Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Inclement weather

I've never used the word inclement to describe the weather before, but the Free Online Dictionary defines it as: 1) stormy (weather); 2) no clemency, unmerciful.
Today, for the first time since I've started sailing, we weren't able to get into our scheduled port 'due to inclement weather' as per the ship's official daily staff newsletter.
When I woke up this morning, I felt like I was inside a washing machine- water hitting up against my porthole and sloshing around. When I turned on the navigation channel, I did wonder why the ship was facing away from land instead of toward it, if we were meant to be arriving in port at 7h00. Turns out we're having an unexpected day at sea today.


Yesterday we were in Venice for the last time. It was COLD. And for the first time I realized how many mountains surround Venice. Usually it's too hazy to see them. But now that it's colder and the air is crisper and the snow caps are in place, they can be seen quite clearly on the horizon.


In the morning, the temperature was 4 degrees celcius. By the time I went out it was about 9 degrees. A little chilly for a Durbanite! I was just so glad it wasn't raining.


The streets were so much emptier than usual, most tourists have left already. In San Marco square there were no queues or crowds. It felt a little strange, but quite pleasant. 
Our Ukranian nurse believes you must throw a coin into the water in a city or any place where you hope to come back one day. I think you're supposed to throw it over your shoulder into the water. I haven't been throwing any coins away, I like to think I'm not superstitious. But I am keeping my fingers crossed that I get to see Venice again one day.

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