Wherever you are, be all there! -Jim Elliot
Ride a gondola in Venice. How many times have you seen this on someone’s bucket list? It certainly was on mine. As soon as we arrived in Venice I was watching the people in gondolas and I noticed a few things.
- It didn’t look like they were having a great time.
- When you’re in one you are on display. Everyone is taking pictures of you to get a great one for Instagram.
- There is no singing. In the movies, there is always singing.
- The gondoliers don’t look particularly thrilled to be going through the canals.
As our time in Venice went on I wanted to ride a gondola less and less. The thing is, how can you go to Venice and not ride one? How can you pass by probably the only opportunity you will have to ride a gondola in Venice? The answer is that you cannot. So, we paid 80 euro and hopped on board a gondola for a 30 minute (actually 18) ride. It was as disappointing as I thought it would be. I thought we were going to die the entire time. It was very tippy and the bigger boats make a lot of waves. Our gondolier was not particularly happy. He talked to his friend who was driving the gondola in front of us the whole time. All in all, this was not my cup of tea. If this is on your bucket list and you are in Venice, go for it. Set your expectations low and they will be met.
Here we are at the start of our journey about to go under the Rialto Bridge.
Woo hoo! It looks like we are having the time of our lives. We aren’t.
This is where our gondola let us off. Do you see how small this plank is? Do you notice that there is no handrail? Do you see that it leads right into a WALL OF FLOWERS? DO YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS AND SCARY THIS WAS? Our gondolier did not care. He let us off here and I almost fell into the canal. What a wonderful ending to a great journey. Consider this crossed off my bucket list never to be done again.
