Ah Venice, the city of love and romance. We had been looking forward to this all trip, even though it meant getting off the Ruby Princess for good. We had this whole day to pack and then head out to the city center, because we weren’t actually getting off the boat today. We still had one more night here on the ship, and then we would exit the ship early tomorrow morning for good. We spent this day relaxing as well, sleeping in, enjoying the views on our balcony, having a beer and smoking a cigar. We decided to pack before we left the ship to see Venice. We didn’t have any excursion planned, we simply wanted to do things on our own today.
The ride into Venice was amazing. We got to see so much of the city just from the view from our balcony.
A view of St Mark’s Square from our balcony:
We packed all our bags and then headed out to the St. Mark’s square around 4:00. We took a Cruise sponsored city water bus that was exclusive to the Ruby Princess passengers that would take us back and forth from the city center of venice as many times as we liked all the way until 1 AM, so we knew we had an easy and free ride home whenever we needed to come back. Once we got to St Mark’s Square, it was really crowded but the place was beautiful. We took lots of pictures and the day before had listened in on the “port talk” on the ship which they held everyday to learn lots of cultural and historical aspects of the ports we were visiting. We were really excited to finally be in Venice, walk the streets, shop, take pics, and just be together enjoying this special time with one another.
Here are some pics of St. Mark’s Square:
We even got to take a Gondola ride together! It cost a pretty penny for a half an hour ride, but it was well worth it. We may not ever come here and do this again so we had to experience this at least once together. It was so romantic! Quiet, lovely, and so elegant as we slowly floated through several little waterways as our Gondolier (who spoke good english with a thick Italian accent) took us by a few historical points of interest such as the original house of Marco Polo, the old prison of Venice where Casanova was once held, we also passed underneath the famous Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal which was awesome. It was short, yet something we’ll never forget. It was the final peak of our honeymoon and there couldn’t be a better way to top it off.
Janine in front of the Rialto:
So many shops just like this. Janine wanted to eat at every place we saw.
Gondola central!
Rialto Bridge:
On the Gondola!
