Ciao! Ciao! Celebrity ~ Hello Harmony

We said farewell to our floating home, the Celebrity Silhouette, on Tuesday and have set up our Venice ‘home’ in an apartment called Harmony.


We arrived in Venice in the early morning, gliding through the darkness on the Guidecca Canal toward the cruise terminal as quietly as the gondoliers who ply the waters of the nearby Grand Canal. (I was among the die-hard 'arrival fanatics' who were up at 4:30 to view our arrival.)


The ship stayed overnight, so Wednesday afternoon we toasted our old friend from our neighborhood waterside bar as she set sail at sunset to retrace the steps that brought us here.

Our home this week, an apartment rented from the website Vacation Rental By Owner, is in the Zattere; an area away from the concentrated hordes of tourists; a place so down-home that the man at the corner bar knew we wanted our ‘two Americani coffees’ this afternoon when we walked in and we’ve only been there twice since our arrival.


This is ‘our’ street – we enter our building through the second door down from Joel.  We are on the first floor (that means second floor by US terminology). Our apartment isn’t as cute and warm as the one we rented in Bologna; but it is spacious, clean and functional – and a fraction of the price of hotels here.  So we are in ‘harmony’ with our digs. (Yes, pun intended)



The kitchen is both the living area and kitchen as the television is against the right wall in this photo.  The bedroom, bath and second bedroom/den down the hall.


The Zattere is exceeding our expectations; we stroll this section each day to get home.  (BTW, that large ship is a private yacht.)  The only problem is that the days are rushing past far too quickly.  And there’s a lot of city here to explore, so ciao for now. . .I’ve gotta get going!