Venice

Bonjourno,

This evening at 6 it was a Gondola ride on the water way. We had the accordion player and "o solo mio" singer. We did fine drifting down the calm waters of the canals . However they soon became like expressways ..... Overcrowded. The gondoliers control the boat with one little but long wooden oar and when things get tight or they get to close to a building they pick up their foot and kick the side of the boat to move them away. It really is an amazing scene as you will see in the pictures below. 

Then the big time begins .... After you journey through the canals you have to go into the main canal ...    The big one ... The wide one .... which has  5 other gondolas near you in parallel , 10 water taxis buzzing through.....and a huge Norweigan Cruise ship coming round the mountain. Just like Rome..... Everybody any where they can find a place among all these boats generating some type of wave action. I think they want you to pick out your favorite Italian saint and start praying. Obviously we made it back to our little slip to disembark. 

 

Off to the lounge for some Bellini's and snacks. Then to our rooms to " freshen" and get ready for the final dinner..... The one that ends all diets. We greeted and thanked the guide for her expertise , we drank wine and champagne, exchanged highlights with the people at our table ( over the noisy din) got our group picture and then got up and spent another 25 minutes saying goodbye. 

We are in our room finishing this as our wake up call is 3 A. M.and  the bags will be picked up at our room and we will take a water taxi back to the mainland . They will help us all the way through to security and then launch us on our own. After tickets, passports and the like we will find the business lounge after we find the gate. Then we will proceed from Venice to Frankfurt where we have about a 3 hour layover. We've got to check out the lounge again. Then we will finally board the big bus home. See you at home! 

Get summer in gear back home as we are spoiled with Mid -80's and low humidity. The best ... The best!