Venice (Overnight Call) Part 4 - Roaming the streets of Venice

Venice - Part 4

Venice Part 1 - Sailing In

Venice Part 2 - Into Venice, St Mark's Square, Doge Palace

Venice Part 3 - St Mark's Square, Basilica, Murano & back to Ship

Venice Part 4 - Day 2, Roaming the streets of Venice

This was our second day in Venice.  Today, we would leave our kids in the Fun Factory while the adults go roam Venice on our own.  After getting off the ship, we took the people mover to P.Roma, then boarded Line Number 1 to get to Rialto, before walking to S.Marco.

Here is a video (long) I took of the journey in the River Bus Number 1 from P.Roma to Rialto.  Pardon the crazy guy talking. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfhLHeSxU5g

From Rialto bridge, we made our way by foot to St Mark's square.  It was an easy walk and you could follow the signs.  I also used by CityMaps2Go iPhone App.

Bright, sunny and cold.

Pleasant to walk around, as there weren't many tourists.

Looks almost empty yah?

The Gondolas moored for the winter.

There were still passengers for the Gondolas, but not many.   I didn't hear any singing!

Street vendors.

After loitering around a bit, the plan was now to roam the streets of Venice and to walk in the general direction of P.Roma (cruise ship).

Menu of a cafe.  Most cafes were very empty, this being off-season.

Tarts and stuff.  You can see the prices.

There were many stores selling leather goods.  Prices were reasonable, at least by Singaporean standards.

Also street vendors.

A cafe selling pizza.

Hah!  Spotted a chinese restaurants.  The prices were reasonable, but we didn't dine here.

Chinese restaurant menu.

Taken from a bridge, this gondola passed by below us.

I didn't hear any singing.  I guess no more singing these days?

Or maybe it was just too cold.

Yet another leather goods shop.

If you want a quick bite....

Interesting.

That way to Piazza San Marco, a World Heritage site.  We just came from there though.

Even in late November, there was healthy tourist traffic.

What's this?  Don't kow.  Some food.

Or some type of cake or bread?

Notice the huge Donald Duck lego?  Cool huh.  That way to Per Rialto.  Yes, we were heading in the direction of Rialto.

More cafes with food.

I didn't see many patrons though.

A pretty large baguette for 5.50 Euros.

Gondolas, waiting for passengers and not the other way round.

And we keep walking.   It was fun to walk and stretch those legs and burn off those calories!!

A shop selling Venetian masks.

We made our way to the only McDonalds in Venice.  Hahahaha.

This was the menu.  7.50 Euros for a meal.

Our receipt. My wife and I shared a meal plus a cheeseburger plus a coffee.  We didn't really need to eat much.  Too much food on the ship!

The 1955 burger was rather tasty.

It looked empty from the outside but it was full inside.

Too cold for anybody to be sitting outside.

After lunch, we keep walking.

And walking.

Wife bought some stuff from this store - LUSH.

Handmade cosmetics. Very nice smells.

Oh, R2-D2 tagged along today.  There was space for him, since the kids weren't coming.

R2-D2 in Venice!

Now, the camera focusses on R2-D2.

R2-D2, on the streets of Venice.

Of course, R2-D2 shouldn't stray too far from his master - Luke Skywalker.

A young Luke, checking out the streets of Venice.

Back inside the LUSH store.  My wife loves this place.

So does Luke.  Hey man, why do you need to keep wielding that Light Saber?

You must be wondering, what's so special about this courtyard? Nothing great?

Well, I was trying to see whether the camera could capture the fact that the Courtyard was extremely uneven.  The ground we stood on was not even.  Venice was sinking!!

Can't really tell from this picture.  But Venice is sinking, no doubt about that.

Stores were opened.

Small canals. There is a lot of maintenance work required.

A Police Boat outside a 4-star hotel.  Wonder what was happening. Or just routine patrol?

The hotel Papadopoli.

The Police station was nearby.

After a very pleasant walk, we were almost back at P.Roma.  Note that we had walked from St Mark's Square all the way back here.

Not a difficult walk. Take your time to explore Venice on foot.

Hey, you didn't have to walk.  You just hitched a ride in my backpack!

More empty gondolas.

Nice set of bridges.

We took a slight detour and walked down another canal to explore a bit before heading back to the ship.

Look on the right, there was a constant stream of people walking.  Most of them didn't look like tourists.

I vaguely recall seeing a school nearby.

Here we are back at the ACTV ticketing booth, for the Vaporetta tickets.

This bridge was certainly very well used.

A new hotel was being built (or perhaps an old building being renovated).  Santa Chiara Hotel.

This is what the renovated vaporetta station at P.Roma would look like.   I didn't take note of the completion date though.

Meanwhile, we just used these pontoons.

Back on board the ship, enjoying the views of Venice.

Sunset.

MDR Dinner menu that evening.

Thank you for reading!

Back to Celebrity Silhouette Nov 2013 Cruise Landing Page

Venice Part 1 - Sailing In

Venice Part 2 - Into Venice, St Mark's Square, Doge Palace

Venice Part 3 - St Mark's Square, Basilica, Murano & back to Ship

Venice Part 4 - Day 2, Roaming the streets of Venice

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Epilogue,

A fellow traveller by the nickname of cornishpastyman dropped me a kind email and highlighted his videos. This one on Venice is absolutely awesome!  My video skills 'suck' completely, compared to this chap.

Highly recommended for you to watch, if you haven't been to Venice.

Cheers!