Dane and I were built for cruising.

Before we were even on board, Dane and I were starting to get giddy with excitement about our cruise. This morning, we basically woke up, checked out, and headed to the cruise terminal. For a half a second, we contemplated saving a few bucks and walking through Venice to the terminal, and then we remembered how hard it was to locate the laundromat and got tickets for the water taxi. It was such a good choice. This was our view on the way.

















Once on board, we went up to the pool deck for lunch (you can't go in your rooms until later in the afternoon). We were so good- we both started with big salads.


And then we abandoned healthy choices for cruise food. I had a sampling of 4 different dishes, including paella, paneer (an Indian cheese) misakka, and a baked pasta. Dane had 3 fried chicken legs, pork and mushroom stew, and mashed potatoes. He'd been a little meat-deprived. Everything was ham or prosciutto in Italy, and he was over it.

After thoroughly enjoying our multi-course, 'free' lunch, we were noticeably more relaxed (and probably nicer). Then we lounged by the pool and read for 2 hours. It was so awesome. We asked ourselves why we hadn't just been cruising this whole time. Of course, the answer to that is that it is more limited, and I think we would get tired of it after a couple of weeks. But after schlepping our stuff around for 2 weeks, hopping on buses and trains, trying to balance deliciousness and affordability in restaurants, there is something magical about knowing that for the next 8 days, we are basically taken care of. We will go ashore and navigate our own way around the ports, but then we come back to a clean room, a cooked meal, pre-planned entertainment and no real responsibility. It's like a vacation from our vacation. :)

After our emergency muster drill


which was going on at the same time as the one on the ship across the water.


Finally, all the safety drills completed and everyone on board, we were off! Well, at least, the tug boat that was pulling us into the channel was off!



But eventually, our boat was moving of its own accord and we were passing Venice out into the ocean.






A different view of San Marco's square.


We are assigned to the earlier dinner seating, and when we arrived at the table, we found that 9 of the 10 people at our table are Americans, 7 work at schools, and 5 of us are teachers. We were so happy that all the people at our table are friendly and sociable. Dinner was excellent, our view was beautiful (we're right at the window, and I'm very hopeful abut our eating experiences this week.

The post dinner show was a little strange. It was a mediocre combination of magic and acrobatics, but it was fun. Then we headed to the schooner bar for pub trivia, which we won! We got 9 out of 10 questions correct! And we were rewarded for our efforts with key chains and magnets.



For the rest of the evening, we wandered around, stopping to listen to music here and there, and had a midnight snack (as you have to do on a cruise).





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