I absolutely hate moving days! Of course, who doesn't. Hauling your heavy bags around is just not fun. And the 77 steps of our pre-tour apartment didn't help.
It took two trips to get everyone's luggage transferred to the apartment that we would be staying in for a week on the GrapeHops Venice Tour. Whew! We deserved a little Prosecco!
Once our tour-mates Kevin, Jill and their daughter Megan arrived (and we rested up a little bit), Shannon and Kim had a special surprise for us.
The Arsenale in Venice is a huge shipbuilding dockyard from the glory days of La Serenissima. It is closed and inaccessible to the public except for a couple of special events during the year. This weekend happened to be one of those special events.
Here are a couple of websites where you can read about the Arsenale:
Http://www.venice-sights.co.uk/arsenale.htm
Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetian_Arsenal
We got to see some very old ships like this one that was built for a Doge - very posh and ornate.
Another old ship:
The views out on the water were great. Check out the last photo and what do you see in the background? Right - a huge cruise ship going down the adjacent canal.
Back to our rooms for a little wine on the terrace.
Then off to dinner at Da Alberto, the same restaurant that Shannon, Kim and I had visited on my first night in Venice. Palma and I shared a yummy risotto with asparagus and shrimp plus a filet with rosemary and tomatoes.
Comments (3)
It would be so exciting to see the inside of the Arsenale! The ornate details on the ships are stunning. It's hard to believe that they could turn out a full-y equipped boat in 4 hours!
Posted by jerry | May 19, 2011 4:09 AM
Posted on May 19, 2011 04:09
Love reading about what you are doing--wish the arsenal was going to be open when we are there but no.....your pictures will have to do it for us
Posted by jane | May 19, 2011 7:17 AM
Posted on May 19, 2011 07:17
Wonderful photos, Nancy. I must think about visiting the Arsenale!
Posted by sandrac | May 19, 2011 1:31 PM
Posted on May 19, 2011 13:31