Mediterranean Cruise - Day 3 - Monday April 30, 2018

Up early at our final breakfast at what has been the best breakfast on the road in this observer’s memory. Afterwards, some go for a last stroll along the canals, some go shopping at Guggenheim Museum Shop; Frank tracks down a camera store for a charger cord for his camera. The entire crew assembles back to the hotel by noon for our transfer to our ship. The bags are all tagged for ship and then we wait.

Two water taxis arrive at 1:30 for the transfer to Ship.  After a quick 15 minute ride, we schlepp out and watch our bags disappear onto ship, and all is well except Mark’s pocket knife (confiscated) which didn’t make it through the shipboard TSA-like search. We are to learn that this is standard operating procedure each time we reboard the ship.

Our vessel, the ms Oosterdam of the Holland America Line is a 1,900 passenger ship of 11 storeys. On board ship, all bags reappeared in our cabins except Howie’s carry-on (wine bottle broke, saturation no clothing - pink underwear.)  

We begin to explore ship, and end the day with dinner in main dining room, Don Hosford nearly laughing to death. We had all opted for open dining rather than 1st or second seating.  As on all cruises, lack of food or feeding opportunities are never an issue.

We stroll the decks after dinner, variously taking in the classical music quintet, the rock & roll bar, the casino, or just sitting quietly enjoying a drink.  After a long and busy day, we are finally under way on this Mediterranean adventure.

The Mediterranean Cruise - Day 2 - Sunday, April 29, 2018

Day two actually began the night before with George (Dell) and Karen Sennentz finally arriving via London at 10:30 Saturday evening, although without Karen’s luggage. This morning we all bounded down to the breakfast room, which turned out one of the most delicious hotel breakfast spreads ever encountered. Fresh fruit, perfectly cooked scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, sweet rolls galore, cereals, cheeses, breads, even sparkling rose Prosecco, together with juices, coffee, and cappuccino.

At 9:30, all struck out for a walk to Piazzo San Marcos for a guided tour of the Plaza, the Doge Palace and a walking tour of the area. So much information, so well presented by our guide, Bruna. As today was Sunday, no tours of the basilica itself were allowed until afternoon, but given the crowd at the Piazzo, we were not discouraged for this omission.

We left our guide at 1:00 near the Rialto Bridge, after first enticing her to lead us to a small Bar/Ristorante for a refreshing glass of wine or beer and a small snack for some.

After the break, we separated into two contingents, one to head for some shopping and then back to the hotel for rest and conversation in the lobby garden and bar.

The other group, consisting of the Needelmans, the Coverts, and Ann Hosford soldiered on to the Jewish quarter for some investigation. The further away we traveled from Rialto and the San Marcos area, into the Canaregianno region, the less dense the crowds and the more we noted what appeared to be local residents. We learned that the term ghetto is derived from the Venetian word gheto, meaning foundry; the early Jews in the area were first foundry workers, and then were confined to this area to live and flourish. During WWII, Venice was the only city to protect its Jewish citizens, saving and protecting over 1,100 from the holocaust. We toured three synagogues and a short portion of the Jewish Museum.

After the long trek back to the hotel, we learned that we had posted over 18,700 steps - nearly 9 miles. No wonder there were some aching dogs.

Frank and Jean Daharsh had arrived in the afternoon from Omaha (the last of the group to rendezvous.)  Karen Sennentz’s luggage arrived and all was right with the world. We met in the lobby at 7:00 and struck out in search of restaurants as Dell had researched earlier in the afternoon. A long walk later, although three dropped back to eat closer to the hotel, we commandeered a large table and sat down to a surly waiter, good food, and an indecipherable bill. As the establishment did not accept credit cards, nor did they serve coffee, we settled on an amount that was acceptable to the waiter and mostly fair to the diners.

Back to the hotel by 9:30 and some well deserved rest in preparation for our transfer to the Oosterdam Holland America ship tomorrow

The Mediterranean Cruise - Day 1 April 27, 2018

Day one begins in multiple cities with multiple problems. From Phoenix, George (Dell) and Karen Sennentz head out for New York. Unfortunately, a weather situation in the New York area causes a delay in their flight. It is doubtful whether or not they will make their connection and arrive in Venice at the scheduled time on Saturday.

From Florida, Antonia (Toni) Super’s flight to Newark is also delayed due to weather. We learned that she did make her connection, so we expect to see her in Venice as scheduled.

Rick and Becky Utz and Jan and Larry Rupert from Tennessee were leaving from Atlanta to New York, and experienced no delays beyond a malfunctioning airline head that miraculously started working at 16,000 feet altitude!

The Omaha Contingent, Howie and Lee Needelman, Don and Ann Hosford, and Mark and Deb Covert, all arrived at Eppley in time and made their connection into Chicago, headed on to Munich.

On the Omaha to Chicago leg, Don and Ann engaged in a muted battle of gin rummy, no visible scoring was noted. Lee and Howie read and Deb worked crossword puzzles and Sudoku. The Omaha World Herald was read (for the small amount of news and there were no known obituaries - the most studied section after the comics for those of a certain age.)

The Chicago to Munich leg featured wine at no charge, dinners that were universally poor and a plethora of movies on the small screen. The only hitch in the flight was some light-headedness and nausea on Lee’s part - assume it was the food and not the company.

Poor napping and a less than stellar breakfast service culminated this leg of our adventure.

A two hour layover and then onto Venice, arriving at 1:00. We caught our transfer via a water taxi and arrived at the hotel around 2:30. The Palazzo Veneziano is a beautiful modernized hotel on the Fondamenta Zaterre Ponte Lungo, a market street running along the Canale Della Giudecca waterway. We repaired to our rooms for a short recuperation (nap) for some and then met out front at 4:30 to walk and explore. The entire group, sans Dell and Karen who had not yet arrived, and Toni who was an early arrival and had walked herself out, walked to the Ponte de Academia bridge and then back. We stopped at a water side restaurant for pizza, calzones, ravioli, clams with pasta, lasagne and seafood with pasta. All accompanied by local draft beer and wine.

After dinner, some stopped for a gelato and then a short walk, returning to our hotel for an early retirement by 8:30. Still no sign of our two missing troopers, but we expect they will make an appearance tomorrow (Sunday.)