Trip Day 3/4: Getting on Cruise and Croatia

On Saturday, June 7 we boarded the Splendour of the Seas.

While looking at some of our upcoming excursions.....this made me laugh.  I also became a little concerned that the air conditioning would be non existent.

Have I mentioned that it was hot?

In our rooms.....using our selfie stick....being dorks.

Got some good swag....

On Monday, we docked at Dubrovnik, Croatia and did an excursion in the old downtown area.  First, we boarded this pirate ship and sailed towards town.

Any Game of Thrones fans?  This is where they film it.  Shawn was so excited!

Next we took a cable ride to the top.....

amazing views.......

Shawn was getting some Game of Thrones scoop from our guide.

Next we strolled through the old downtown area.

Gelato.  Patio.  People watching.  Seems to be the general theme of this trip.

We hit a fun little candy store where you scoop up candy and fill your bags.

They didn't allow pictures inside so this was the best I got.

Had to pay 7 Kuna (croatian currency) to use the restroom.  Really?

Enjoyed watching the kayakers.

Back on the ship and headed to dinner.  We really enjoyed Croatia.  It was very unique!

Venice: Day 2

Day 2 in Venice.....we took a water taxi to the island of Murano.

We watched a demonstration of blown glass.  It was so awesome and they made it look so easy. (which we found out that it takes 15-20 years to really perfect this art)

Each of these colored "tiles" had to first be hand made.  Then they incorporated them into this drinking glass.  Beautiful!

Beginning to work on the glass horse

He made this in just a matter of minutes.  Unbelievable!

We toured the glass factory.  Unfortunately I got about 3 pictures when they told us we could not use our cameras.  They had some amazing pieces there for sale.

Back to Venice...popped in to this little place for lunch.

Shawn's pizza.

The Rialto bridge (under construction)

It was so miserably hot and humid there.  Our answer to this was gelato :)

The restrooms (aka "Water Closet") were sort of confusing to me.  They had buttons to flush, instead of handles....and this restroom had a button on the floor.  Took me a few minutes to figure this one out.

We toured the Doge's Palace.  I always knew that I was not a history buff.....and after the first or second museum/church....I was already done.  Ha!  

I enjoyed walking through and looking at everything.  I think I'm just not a huge fan of reading about it all.

I found that I loved the architecture more than anything.  I loved all the shapes and designs on their buildings, windows, etc.....

At the bottom of Doge's Palace was the area for the prisoners.  This was very cool and interesting.

Venice is everything you think it is- I loved that you would be walking down the street and you would hear someone singing or see people playing instruments.  It really created a cool environment.

So many pretty flowers.

One of my favorite things was just sitting down for lunch or a glass of wine and watching people walk by.  So interesting!