June 15 & 16 & 17

We went back to Barcelona and the Fullers were at a different hotel.  They wanted to go back into the city and we opted out.  they came to the hotel to join us for dinner and we had a fun last night in Spain together.

We flew to Venice and so did one of our suitcases.  We put in the claim for the missing one and were told that most likely it would catch up to us on the cruise ship the next day.  The weather was wonderful, warm but humid and no clouds.  We took a water taxi to San Marco (St Marks) as advised by the local info center.  At one stop we saw a few boats in the canal that had a wedding party in them.  It was quite interesting to see all the wedding guests as well as bride & groom all dressed up in the hot & humid weather.  One of the boats had a small band playing for the party.  It was about a 1 hour trip there and we proceeded to walk to the hotel.  We had a map but it was a struggle and, after an hour or so, we found the hotel.  We were quite exhausted but had explored many alleys & streets, some on purpose and some by chance, so we saw a lot of Venice.  We relaxed a bit, washed some shirts & undies in the sink in case the suitcase wouldn't arrive, went out to explore and eventually had dinner at a restaurant near the hotel.  It was a great meal and when we got back to the hotel, the suitcase was in the lobby.  The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel, it was another great weather day, and we explored the way to the cruise terminal, however we went to the wrong one and had to take a taxi to the proper place - 20 Euros for a 5 minute trip,  Taxis are a rip off anywhere.   We boarded the Azamara Quest and stayed on for the rest of the day.  The ship is quite elegant in decor and is the size we like - less than 700 guests.  So far we're quite satisfied.  We sailed from Venice at 6:00pm and will be in Split Croatia tomorrow. We have to pay for internet on the ship and it's slow so the blog may be minimal for a few days.