June 14 - Venice

This morning we disembarked from the Celebrity Equinox after a fabulous 14 day cruise.  Once we got outside of the terminal we tried to get a water taxi to go to our apartment.  What a zoo!  With more than six thousand passengers from the three cruise liners all looking for taxis at the same time, it was impossible to get one quickly.  We queued for over an hour before we finally got a water taxi.

The apartment is wonderful. It is next to the Giudecca Canal along the Zattere boardwalk. It has three bedrooms, on the third floor, with balconies that have great views of the main shipping canal. From here you can see the cruise ships sail in and out of Venice.  It used to be the owner’s family residence when he was growing up. We are staying in his old bedroom, while John and Heather are in his sister's bedroom.  It has all the modern amenities that you could want and all the old world charm that you desire.  Giogio has kept all his university text books in the shelves about the bed.  It includes a copy of MS DOS in the original grey plastic case.  That brought back memories from thirty years ago.

Our apartment in Venice

Our apartment in Venice

Our apartment in Venice

Our apartment in Venice

Although I'm still feeling the effects of the heat exhaustion, I feel much better today.  I'm drinking lots of water and taking it easy.

Tonight John organized an evening of cultural enlightenment for us.  We went to an opera performed by the Musica A Palazzo Opera Company.  We saw La Traviata by Verdi.  The performance took place in an old gothic palace along the Grand Canal, known as the Palazzo Barbarigo-Minotto  There were three acts in the opera, each act taking place in a different room of the house.  It was very intimate with about seventy people in the audience and the acoustics were great.  The case had one female singer and two males.   What fantastic and powerful voices they have.  They were accompanied by a string quartet that was equally outstanding.

An evening at the opera

We were given a program which had the English translation of the Italian lyrics, so Marg was able to keep up with the story.  Even though I didn’t understand a word, it was still a very memorable experience, one well worth repeating sometime in the future.