Saturday, September 13, 2014

The Gondola Tour

 
Taking a tour through the canals of Venice can be expensive - approximately, $180.00.  But by this point in time - spending my and budgets went out the window.  I was in Venice - how often does that happen.
 
 
Our gondola for the next hour.



 
Making our way out into the lagoon.






 
 
It's supposed to be good luck to kiss under the bridge of sighs, but apparently getting a kiss on the top of your head in a gondola in Venice by your mother can scar a kid for life.  Oh so I was advised.  I didn't get a good luck kiss back and his embarrassed red face said it all.
 
 
The bars on the windows of the prison that is connected by the Bridge of Sighs.
 


 
Traffic jams with gondolas are common in this area apparently.



 
Hold up ... coming through.

 
Just like on the roadways - no one wants to give way.






These mirrors are necessary to see what's coming around the corner.  I didn't notice them at first and wondered how they didn't have more gondola accidents.  I wasn't looking forward to ending up in the canal.  But then I spotted these and it was one of those ah, ha, moments.




 
Duck











 



 
 
 
The home of Marco Polo.  Doesn't look like much on the outside but apparently they've fixed it up inside and use it for concerts and it's quite beautiful.

 
 
Nothing like hanging out having a cigarette on your balcony in your underwear and watching the naïve tourists float by.


 
The further in you go the narrower the channels become.
 



 
The palazzo of the infamous Giacomo Casanova.  This link is for my son who knew a great deal of historic figures and would lecture me on them when I didn't know who they were.  He drew a total blank on the name Casanova.
  











 
And back to the Bridge of Sighs
 




 

 
After our gondola ride we decide to walk back to our hotel and we got lost.  Three times we ended up back at St. Marks Square - we just kept getting lost.  I actually read a book upon my return that joked about how there are areas of Venice where the only people you see are lost tourists.  I laughed at this since I was one of them. 
 
I also couldn't seem to sort out the water bus schedules either.  So we gave up and took another water taxi back to the hotel.   The shorter route - which costs approximately $90.00.  As you can see this is where my carefully orchestrated budget went out the window.
 
Next up... Touring on our own...
 


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