Venice, Italy - Day 1, Part 2 of 2

I have always wanted to go on a Gondola ride in Venice. When I think of Venice, I think Gondola Ride! So we booked an Evening Gondola Ride.


Our cruise director said don't expect a gondolier who sings and entertains you. He'll probably be on his cell phone talking to his wife, then he'll call his girlfriend. I don't know who he was talking to, but our gondolier was on the phone most of the time. That was okay because we were enjoying the company of James and Elizabeth, our new friends from Albuquerque.


There was quite a bit of traffic on the smaller canals. The gondoliers push off the buildings with their hands or feet.


After cruising along in one of the smaller canals, we came to the Grand Canal. There were about 6 gondolas together. Ours lagged behind a bit because of important phone business...


We came to a stop to listen to our singer sing "Volare" - we all joined in singing "oh oh..."


We then saw the Rialto Bridge. This is the oldest and most famous of the four bridges that cross the Grand Canal. A wooden bridge was built in 1255. There was a fire in 1310 and the bridge collapsed under the weight of people in 1444 and 1524. The present stone bridge was started in 1588 and completed in 1591.


We saw a Best Western Hotel


And a Hard Rock Cafe!


James asked for our camera to take a picture of us...


He then said, "Kiss!"


I never heard the camera click, so I said, "come on!" while James looked at me with a funny grin. For some reason, we all found this highly amusing and got extremely tickled. (No I hadn't been drinking!!!)


I really just wanted a second kiss!


We had a little free time so of course we found gelato!! I had coffee and forest fruit, while Les enjoyed hazelnut and cherries and cream. We saw a store that had the most beautiful leather purses in the window. They looked soft and elegant. I wanted to get a better look but the store was closed! We also saw several restaurants with outdoor dining. Three had musicians playing.


We bought a map of Venice before going back to the ship. We had plans to see more of Venice in the morning...