Thursday 17 Venice
The pub evening turned out to be a
gathering intended for South Africans because the Hotel Director is from
Johannesburg. But it was nearly all Aussies and only 1 real Sethefrican turned
up. I was the next best thing. They put out some samosas and had a quiz. J was
very good on the Aussie questions and I got a few from SA but at the end of the
day it looked as though another team just lied hugely about their score and
“won”. We have been giving away the prizes anyway so they only saved us time.
The wind blew up very strongly and
by 1am it was blowing 55 knots into us, plus our speed of 20 knots so we had
well over 100kph blowing over the deck. It was a bit wobbly but not too bad.
The wind later swung round behind us and blew out so by the time we woke at 6
it was calm and the air was totally clear, which gave us a spectacular view of
the snow-capped Alps as we cruised in at 10am. It was most unusual to have snow
this late in May but the foul weather overnight must have caused it. It was
very cold when we woke.
We went up on deck to enjoy the
sights as we cruised through Venice and past St Marks. Nowhere else do you
cruise through the downtown area on your way in.
Doge's Palace, Bridge of Sighs, Bell Tower of St Marks and a yacht from the America's Cup regatta which is currently in town.
A bit of laundry, then we
turned out for one last trivia session with a few of the regulars- we all
played together and shared the answers which was a nice way to finish.
The MSC Magnifica was tied up next
to us. Those of you who have been following will know that this is the boat we
are taking to the Arctic next month. We walked over there and got into the
check-in hall, where they were loading a private charter of 2500 Russian Amway
agents for 10 days. Now that would be a party! We found one of the entertainers
who kindly dropped what he was doing and found us a female officer. He told her
we wanted to load some luggage two weeks before we are due to board and she
just said “no” over her shoulder as she walked away. This was entirely
predictable but rude nonetheless – go MSC! This is the bunch of wallies who do
not serve water, tea or coffee in the restaurants at dinner.
Off into the city. Incredibly, J
had missed a museum last year (!!!??) so she headed off there while I did some
internet work for an hour then met her at the Rialto Bridge. We sat in Maccas
with a cheeseburger each and sorted out a hotel and train trip to get us from
Innsbruck to Mainz. I had pursued enquiries about the Somme and the household
insurance.
Back on board. We chilled out in
the room and were quite content not to go down for dinner. We went up to the
buffet instead, where we also saw Omar and Mrs Sharif. Must have been quiet in
the dining room. J is packing. Every step of the way we accumulate more
schtuff.
Just one more look at the Grand Canal on a splendid day
No comments:
Post a Comment