Venice, Ravenna, Split

Venice was probably my favorite place to visit during the entire trip. I was worried that my hopes were too high and that it wouldn't be all that wonderful or something. I'm thrilled that I was wrong.

We spent two days in Venice. When we first docked, we wandered around for a while and purposefully got lost (although, being married to an Eagle Scout means that your husband has a flawless sense of direction and can find his way anywhere, so, I was probably the only one lost).

We found this cow outside an Art Institute.

Wandering.

Gondolas.

St. Mark's Basilica.

Door knob.

Going into St. Mark's Basilica was a crazy experience. It's in the Byzantine style so almost everything you see is a gold, 2D mosaic with extremely intricate, busy designs. Pictures weren't allowed, unfortunately.  But I'm sure it's all google-able.

My one regret from our two days in Venice was that we walked by this insane looking bakery/candy store that had the weirdest, most bizaare looking treats in all kinds of neon and pastel colors. We swore we'd find our way back to it and it's like it then disappeared- we never did find it again. I guess we'll just have to go back one day and find it. Shucks.

The next day we only had until 2 pm to do more exploring. We didn't have any excursions planned for Venice, but we'd heard of tours of the Doge's Palace. We wandered in, thinking we could just do a quick walk through. It turns out that the entrance fee was pretty expensive, but for some reason that only made us want to do it more (not the typical intuitive response for us). We did not regret it.

The Doge's Palace is like Versailles; huge, lavish, covered in murals and artwork and a maze of one breathtaking room after another. We even got to explore the dungeons. It took us a good three hours to see everything, and we just kept saying, "Oh my gosh! Look at this! That is so insane!" Time well spent.

Security guards in the mural rooms strictly forbade any photos, so we don't have any shots of those.

Just testing it.

Staring contest.  You and me.  Go.

Bat Mobile Gondola.

Northern courtyard, between the Basilica and the Palace.

Golden staircase.

We both wanted to find a souvenir on this trip that we would use forever. I wanted to find some funky shoes or a cool dress or a new purse, and Harry wanted to maybe find a cool jacket. All along the streets, people were selling knock-off Prada and Gucci purses. I was tempted to get a really cool patent leather red (fake) Prada messenger bag, but I wanted something original, made in Italy, from a label I'd never seen before (plus, you never know where those knock-offs are coming from). We were wandering down yet another tiny street when suddenly, I saw it. In a shop window. My. Perfect. Purse.

I grabbed Harry and said, "Honey, it's my purse! That's the one!" We walked inside and the shop owner was a really sweet older lady who happened to have one purse left like that-- in the window display. She sweetly allowed me to buy it and I almost dived to the floor for a break dance out of excitement.

We wandered to the outskirts of town and found a really cool store called Queen of Casablanca, where Harry found the manliest, sexiest jacket I've ever seen. It was unlike anything we'd seen in the states and it fit him perfectly (he is a European slim-fit kind of guy, after all).

We giddily clutched our Venetian swag and hurried back to the ship, grabbing some pistachio gelato cones on the way. Let is be said now that we got gelato about four times in Europe, and each time we got pistachio flavor. I'm sure the other flavors were great, but the pistachio was constantly calling our names.

Our next stop was Ravenna, one of the centers of the Renaissance.  It's more of a quiet town now, so we took a bus to the center of town and just walked to some of the nearby sites.

We actually ran into a missionary couple from the states at the Basilica of San Vitale. They pointed out some beautiful symbolism in the mosaics. The churches are so gigantic, and every available surface is embellished somehow. We took our time taking it all in.

As we walked back, we found a candy store that was wall-to-wall bins of tiny wrapped goodies that we didn't recognize. We stuffed handfuls into a bag, not knowing what many of the flavors were.

Mosaic ceiling.

The missionary couple pointed out that this ceiling design may represent the sun, moon, and stars.  Interesting.

I did not know prior to taking this shot that Harry was coming in for a kiss on the cheek.  Nor did I know that it was zoomed in so far.  This awkward little gem is know immortalized on the internet for your viewing pleasure.  You're welcome.

Pumped for Italian mystery candy.

Our last stop was in Split, Croatia. If you've made it this far through our travelogue, I'm impressed.  This thing is LENGTHY.

Split is a really beautiful coastal town, which was nice because there was no need to take a long bus ride in order to see anything.  We walked around a huge farmer's market and popped in and out of stores and, of course, got gigantic pistachio gelato cones.

Diocletian's Palace is in Split, and lots of people took tours through it.  By this point, or cash supply was low, and we couldn't afford the entrance fee into the castle.  BUT.  We could afford the entrance fee into the castle basement.  Yes.  The castle basement.

Harry was beside himself with excitement.  I was slightly creeped out.  The castle basement, as you might imagine, was completely deserted, except for the occasional crow that would start flapping loudly out of nowhere and scare me so badly that I shrieked.  But this is the stuff that Harry's dreams are made of; exploring a dark, creepy, ancient basement that used to be used as a holding cell for castle equipment/waste (and, rumor has it, slaves).  There were even a few stone coffins in a few of the rooms.  Just to heighten the already-creepy effect.

Harry went nuts with the camera.  I'm glad he wanted to take the reins on this one.

As I sort of muttered, "Okay, eh... we can go...." Harry would be like, "No, wait, I know there are at least four more rooms we haven't looked in yet! (click click click click click)"  To which I would reply, "No, no... I'm pretty sure we've seen  all of them...."

I eventually warmed up to it.  It was pretty cool, and at least it wasn't something boring.

We found this outdoor dome and as we sat there, a bride and groom walked in and started taking pictures and an a capella group came into sing a song.  A very happening dome.

BE the sphinx.

You ARE the sphinx.

Statue of Gregory of Nin, a bishop who opposed the Pope in 926 A.D.  People touch his toe for good luck so it's completely shiny.

The scary basement.  Harry upped the ISO setting quite a bit to get these shots.  I promise the basement was NOT this well lit. 

Then we hopped back on the ship and headed home.

THE END!