We indulged in some more shopping on a cool and occasionally wet morning before retreating to the wonderful Hotel Rapallo to gather our thoughts (and luggage), have a cup of tea and then make our way to Santa Maria Novella station.
A relaxing two hour ride (the calm before the storm as it turns out) brought us into Venezia Santa Lucia rail station at 6.35pm. We found our water taxi, loaded luggage and sat down to absorb the golden hour settling over Venice.
Well at least we did until Russell realised he had left his wallet and camera bag on the train 😱
The taxi guy pulled a quick u turn and Russell, with Zoe in hot pursuit, jumped out and ran back to the station whilst I awkwardly tried to make small talk with a stony faced Giuseppe…
About 20 mins later (felt like an hour to me) they ran back, camera bag located, police paperwork completed and everyone happy but breathless.
The spectacle that is Venice soothed our ruffled feathers en route to the grand Hotel Bauer.
We found a spot for dinner and watched pink splash the sky.
I love this city ❤️
The next morning Zoe had an early water taxi booked to get to the departure point for her ride to Croatia so we saw her off before returning to our hotel for breakfast.
Our hotel was included in our cruise price and we had been informed by Regent agents in the hotel that water taxis would transport us to the ship at 1130 – what to do til then? Just enough time to stream episode 3 of Game of Thrones 🤣🤣
Perfect timing, we closed the iPad, headed downstairs and boarded one of the many taxis arriving at the water gate, en route to Explorer!
Having had such a stressful time prior to this trip I think the reality of the cruise was just really hitting us and when we rounded the corner and saw our ship ahead it was a little bit surreal.
That feeling only intensified when we were greeted with champagne on boarding and starting looking around this magnificent ship. Billed as the “most luxurious ship ever built” it is hard to disagree…
And then we saw our suite…
Looks like we might have to adjust that retirement date Russell 🤣
And so we begin our cruising experience ….. we met some new friends over dinner and together watched the Venice nightscape pass by from the top deck.
Tomorrow, we visit Ravenna, Italy – that’s if we decide to vacate our suite 😉