The Wind Surf wasn't scheduled to set sail until mid afternoon so, following breakfast, we walked into Venice again. We took one last vaporetto ride along the Grand Canal, then walked into the Cannaregio and picked up a couple bottles of wine at Vinaria Nave de Oro, a wine store that also sells bulk to its local customers. Vino sfuso it's called. Bring in your empty plastic bottle and the merchant will fill it up.

Oh, that San Francisco had stores like that!

After a final gelato, it was time to get back to the ship.

Lunch consisted of hamburgers. Nothing Italian for this meal. In the cabin, we listened to Bocelli and Jarrett on the CD player. Very relaxing. Then, at 3:30, the Wind Surf slipped its moorings into the Canale della Giudecca.

We passed the Zaterre, La Piscina, the Rio di San Vio (with the leaning tower of San Stefano in the background), the Salute, San Giorgio, Saint Mark's Square, the Arsenal...all the sites we had come to know so well for the past 11 days. And from high on the top deck, we could see towers and domes much better than from the canals or streets of Venice. And cranes, many more than I had realized. It took an hour before we cleared the breakers and were at last in the Adriatic Sea. Then, no land was visible. Our Venetian experience over, we now looked forward to Croatia and Greece.

As the ship moved into the Adriatic, I met Jan and Harry from Florida, but originally from the west side of Cleveland, Ohio. When I was a teenager in Kentucky, I was a big Cleveland Indians and Browns fan, even subscribing to Cleveland papers so I could stay on top of the sports news. I had a wonderful time with Jan and Harry, reminiscing about Rocky Colavito, Herb Score, Lemon, Garcia and Wynn, Don Shula, Jim Brown, Otto Graham, and so many more of Cleveland's sports heroes of the 1950's. Since moving to San Francisco in 1969, I don't think I've known a single person who even knew who Rocky Colavito was. What a great time I had today reliving those teenage days.