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Venice to Turkey 05

Day 05, Board the Norwegian Viva

We get up early and go for a walk in search of our shuttle location to take us to the ship. Once found, we patronize one of many Patisseries that line the streets and have coffee and pastries.

Then it’s back to the hotel to pick up our luggage to go to the bus stop. We have been told to be there at 9:20 AM promptly. The bus arrives at 9:45 AM. So much for promptness. There was a line of people ahead of us when we arrived at 9:10. But the good thing is we put our luggage on last which means we are first off.

Our boarding time is noon and we get to the ship at 10:30. But we are third in line and security is ready for us at 10:45. We check our bags and wait in a 20 minute line to check onto the ship. Formalities taken care of, we board the ship. Our stateroom is not ready, so, with heavy backpacks on, we start touring the ship. Elevator up to deck 17, stairs to 18, walk around, find the main buffet, arcades and race track, yes, race track! Down to deck 7 and inquire about details at the front desk. Whew!

Back to the buffet for a snack to offset our plans to visit a bar. Looking out over the harbor, the compression effect of my telephoto lens makes the docked boats look interesting.

Then to the front theater where we sign up for one of our paid dinners. Interesting space, the theater is just one big open room! Wonder what it’s like to see a show in here? Now to a bar for a glass of wine. We study the things to do on and off the ship, get events into our calendars and go back to the theater to book another dinner. A salesman sees me with a glass of wine and successfully gets us to book a wine tasting.

One thing we don’t care for (we learned this on Royal Caribbean) is that even complimentary restaurants and events must be booked in advance because the ship is so big. We walk around the ship more and stumble across the Welcome Aboard Party by the pool!

We try to go to our stateroom to deposit our backpacks and find it is still not yet available. So we lug our stuff up to what turns out to be the whiskey bar. They have whiskey and wine. I sit with our bags and Elee walks to the ‘Local Bar’ for a rum drink. She returns with her drink and a small pretzel snack and we are immediately informed by a waitress that food is strictly forbidden in this bar. WHAT? Unheard of! A snack prohibited in a bar? I guess we have learned what bar to not patronize on this cruise! So I note to self to include this in our review of the ship.

Elee walks back to the other bar to enjoy her snack and I hold down the fort. I don’t know how long to wait to find our room available so I sit and relax. Elee returns and we relax together. When our room is finally ready, we are impressed with the size of it!

At dinner, we have fabulous food between seafood for Elee and New York Strip Steak for me which tastes and looks more like Filet Mignon. We meet and chat with several people from Australia. After dinner I get a glass of wine and go back to the stateroom for the evening.

Venice to Turkey 04

Day 04 Lunch & Travel to Ravenna

We have breakfast with Scott & Manuela and engage in fun chats. We walk down into the village to an ATM where we supply ourselves with Euros. Then it’s off for a scenic ride and views of Lake Sirio. Beautiful countryside! In Ivrea, we walk across the River Dora.

In Ivrea, we walk about town and check out some shops and interesting streets.

We have a bite to eat and glasses of wine (of course!) and end up back at Scott & Manuela’s house. I should probably call it Manuela and Scott’s house as Manuela inherited it from her mom!

Scott takes us to Turin train station. We make it onto the train with minutes to spare so cameras are temporarily forgotten. The train ride is smooth and uneventful. But the food is horrible. Probably the worst we will experience on this entire vacation! We change trains in Bologna. We arrive in Ravenna before 6 PM. Our hotel is directly across the street from the train station and easy to find. Except that we check in in one building and then have to cross the street to the actual hotel which turns out to be more like a B&B with a common room that we don’t ever use.

We take short naps. Then it’s downstairs to a seafood restaurant named “Osteria Il Paiolo”. The seafood pasta is fabulous! Before we leave the restaurant, a table of 8 next to us fills up with tourists also planning to board our same ship tomorrow. Fun conversations ensue!

We are very tired and we will sleep well. Back in the hotel overlooking the train station, we get everything ready for the morning. Early alarm is set.

Venice to Turkey 03

Day 03 Chiaverano, Italy

We get a very comfortable nights sleep and wake refreshed before going upstairs to their apartment. It is now Day 03 of our adventure! We have coffee, fruits and pastries with Scott and Manuela. It’s raining steadily. We head out anyway and tour the neighboring town of Ivrea and the surrounding areas. This is a very beautiful part of Italy, very lush and green! Scot & Manuela take us to a Grappa Distillery and we tour and taste! Grappa is a liqueur made by fermenting the left over must from making grape wine!

Then we tour around Ivrea for a bit, checking out the town.

We stop for lunch at CellaGrande for a lunch and wine tasting. Erbaluce grapes fermented several ways are featured. Plain fermentation, in oak and on skins, underwater for consistency of temperature and pressure. We choose to do a tasting menu of White and Red wine also. Dessert wine is pictured. Our waiter is Ricardo. Ricardo is very pleasant and knowledgeable.

Made a second wine tasting at Pozzo and taste some more very good wines!

Then we proceeded on to an overlook with park and gardens and took a stroll. Our cameras appreciated that! After which we visited the church above Scott and Manuela’s house. The skies after the morning rains were very photogenic!

Now it’s back to the house to relax for the evening.

Venice to Turkey 01

Day 01, 02 & 03, Travel Days!

Our good friend Tony takes us to the airport for an overnight flight. We’re starting out here at LAX, on the largest airliner I’ve ever been in my life! There are two full tiers of people. Two sets of staircases to access the upper tier, one in the front of the plane and one in back! There are also two jetways attached to the plane! It is also our first time on Lufthansa Airlines. A lot of firsts already.

We get settled in our seats and await takeoff which is one of the smoothest ever! Then we are handed menus on the plane! When the food comes, it has metal utensils and acrylic drinking glasses! Well, you can’t have everything!

10.5 hours in the air for the first leg to Munchen (Munich), Germany. I take a sleeping pill and manage several hours sleep. When I awake, breakfast of eggs and spinach are served. Landing in Munich to change from Lufthansa to Dolomiti Air is uneventful. We first have to go through immigration control and convince the guards that we will promise to leave and go home in a month! We ride a bus and load the plane on the tarmac.

It is now Day 02. The one hour flight goes by fast and we land in Turin, Italy. We retrieve our luggage and our friend Scott is there to pick us up. He is driving a tiny rental car and it’s cramped but not uncomfortable. Less than an hour later we are stopping at a local winery where Scott knows the proprietor and our wine tasting has begun. We get to Scott and Manuela’s house at the base of a church and we see why they drive such a tiny car. The roads are tight and the corners are many! We have arrived in Chiaverano, Italy, about an hour north of Turin!

Scott and Manuela take us to a favorite restaurant where we indulge in seafood and pasta. Back at their house, we taste grappa and other aperitifs before turning in for the night. They have allotted an entire apartment on the downstairs level to us!

Florida, Day 18

The trip home…

Fun clouds looking down from 12-15,000 feet as we com into LAX. Then a fun shot of SoFi Stadium right before landing. My first shot of the completed stadium from above! The World Cup will be playing there this summer!