Venice, Italy
6 hours from Thun and we were in Venice. Easy enough with our rail passes in hand and a few days free during the week. Stepping out of the train station, we were right in there in the real Venice! The only Venice we’ve ever known has been the Venetian hotel in both Las Vegas and Maccau! We booked a bed and breakfast and upon crossing the first bridge over one of the canals and taking a turn at the first small street , I knew this would be a town where a map is absolutely necessary! We zig zagged our way through the tiny streets and eventually found our B&B called ‘Happy Venice’. It was overlooking a canal just over a bridge.
that's me in the window of our room!
When we arrived the lady answered the door, a old Italian women with absolutely NO English, yet she’s been doing this with her daughter (I assume she speaks English) for years. In Italian, and only Italian she explained everything we needed to know and more or less understood as she showed us the house. The place had only 3 rooms, 2 of which over looked the canal and one of them was ours! The gondolas would come rowing by our window and people stopped to take pictures on the bridge. It was a great location and we definitely chose a winner!
We stayed in Venice for 2 nights and while we walked a ton and crossed a thousand bridges, we also ate and drank a ton as well. We visited the beautiful churches and a couple museums and in the evening enjoyed real Italian food including gelato with plenty of wine. While we didn’t get to Stand Up Paddle in the canals, the highlight of the trip was learning to row a gondola. Instead of taking a quick 20 minute gondola ride for way too much money, we saved the romance and opted to learn how drive one instead. Jane from Row in Venice, taught us how to for a 2 hour session on a canal. While we weren’t on the Grand Canal, a smaller less busy one was much better suited to us first timers. Before we headed out, as we watched the Gondoliers the day before, they make it look effortless. Motorboats and water taxis zip in and out of the gondolas and they have no problems not running into each other. While they make it look effortless, for us it definitely wasn’t a walk in the park.
Jane showed us the basic stroke on her 2 man gondola and then we set off for a couple hours of rowing. The front man was obviously easier then the back one who was in charge of steering. It’s amazing how they can actually steer this around the tight corners of the canals and boat traffic without hitting anyone else or tipping over. We can’t say we became experts after our 2 hour less, but did manage to get a little better at the technique and helping row this big boat back to the marina safely. It was great, but both Nick and I think we’ll stick to SUP.
We stayed in Venice for 2 nights and while we walked a ton and crossed a thousand bridges, we also ate and drank a ton as well. We visited the beautiful churches and a couple museums and in the evening enjoyed real Italian food including gelato with plenty of wine. While we didn’t get to Stand Up Paddle in the canals, the highlight of the trip was learning to row a gondola. Instead of taking a quick 20 minute gondola ride for way too much money, we saved the romance and opted to learn how drive one instead. Jane from Row in Venice, taught us how to for a 2 hour session on a canal. While we weren’t on the Grand Canal, a smaller less busy one was much better suited to us first timers. Before we headed out, as we watched the Gondoliers the day before, they make it look effortless. Motorboats and water taxis zip in and out of the gondolas and they have no problems not running into each other. While they make it look effortless, for us it definitely wasn’t a walk in the park.
Jane showed us the basic stroke on her 2 man gondola and then we set off for a couple hours of rowing. The front man was obviously easier then the back one who was in charge of steering. It’s amazing how they can actually steer this around the tight corners of the canals and boat traffic without hitting anyone else or tipping over. We can’t say we became experts after our 2 hour less, but did manage to get a little better at the technique and helping row this big boat back to the marina safely. It was great, but both Nick and I think we’ll stick to SUP.
St. Marks Square
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