Day 2 found us up at 7 with breakfast @8 then the included walking tour at 9. We left the ship the got in a smaller shuttle boat to go to the middle of Venice Near St Marks Square..the big draw for Venice. The guide met us as we got off the boat....and did a good job for an hour as we walked and talked....taking us over the small bridges and down the alley streets to get to the Square.......which was packed with tourist. This is Spring break week so kids of all ages, mainly in school groups were there.

St Marks is a remarkable Square...with the massive Basillica and the Doges Palace....which is now a museum.  Very impressive.

The many canals with the gondolas are the main means of communication...and to get around the city you can either walk or take a gondola or a boat....every type and size is here... Very unique.

I mentioned to Audy a couple of times that Venice should be considered one of the wonders of the world.. as the city is built on over a hundred islands...and built hundreds of years ago...and still standing. Certainly no other city in the world that we know of like this. This uniqueness makes Venice what it is....with there'd roofed houses built right to the waters edge, and if not attached to the next building, right next to it feet away. Just an amazing sight to see and think about as this is not a new city. Due to its location at the mouth of the Adriatic Sea....it has always been a major trading center for it goes access to Central Europe to the west with goods and products from the east and Asia.

The walking tour concluded with time on our own and we returned to the ship on the 12:30 pm shuttle....had lunch at World Cafe....then nap time for Audy.....we got up for the  Port Talk on Split...at 5:15 pm.....then to a later dinner after listening to the Classical Trio..and then visiting with the......then dinner and to the Captains reception and show...and the 45 minutes of listening to Andras on piano ....a late night for us at 11 pm......more to come, as we are off to breakfast and Split, Croatia

This is the first of daily reports from our recent trip to the Mediterranean.....

We arrived in Venice from Frankfort about 10 am and were met at the baggage area by Viking reps. They grouped us and we boarded a large tour bus and headed to the ship, which was about a 20 minute ride. We were then met by a number of Viking reps who guided us the short distance to the boarding check in area....very smooth and we were in the ship by about 11:30 am...rooms would not be ready until 2 so we went to deck 7 and found and area of lounge chairs where we could rest and we did until 1 pm...then went into the World Cafe for lunch....but just before this I checked with guest services and met Hungarian Susanna and she called to find out room was ready early...so we took our carry on up to 4089 then directly to lunch. World Cafe is a large serve yourself buffet with huge choices....had lunch and Sleep time for Audy.....and she slept for about 2 hours. I went to the Port Talk on Venice....then we went to dinner, again in the World Cafe.....good food and good selection.....we then walked around the ship and set down to listen to the pianist Andras. He is the resident pianist and more on him later. In the Guest Services area, which is a 3 story atrium they have a baby grand piano and it is in any area where they have special music....where we heard Andras.......I heard a violin, cello, and flute trio in the afternoon...and about 3 groups play off and on during the day and night...plus a guitarist whom we have not heard yet.  Met some interesting folks while listening.....and then off to bed early....set the alarm for 7 as we were scheduled for the first included tour at 9 on day 2..... a very quiet night for good sleeping in port at Venice.

A very good boarding day.....with the exception of Frankfort Airport....a bit too rushed...but the rest of the day "met our expectations"....one of the questions on the daily evaluation sheet.

More to come...end of day 1.

Today we formed Ron Largent Travels.....a new blog that will tell about my recent travels. We just completed the Mediterranean Odyssey on Viking Ocean Cruises and it was great. Stopping in 10 ports, we had a great experience to see first hand what is going on in the Mediterranean cities from Italy to Greece and back up to Spain.
Daily details are going to be posted on this blog.....