March 25

The Final Day:  Venice

The Doge's Palace

Secrets of the Doge's Palace

Today we arrived in Venice around noon for the final stop of our trip.  Kim and I had booked an excursion to the Doge's Palace where we would be led through the secret passages behind the scenes in the enormous palace while Sue & Dan chose to explore the city on their own.  The massive size of the palace was remarkable....how did they build this hundreds of years ago?  Just amazing!  We toured the secret side of the palace which included MANY jails (both for the lower classes and for the upper classes of criminals - Cassanova had been imprisoned here AND was the only one to ever escape!)  We crossed from one side of the palace to the other across the "Bridge of Sighs," so called because when a prisoner was escorted from one side to the other he knew he now had no chance of ever getting out of prison.  We stayed until nearly 4:30 pm before heading back to the ship for a light dinner and to pick up Sue & Dan for the second tour of the day, and the highlight of the final stop.

The famous canals of Venice

The Bridge of Sighs

Exiting the upper floor jail area - through the hidden staircase - exiting in what appears to be a cabinet in the palace

Kim, in jail - her offense.....being the best looking gal on the cruise :)

In the attic - these 23 sets of wooden beams distribute the weight of all the tons of stone & marble....wow

The torture chamber

Interior shots from the palace itself

In front of the Stairs of Giants (two giants on either side at the top - you can barely see the feet of the one - top left)

Evening Gondola Tour
We had all four been soooooo looking forward to our trip-ending excursion of a gondola ride under the stars.  But this morning they told us there would be storms and high winds.  So at lunch we considered canceling the trip.  But in the end decided to wait and see what the weather would bring, in spite of the weather channel showing a 100% chance of rain.  But by the time we returned to the ship at about 5 pm it was sunny blue skies so we were on!  As we walked to the dock to catch what we thought was a shuttle boat to the main part of Venice (the shuttle was about the size of a Disney World ferry boat, and as "attractive") only to see that we were getting into four luxurious speed boats, and let me tell you we were in the limo of the bunch.  It was amazing - we took a couple of selfies inside before exiting on the main square.  Once we got to the gondola area the guide said, "Two?"  And Kim and I said, "No, four please."  He replied....."No, no....only two."  So we went ahead and got in.  Then two strange men got in.  What?  But as we pulled away the one pulled out his accordion and the other was an extremely talented Italian tenor who serenaded the entire caravan of six gondolas throughout our floating tour through the darkened canals of Venice.  One of the coolest things was as we passed under bridges and buildings people would stop and take photos from us from the bridge and/or the balconies.  Very cool, and very romantic!  Great way to end another amazing adventure!

Mixing up the couples just because

Final group photo of the trip

Our tenor and accordion player

Tomorrow we leave for the airport a little after 8 am (Sue & Dan depart the ship at about 5 am).  We fly to London and then home to Miami, scheduled to arrive about 10 pm.

Gondola Ride Highlight Video

March 24

Split, Croatia:  The Krka Waterfalls National Park

Today we boarded a bus headed for the Krka National Park and had no longer been seated then the Viking representative came on board and said, "I need passengers Mark Love and Kim Love to get off the bus and change to Bus 6; and passengers Dan Reynolds and Sue Reynolds to join them."  We wondered what the deal was, but quickly we felt we had been moved from coach to business class.  Not only was the bus more modern, the seats bigger with more leg room - and more comfortable - but the guide we had today, "Harry" was so, so entertaining.  Thank you Viking for choosing us to balance the buses!  The drive was over an hour and our guide had us laughing out loud while teaching us about Croatia the entire trip.  Extremely entertaining!  The first note of interest was we passed yet another site where "Game of Thrones" was filmed - yesterday at the Walls of Dubrovnik, this had been the site of many famous scenes from the series.  Today we drove by Fortress Kliss which in the series is the city/fort of Meereen.....

When we arrived Harry took us to the panoramic overlook and we got our first set of photos.  Then he explained how in days gone by men and women got engaged and then married.  He needed a volunteer to be his fiance and of course my wife volunteered.  It was very entertaining, but even more so knowing that she was MY wife :)

The we set out on our own walk over the board walk around the park to admire the waterfalls and amazing scenery.  We had two options.....go 75% around and turn back, or instead of turning back go down 90 steps to the base of the falls, walk a bit, cross a long bridge and then come back up 140 steps.  We chose the latter.  And let me tell you, that was a steep climb coming back, especially after conquering 500 steps yesterday on the walls of Dubrovnik!

We returned to the starting point and had a brief amount of free time, at which point I translated a sign in Croatian (see short video below) - yes, I am truly amazing :)  And then we were taken to a nearby village for a full lunch, compliments of Viking Cruises.  It was delicious.  Boarded the bus and headed back.  An OUTSTANDING day!

Mark Translates Croatian

March 23

Dubrovnik, Croatia

We had yet another glorious day of weather today, so much so that no jackets were required and for the afternoon excursion to the winery I wore only a short-sleeved polo shirt.  Kim and I selected for our excursion today a walk atop the ancient walls that surround the idealic town of Dubrovnik, our first of two stops in Croatia.  Our guide told us as we approached the Old Town that the top draw for the 3 million plus tourists that come here each year is the walls and that they are the only intact ancient walls left in all of Europe.  We knew it would be a great experience but we did NOT know how very, VERY high they were.  And at time very narrow with low barriers on either side.  But (a) we've walked the Great Wall of China so this would not faze us!, and (b) the views were stunningly spectacular.  As you can see in the aerial shot above, the walls complete encircle the Old Town, and we covered every inch of them!  Again, like so many other days, while the photos are pretty cool, they truly do not capture what it was like to be up there atop the walls seeing it all in living color.  Pretty cool experience!

The Winery

While Kim and I hiking the walls, Sue and Dan were on a panoramic tour of the city.  We happened to be on the same shuttle returning to the ship and grabbed some lunch.  We then met down on the pier around 2 pm and were off to visit a winery in the countryside outside the city.  We had a wonderful time - this particular winery is known for their white wine and specifically for their sweet, desert wine which has TWICE been named the top sweet, desert wine in the world!

Those of you that know me know how closely I follow thoroughbred racing, especially at this time of the year.  But while we've been on the cruise I've only checked the racing headlines sporadically and have not handicapped at all (missing Winx's 32nd win in a row....easy money!).  But today I knew it was Louisiana Derby Day.  I looked at who was running and I "liked" three races but only bet one, the Grade 2 Mervin Muniz Memorial where I put my money on Bricks and Mortar who won a thrilling stretch duel to make me a perfect 1-for-1 in handicapping for the trip :)

March 22

Corfu, Greece

Kim and I both said after our excursion today that THIS may have been the BEST excursion of the trip!  Not because of the historical things we saw, or the stories we heard.  But because it was a most amazing experience in a spectacular setting.  We left the ship for what was billed as a "Cooking Experience."  There were only a dozen of us and we boarded a small mini-bus where we drove into the old town of Corfu and our guide, Mahi pointed out the sites of this beautiful coastal town.  Then she dropped us off at a museum of sorts where we were given about a forty minute tour of a typical home of the time period.  The guide was a local college girl and as she told the story of the family she showed us all authentic period pieces of furniture.  We re-joined our guide and headed for the main focus of the tour.

And that main focus was the Villa of Roses - a privately owned home/villa where our host was Maria who was going to prepare us lunch, and we would help with the preparation.  Then we would enjoy the lunch on her garden terrace.  The home was high on top of the hill/mountain outside of town and the panoramic view was breath taking.  Maria and many of the guests, including Kim, helped prepare a dip called Tzatziki.  I never would have thought I would have liked it, but I did!  Then we had a freshly prepared Greek salad.  Again, if Kim had asked if I wanted a Greek salad, I would have asked what was in it.  Then I would have politely declined.  But I really liked it.  Next up was a Greek Moussaka - the main course.  And the meal was topped off with the desert of Greek Baklava.  All exceptionally well prepared and delicious.  We had Ouzo liquor prior to the meal and delicious wine during.  The meal was delivered to us by Maria's nephew who Kim played soccer with prior to our leaving.  The entire afternoon was just delightful.  Like many of the days so far on our trip, the photos hardly due what we actually saw justice.