He was high on xanax...

Today was a pretty easy day. It started with an early breakfast of nutella on wheat bread and cantaloupe followed by a little bit of sleep. 

While waiting for the boat to take us to the ship, dad and I took some pics. 

And one more with Venice in the background. At noon we hopped a boat to our cruise ship. I have to say I like Venice and I like their boating but my sea legs got worse as time went on and I probably wouldn’t have been able to stand much more. After our boat docked for the cruise ship, we walked about 10 minutes. About 30 minutes of standing in line, going through security, and getting our picture taken, we landed on the ship and were led to our room. 

Ah, having a balcony makes all the difference. Even though it was about 1pm when we got on the ship, it wasn’t set to take sail until 5:30. 

We sat on our balcony for quite some time and then took a power nap.

The view of Venice from our balcony.

I wandered the ship for a little while, trying to learn where everything was. 

Then it was time to get ready for the Welcome Reception put on by Auto-Owners (open bar). The paperwork said dress was informal but described that as sundresses for women and jacket and tie for men. No one at the reception was wearing that. We felt somewhat over dressed. 

We left port and sailed through a canal in Venice, I was able to take some pictures of the city from above. 

Including a few self-portraits. After the reception was dinner. It was pretty good. Ended on a rum cake that was light and rummy. We ate with two couples from our group, conversation was good. 

After dinner, I made it back to the room in time to get a picture of the sunset from our balcony. 

Then it was time for our first show, Cuore Italiano. The Italian title should have given me the heads up. I talked my dad into going knowing it wasn’t his cup of tea but he came along anyway. The show was Italian singing and dancing. Quite obviously not his, nor mine in this case, cup of tea so he left in the middle and went to the casino. I stayed until the end and then went back to the room. Tomorrow we head to Bari, the main economic hub for Southern Italy. Tomorrow’s theme on board is pirates, should be interesting! Unfortunately, I don’t get cell reception on the ship, can’t even text. Hopefully I’ll figure out how to get online tomorrow. Until then...