We arrived on Wednesday night and had good weather on Thursday and Friday but didn’t take our gondola ride till Saturday in the on and off again rain. Why you ask…I believe Joe was trying to put it off as long as he could and was hoping I wouldn’t do a ride in the rain.
Yes gondolas are cheesy but I wanted to be a cheesy tourist plus it is Venice you almost have to take one once.
Once I got Joe on the boat he was impressed by the skill of our driver had for not running into things and control for turning in tight spots. Also the different perspective you get from being on the water is amazing.
Yes gondolas are cheesy but I wanted to be a cheesy tourist plus it is Venice you almost have to take one once.
Once I got Joe on the boat he was impressed by the skill of our driver had for not running into things and control for turning in tight spots. Also the different perspective you get from being on the water is amazing.
Foxy on the other hand was not sure about getting into a small low boat being steered by a strange man.
We were about 5 minutes into our ride and the rain started. I put my hood up & Joe popped open the umbrella. Our driver was getting drenched though.
We had a good ride despite the rain/down pours.
There are cheaper ways to take a gondola ride they are called Traghetti – which are gondola ferries that cross the Grand Canal. They cost just 50 euro cents and are stripped down versions with no padded seats-really no seats. It is traditional to stand and I now know why…you sit on just a tiny ledge like 2 inches long and hang on to the side…I though for sure we were going to flip over. It was rush hour in the canal and raining the canal was really rough and we almost got hit by a taxi. They only run on the week days until 18:00 or 6:00 p.m. we just made the last run on Friday.
Squero di Santrovase
Squero di Santrovase – is a boat yard where boats are painted black. They take 40-45 working days (remember this is Europe stressing working days) and are crafted out of 7 types of wood. (mahogany, cherry, fir, walnut, oak, elm and lime.) Then the Ferro the iron symbol of the city is affixed to the bow of the gondola.
Gondolier waiting for a customer…Joe was not happy when I asked him to take this photo…he hid behind a pole with a telephoto lens because the guy knew we wanted a photo.
Foxy dreaming of being a gondolier
Mom I'm bored
Where is my boat?
1 comment:
Reguarding the hat-Foxy,Fozy,Foxy,
what you don't go thru for you Mom and Dad, but I must say you are very cute. Grams
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