our way up to the buffet, which apparently runs for 24 hours, and were delighted to find that it included smoked salmon and seafood salad with octopus. Not to mention mousse and chocolate cake. They also had orange juice, lemonade, cranberry cocktail and ice tea on tap, which is a big plus. By then our luggage had been brought in so we unpacked before it was straight into the welcome trivia quiz. Which we WON on a 3-way tiebreak! This earned us our first Golden Coupon which at this stage is redeemable for a Cunard leather bookmark. Cool. We chatted to a few people here and there and felt quite comfortable with the mix – not the Horse and Hounds mob at all.
The library was exceptional. Head and shoulders above anything we had seen before – afloat or ashore. A classically designed and plushly finished double storey gem in leather and fine woodwork.
We set off to locate the gym above the bridge with commanding views of the Venetian coastline. We also enjoyed a guided tour of the Spa facilities which were absolutely mind-boggling. Every form of pampering and relaxation you could imagine and then some. Hot rocks, bamboo, slime, heated stone beds, water bed, poultice etc etc. Plus wrinkle removal, skin renewal and general facial magic.
J dealt with the laundry (free! They even supply the laundry powder) while C had a quick go at the gym. We hurried off to dinner, only to find that the first session was Full and the maître d’ was totally unconcerned and dismissive. We were quite happy to reprise the buffet and headed down to the pub for the evening quiz. We paired off with the Poms who had come 2nd in the afternoon, and came 2nd by one point, a couple ahead of 3rd place.
We were a tad late for the production show in the theatre but we watched from the back and a TV lounge outside. It was very good – a notch above the other boats’ shows. Up to the top decks for a look at the lights of Venice and the adjoining boats (Celebrity Solstice) then down to the cabin with OJ to polish off the welcome champagne that had been on ice all this time.
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