"Are these underwear yours?" DIS Viking Italian Sojourn 2018 TR *COMPLETE* 10/14 New TR Link!

Split looks really nice! Guess we will just have to go back so we can go to Split and you can spend more time in the port area of Sibenik ;)

Glad they were able to find a couple of large tables for your larger group vs having to split you into liek 5 groups or something. very nice of Will to send over that wine - that was from the Winery we went to at the Crotone stop

I keep hearing them mention on the Podcast that they have some big and fun things in the works for next year - and Kevin just mentioned they are doing the combo San Francisco & Disneyland ABD that I really want to do - but just don't see how we can swing it. Oh well, maybe there will be something smaller (e.g. cheaper) we can do ;)
 
Kevin just mentioned they are doing the combo San Francisco & Disneyland ABD that I really want to do
We did that trip a couple of years ago and it was really fun! We had done the Back Stage Magic portion of the trip before so we knew we would enjoy that part. The "San Francisco" part was a wonderful addition. We got to visit much more than just the city. It also included a trip to Tribion Island, the Ellis Island of the west coast, the wine country and the redwoods.
 
We did that trip a couple of years ago and it was really fun! We had done the Back Stage Magic portion of the trip before so we knew we would enjoy that part. The "San Francisco" part was a wonderful addition. We got to visit much more than just the city. It also included a trip to Tribion Island, the Ellis Island of the west coast, the wine country and the redwoods.

San Fransicso and the wine regions in the area is something we really want to do some day so to be able to combine that with a back stage magic trip would be pretty much perfect in my eyes
 
Coming off the Fantasy recently, your photos reminded me how much better the food is in the Viking main dining room vs DCL's main dining room. DCL's is fine, but nothing to brag about. Despite not being able to do another chocolate soufflé (a repeating joke), Viking's dining room food was very good.

We really enjoyed the food for the most part. I think for entrees the only time I was not excited about my meal choice was when I got the regular chicken dish that was always on the menu. I have nothing to compare it to, and I'm fairly easy to impress when it comes to food though. lol

Split looks really nice! Guess we will just have to go back so we can go to Split and you can spend more time in the port area of Sibenik ;)

Glad they were able to find a couple of large tables for your larger group vs having to split you into liek 5 groups or something. very nice of Will to send over that wine - that was from the Winery we went to at the Crotone stop

I keep hearing them mention on the Podcast that they have some big and fun things in the works for next year - and Kevin just mentioned they are doing the combo San Francisco & Disneyland ABD that I really want to do - but just don't see how we can swing it. Oh well, maybe there will be something smaller (e.g. cheaper) we can do ;)

Split ended up being so great considering how unsure I was of it to begin with! Everyone we talked to who stayed in the port area seemed to really enjoy it as well. I definitely wouldn't mind going back one day, cruise or otherwise!

It was very nice of Will to send over the wine, and it was much appreciated by those at our table. It was great that they were able to get us at a couple of large tables that night and were so accommodating despite how much we seemed to scare them when we arrived!

Those ABDs are addictive but SO expensive. The SF/BSM is one I would love to do too, but the cost is really prohibitive for us to be able to swing it either. I know eventually we will do another ABD, either as a couple or as a family, but it's probably a pretty far way off, unfortunately.

We did that trip a couple of years ago and it was really fun! We had done the Back Stage Magic portion of the trip before so we knew we would enjoy that part. The "San Francisco" part was a wonderful addition. We got to visit much more than just the city. It also included a trip to Tribion Island, the Ellis Island of the west coast, the wine country and the redwoods.

It seemed really amazing, and I enjoyed (enviously) seeing everyone post pics on Facebook the last time it happened!
 


All caught up and I've loved reading about your cruise and all the excursions in Italy. Sounds amazing and now I really want some gelato!
 
Sounds like it was a lovely afternoon and evening. How was the cheesecake? Had your streak of bad desserts finally ended??

Looking forward to hearing about Venice.
 


I can see why this was one of your favorite ports! So much history and your DH's pictures really capture it. Love the little cafe where you had lunch. You're really making me want to do a similar cruise!
 
So many beautiful photos! Sounds like the rest of your time in Croatia was lovely! And dinner sounds like it was a blast!
 
I loved split. One of the favorites of the trip and esp the klapa group
 
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That was one of the bottles from Ceraudo. So good. I’m still looking for a seller in the states. Glad to share with new and old friends. I remember the hostesses eyes when we all showed up.....I thought she was going to say their favorite word “no”
 
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All caught up and I've loved reading about your cruise and all the excursions in Italy. Sounds amazing and now I really want some gelato!

Thanks! It really was such an amazing trip with a great bunch of people.

I want gelato every time I work on updates for this TR... :rotfl2:

As someone who just got back from a two week trip to Italy about 12 hours ago, I’ve enjoyed reading about your trip very much!

I'm so glad you're enjoying it!! Isn't Italy amazing?!

Sounds like it was a lovely afternoon and evening. How was the cheesecake? Had your streak of bad desserts finally ended??

Looking forward to hearing about Venice.

The cheesecake was SO GOOD compared to everything else I'd had that week when it came to desserts on the ship. :rotfl: I probably should have just gotten that every night, but I probably would have come back a lot heavier had I gone that route.

I can see why this was one of your favorite ports! So much history and your DH's pictures really capture it. Love the little cafe where you had lunch. You're really making me want to do a similar cruise!

I had no idea we would enjoy Croatia so much! I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't that. It was so beautiful no matter where we went, and the idea of so many people living in apartments inside of an old palace and still living and working in there today is so fascinating to me.

You totally should! I'd recommend this cruise to anyone, especially if you want to visit Italy! It's an amazing way to see the coast.

So many beautiful photos! Sounds like the rest of your time in Croatia was lovely! And dinner sounds like it was a blast!

Croatia was so beautiful. We really enjoyed our day there.

We always had fun on our group dinners. Definitely one of the best parts of traveling with the DIS!

I loved split. One of the favorites of the trip and esp thr klapa group

That was one of the bottles from Ceraudo. So good. I’m still looking for a seller in the states. Glad to share with new and old friends. I remember the hostesses eyes when we all showed up.....I thought she was going to say their favorite world “no”

I loved listening to the klapa group. They were so talented! It was a nice surprise to stumble upon their performance.

Thanks for sharing your wine with us! That was incredibly nice and thoughtful, and very much appreciated by the table.

I totally agree, I was really prepared for a NO when we all rolled up together in one huge group. :rotfl: Stinks we couldn't all sit together but I'm glad they did their best to accommodate us that night.
 
Sorry for the long gap between updates! It's been a little busy around here so I had to give DH some time to catch up on editing photos for our last few days. In that time, DD turned 3! Her birthday was yesterday but we had her party last Saturday.


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Day 9: Friday March 30th

After our final sail away the night before, we were cruising into our final port the next morning, the amazing and beautiful city of Venice! I was still sleeping in bed when DH went up to get these shots of us getting into port.



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A picture from our TV showing us at the end of our route around the coast
I was up and dressed by 8, so we went to the buffet to get some fruit for a light breakfast. It was Good Friday, and as Catholics we were supposed to be fasting that day and couldn’t have meat, so we had to be a little creative. We didn’t do as well with the fasting as we would have at home but I think all things considered we did pretty well.

None of the extra excursions had interested us in Venice, so we decided to just go for the included tour, which was a walking tour of St. Mark’s Square. Instead of meeting in the theater as we had for all of our other excursions, we were meeting on shore and dividing up into groups, then boarded a water shuttle that would take us from the port over to St. Mark’s.


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The shuttle had an open top so we went up there to get a good view on our ride over. We saw Steve and Kathy so we sat with them and talked on the ride over.


So once we got off the water shuttle, a large chunk of the tour was spent trying to navigate through the tons and tons of people on the way TO St. Mark’s Square instead of being IN St. Mark’s Square.

We started near a large statue, which would be the meeting spot for another tour we had booked for the afternoon.


We passed the Bridge of Sighs along the way. It’s named as such because it gave prisoners their last view of the beautiful Venice before being taken to prison.


There was a huge line to get into the Doge’s Palace, so I was a little glad we weren’t waiting in that. We both enjoyed the Palace on our ABD trip but had too many other things we wanted to try on this visit to Venice that we decided to skip it.


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Public executions used to happen between these columns


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She told us how the clock chimes the time twice every hour, spaced 5 minutes apart.


We didn’t get to go inside any of the buildings, and in fact, we didn’t really move once we got right inside the square because the water was so high. We just stood in one spot while our guide talked. DH did get some nice photos of the decorative tops on St. Mark’s Basilica.


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Day 9 Continued: Friday March 30th

You can kind of appreciate in this next photo how high the water was. Some people were trudging through but I wasn’t interested in my shoes getting soaked through.


Once the tour was over, we went around the backside of the square to do our best to avoid the water, and decided to explore. We tried to see if we could go up to the top of the clock tower but couldn’t find an entrance.

While walking, we spotted Venchi, one of our favorite chocolate and gelato shops that we had enjoyed many times while in Florence on our ABD. Neither of us even knew they had one in Venice!! So that was an exciting discovery and we marked it on our map to visit later since we couldn’t snack today. We were tempted to buy some chocolate for later but decided not to right then because then we’d have to carry it around for the rest of the day.

We found a church and took a picture of the St. Pius statue for DS because it’s the name of his elementary school.

Next we headed to the Rialto Bridge to make sure we could find the mask shop we had enjoyed so much from our ABD trip. We had bought a mask to display in our living room there, and DS had asked for one of his own, so we wanted to hopefully find the same shop and get a mask for each kid.

We crossed over the Rialto and were really happy to find the mask shop still there! It’s called La Bottega dei Mascareri and there are 2 locations in Venice with this being the smaller one. Not only was it still there, but the same gentleman we had bought from last time was inside again. He invited us in, and we spent a few minutes looking around. It’s incredibly small inside, but there is still a ton to look at!


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We picked out two masks that we thought the kids would like (I’ll have to get some photos of them and do a post of our souvenirs at the end) and he signed them and wrapped them carefully for us.


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I told him that we had bought a mask from him years ago and how returning to his shop had been a must-do for this trip, and he thanked us for remembering him and coming back to purchase his work. We had gone just in time too because as we exited his shop, he came out behind us and put up his “Back Soon” sign.
We hadn’t found much else on the Rialto that we were interested in buying, so we started back towards St. Mark’s Square.


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This might be the outside of the church we had gone into earlier.


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As we were walking, we were starting to get hungry and we came across something that seemed perfect for a small lunch.


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It was basically like a build your own pasta quick service place. We picked our pasta and sauce from several different options, she boiled the pasta for us and sauced it in just a few minutes.


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To keep our portion small, we shared this meal.


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Nothing fancy but it filled the hole and kept us going.


We didn’t eat here, just thought the kitten in the logo was cute. It’s kind of hard to see since it’s on the glass.



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While we were walking around, we walked over to where we thought the apartment we would be renting for the following night would be located so we could get familiar with the area. It was very close to St. Mark’s Square, so we spent a little time sitting there until we were ready to go back over to the statue we had seen that morning, which was the meeting spot for our afternoon tour!

UP NEXT: Murano & Burano
 
Love the photos and the posts. Venice is as amazing as Rome just different. I am making a ragu recipe for Sunday lunch for my family that I found at the eating italy blog. PS I totally get the editing process is slow- I am still working on photos from the food and wine tour in the fall I did (Disney ABD Rhine River cruise in October).
 
Your DD is just too adorable in her birthday pictures! (I saw more on facebook) Hope she had a great day celebrating!

I'm grateful your husband got up early to watch you all arrive in Venice, because those pictures are exquisite. Venice looks like such a beautiful city, and the details in those statues...unbelievable!

How cool that you were able to return to the same mask shop and buy some additional masks for your kids. You'll have to post a picture later of the ones you picked.
 
I fell woefully behind but am all caught up now. Your pictures continue to just stun and I am enamored with every single morsel of food!
 
Love your trip report and photos! My husband and I are thinking about going on this trip - and it is a great preview!
 
Love the photos and the posts. Venice is as amazing as Rome just different. I am making a ragu recipe for Sunday lunch for my family that I found at the eating italy blog. PS I totally get the editing process is slow- I am still working on photos from the food and wine tour in the fall I did (Disney ABD Rhine River cruise in October).

I totally agree. I go back and forth between Rome & Venice being my favorites because they are both so amazing but in totally different ways! I really loved getting to visit both a second time on this trip.

Ooh enjoy your lunch! If it turns out good, share the recipe!!

Sounds like a nice morning in Venice! Great photos! And I'm glad you were able to buy masks from the same shop as last time!

Visiting the mask shop was high on our to-do list, and it seems we timed it just right by being there when he was inside to sign the masks for us. The kids loved them when we got them home! They look so much nicer than the mass produced ceramic masks you can find all over Venice, but they are a lot cheaper too so they make a perfect souvenir.


Your DD is just too adorable in her birthday pictures! (I saw more on facebook) Hope she had a great day celebrating!

I'm grateful your husband got up early to watch you all arrive in Venice, because those pictures are exquisite. Venice looks like such a beautiful city, and the details in those statues...unbelievable!

How cool that you were able to return to the same mask shop and buy some additional masks for your kids. You'll have to post a picture later of the ones you picked.

Aw, thank you! She did have a great day, though she was a bit confused about birthday party day vs. actual birthday. When I woke her up with the Birthday song on Thursday she said, "It's my birthday again?!" :rotfl:

I am grateful too! I got to sleep but still "experience" the sailing in later on. lol He will definitely give up sleep to get a perfect photo or video when we are on vacation.

I definitely need to take some souvenir photos for the wrap up. We got a few really great items, especially the masks.

I fell woefully behind but am all caught up now. Your pictures continue to just stun and I am enamored with every single morsel of food!

Glad you were able to get caught up! It's hard sometimes to find as much time to DIS as we'd like.

We did have some really great food on this trip! It makes me so hungry every time I do a food update and remember how good something tasted.

Love your trip report and photos! My husband and I are thinking about going on this trip - and it is a great preview!

I highly recommend it if you have the opportunity!! I don't have any other lines to compare Viking to, but it was totally amazing. The ship was absolutely beautiful and luxurious. We enjoyed the ship and the itinerary was fantastic.
 

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