I'm very pleased that there have been 1,637 page views of the blog in the last month! Mostly from the expected locations, but there were readers in Russia, South Korea, and a single hit from Serbia. It was a great adventure and thanks for your kind attention, but now.....it's time to plan the next trip!

This was the mountain of luggage in the foyer of the ship, before dawn on departure day.

Sad blue dot.

Posted this two days ago but it didn't appear for some reason. Anyway, I'm told I'm the proud owner of one of the top 10 most rare passport stamps.

* sigh *

Ugh. Up at 5:45am for the long slog home....

Doorbells, attached to the building's speaker system.

The ceremonial final gelato. I have a little Amaretto cherry on top of my usual limone; it's just the kind of guy I am.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!! By that I mean....we have to go home tomorrow.

Yum.

Snapped this in a hurry passing by (as you can tell). But the guys in the center, in red, are scuba diving. That's one of the most optimistic things I've ever seen.

Richard Wagner died in this building. It's now a casino.

Well, I suppose pigeons who shower regularly are marginally better than those who don't.

I insist on one last lap around the Grand Canal. "Grand Canal" is redundant. Truly one of the great travel experiences, and one never tires.

A series of pics. I took the first one innocently enough....then realized what was going on in the background. An even bigger ship than the previous one, passing through to the cruise shop dock.

More padlocks with initials. You'd understand if you read my Lecce post.

Everywhere.

Taking a newspaper-break.

Unfortunately there is restoration scaffolding on the façade of San Marco....

 ....along with giant billboards in the Piazza.  * sigh *

San Marco is wall-to-wall people.

The Rialto Bridge is sold out, too.

Not everyone approves.

As we have breakfast at our mooring in Venice, a huge cruise ship is towed in, destined for the big-ship dock around the corner. I googled it, it carries over 2,000 passengers, so it is more than ten times larger than us, and I guess there are cruise ships twice as big as she is. We cower in fear as she goes by. Btw, that "caged" area on the top deck at the stern is a basketball court. How many times we yearned for a basketball court...

No one knows why this exists, either.

This is in San Marino. No one knows why.

On the way to the old fortress of San Marino, we stop at the Ferrari Museum.

  

1965's Ferrari 365 P 2/3 is arguably the most gorgeous car ever built.  30 were made, 26 still exist, and one recently changed hands at auction for just under $41,000,000.

We also see early Ferraris (late 50's) all the way up to the kind of Formula 1 powerhouses we saw last month at Monza.

San Marino lays claim to the title "the World's Oldest Republic", dating back to the 12th Century. It's tiny, only about 24 square miles, with a population of just over 30,000. It's a fully independent republic existing entirely within the state of Italy, like a secular Vatican. Its low taxes turned it into a tax haven, although in today's international financial climate, that's drawing to a close. But those Italians who live near enough still visit San Marino regularly to get terrific deals on electrical appliances, etc. Sort of Italy's Costco.

I see the Hawaiian Navy is in port.

booooo.

I realize I haven't posted a picture of the ship. This is our rust-bucket. Ain't she a beaut?

You know the drill.

Eggs Benedict, delivered hot to the room. Pretty good livin'!

Our room stewardess creates a towel-elephant last night.

More Opatija...

The old and the new......

Street food! Obviously some of the best, most interesting local food can be found on town's sidewalks and street corners....here we have roasted chestnuts, grilled corn on the cob, and....cotton candy!?