Tag Archives: Venice

Cruises, Travel - Italy, UNESCO, Venice, Wine

Venice, Italy – Alfred Hitchcock’s Inspiration

Have you ever wanted to sound like the world’s biggest a-hole and  alienate multiple friends, all in one fell swoop?  If so, pay close attention and do exactly as I say.  Kind of roll your eyes a little bit in an exaggerated act of annoyance and say the following words with the smug impatience of someone who thinks they’re as classy as Ivanka Trump (but really only has as much class as her father, ‘The’ Donald).  Repeat after me:

“Ugh.  We have to go to Venice… again?!  Bleeeehh.”

Do that, and you are sure to land on the top of most people’s sh*t list!  At the risk of losing blog readers, friends and maybe even a few family members… that is exactly how we felt recently when we went back to Venice.  I can fully appreciate this is a ridiculous thought to have and even more obnoxious to share… but hey, this is a blog that delivers brutal honesty.  When we booked our cruise with Celebrity Cruises a little while back, we did it despite the fact that the ship spent two days at port in Venice.  Don’t get me wrong, Venice is a beautiful city with a unique charm found nowhere else in the world. If you’ve visited Venice before, you may reminisce about the romantic gondola rides, the charming cafes and the stunning churches.  But when you’ve faced with a visit to Venice for the fifth time, you are more likely reminded of the crowded piazzas, overprices restaurants and long lines full of pushy tourists.

See, "First World Problems Girl" gets it!
See… “First World Problems Girl” gets it!

Venezia (Venice) has an alluring history that I find to be more fascinating than nearly any other city in the world.  I mean, the entire city has been floating on water for centuries, for Pete-sake!  I detail a brief explanation  of how Venice came to be in this blog post (definitely worth a quick read).

Doge's Palace with San Marco Campanile in the background
Doge’s Palace with San Marco Campanile in the background
The Lion of San Marco perches atop a tall pillar outside of the piazza
The Lion of San Marco perches atop a tall pillar outside of the piazza

Even though we weren’t very excited at the prospect of squaring off against millions of other tourists in a space not much larger than the Mall of America, we abandoned our original plans to stay on the ship and instead ventured onto Venice’s shores.  We were sure glad that we did!  Over the next two days we rediscovered a new Venice; one with more magic and charm than we ever realized was possible.  What’s the difference, you ask?  We were walking around in the off-season. Continue reading Venice, Italy – Alfred Hitchcock’s Inspiration →

Beaches, Cruises, Family Stories, Food, Food and Drink, Greece, History, Humor, Landscape, Photography, Shopping, Sipping Espresso, Travel - Europe, Turkey, UNESCO, Wine

Come Here, You Turkey!

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In my most recent blog post, we embarked on a cruise throughout the Mediterranean.  I’d love for you to continue the adventure with us as we head to Istanbul, Turkey and the beautiful Greek island of, Lesbos.  I’ll finalize our voyage in an upcoming post that will include the final ports of call and some more stories about our shipboard life.

“Oh, tell me… tell me all about it!”

When I last left you, we had visited Venice, Olympia and Athens.  By this point in the cruise, we really hit our stride and had fully immersed ourselves in everything Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam had to offer.  We were overeating delicious food (and then trying to work some of it off in their state-of-the-art gym), spending time in the casino (maybe too much time… literally every casino worker knew me by name), taking in shows and making friends all over the ship.  We found a couple of other families with small children, but for the most part – we were in the minority (not fitting into your typical “cruise-goer” demographic).  I’ll tell you what… if you ever want affirmation about your kids cuteness – go on a cruise with thousands of grandparents missing their grandkids.  They were all so happy to pay us compliments about Julia that it made us excited to take her anywhere on board. Continue reading Come Here, You Turkey! →

Beaches, Cruises, Family Stories, Food and Drink, History, Humor, Julia, Landscape, Photography, Restaurants, Sipping Espresso, Travel - Europe, Travel - Italy

"I Would Sail 2,700 Nautical Miles and-a I Would Sail 2,700 More…"

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Admit it… you sang the title in your head, complete with the voice raising on the “and-a I”…

I love to cruise.  Jen loves to cruise.  And now… Julia absolutely loves to cruise.  We have very few experiences aboard cruise ships, but each time we’ve been on one of these massive floating hotels (or mini-floating city’s… I couldn’t choose between adjectives – you pick your favorite), we feel like royalty.  We know that we will chose this method of vacation many more times in our lives.  Cruising requires little planning and you are always rewarded with the very best customer service, the opportunity to see many more cities than you normally could in a given time period, endless activities aboard the ship, wonderful food, the benefit of unpacking only once and perhaps best of all – a very affordable vacation (you can get very good deals if you hawk the last-minute deal sites).

Our ship – Holland America’s MS Nieuw Amsterdam

The first time that Jen and I took a cruise was on our honeymoon.  We spent three weeks sailing around South America (from Buenos Aires, Argentina all the way around Cape Horn and on to Santiago, Chile).  I chose Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) for our first cruise, primarily because the itinerary was perfect and I found it to be reasonably priced.  I wasn’t nearly the internet-nerd I am today and so I did little research beyond that.  We had a wonderful vacation, ate way too much food, enjoyed some lovely scenery (I have thousands of pictures to prove it) and had an absolute blast.  However, I had no idea how amazing cruising could really be until we recently boarded Holland America’s, MS Nieuw Amsterdam (pronounced, n-e-w); one of the newer ships in their fleet.

Boarding the Nieuw Amsterdam

Continue reading "I Would Sail 2,700 Nautical Miles and-a I Would Sail 2,700 More…" →

Food and Drink, Humor, Sipping Espresso, Travel - Italy, UNESCO, Veneto, Venice

Someone Turn The Hose Off… These Streets Are Flooded!

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One of the true gems of the world…. Venezia (Venice).  The name alone evokes powerful feelings for many people.  Romantic gondola rides, historical architectural treasures, beautiful creations blown from Murano glass, unique hand-crafted masks and always… always a city constructed with streets of water.  Amazingly, the entire city is listed as a World Heritage Site in order to preserve it’s unique beauty.  According to my Wiki research, Luigi Barzini described it in the New York Times as “undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man”.  I’d have to agree with Luigi!

Panoramic view from the roof of our hotel
Venice from the water
The Grand Canal
More of the Grand Canal
Happy to be here

Our good friends Nathan and Danielle joined us recently for a whirlwind visit filled with food, wine and lots of fun (read about it HERE).  We punctuated their trip with a stopover in this romantic city.  I was intrigued by the history of such a unique place and just did a little research.  Venice consists of 117 islands, formed by 177 canals and connected by 409 bridges.  I kept waiting for that “ah-ha” moment when I discovered the name of the genius city planner that decided to create a magical city on the water.  But unlike Bugsy Siegel’s Las Vegas or Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid’s reinvention of Dubai – there was no one person that can be credited with the conceptualization of Venice.  The truth is that refugees fleeing from invasion of the Lombards sought shelter in the marshland that is now Venice.  And how do any cities really get built?  A collection of people working together to establish trade and industry, creating habitation and then services to support the population.  And so the city grew around the marsh and homes and churches and municipal buildings were constructed.  This begs another question.  How can you build a city on water? Continue reading Someone Turn The Hose Off… These Streets Are Flooded! →