GONDOLAS in VENICE

                                          A Must-do Activity

      Before I left for Europe the first time I was determined to have a gondola ride in Venice—one of those must to do things—and I didn’t care what it cost. My travel partner felt the same way about getting to the Moulin Rouge in Paris. So we made a deal: we  would  accompany each other on each other’s to do list—tit for tat, if you will!

    The  gondoliers are all native sons and often the job is passed on from father to son. However, they all have to pass several tests, among them swimming, driving and language tests. They are easy to spot in their navy and white stripped tee shirts.

    Many times of the day the  canals are crowded with gondolas—of many kinds—so one of the best times for a ride is during the dinner hour when most people are eating. To be serenaded costs extra.

     We hopped on a gondola one evening and ventured down much of the seven miles of the canals. Actually the  Great Road of Water consists of 170 canals and connect the 180 islands making up Venice. Our gondolier had a marvelous voice and serenaded us all evening. Of course the songs were in Italian, but one could understand they were love songs. They have their own repertoire and do not take requests, or at least ours didn’t.

    Our hotel was off the mainland ,on an island so our room faced  the canal. Every night after retiring I lay in my bed with the window open and listened to the boat traffic and the  wonderful serenading going on below.

     For most just the name Venice conjures up visions romance, canals, art and palaces. There are no roads, so no cars. All traffic is by boat or on foot. Although flat the many alleyways and bridges in the city make it easy to get lost.

    Besides the popular gondolas, there are canal taxis, which is how we got to our hotel, and  canal barges to transport goods, produce and luggage, Venice is a  fabulous city to visit and we had a wonderful time.

An Extended Hike

                                                 A Long Hour

     Standing in the clouds at 10,627-feet up,  we played in the snow for a bit, like a bunch of kids, at the top of a glacier in Switzerland.  It was not as cold as I expected, but after a while we went inside and visited a 427-foot long ice cave.  Built between 1974-’78 the temperature is constant at 30-31 degrees. The ice  is 15-50 meters deep and there are several rooms in the cave. This is where it was cold and when we were done a visit to the café provided us a chance to drink a hot liquid of our choice.

     Warmed up, we rode the gondola down to the first level where we hiked a well maintained trail around small Lake Trubsee. We stopped several times to learn the names of the many alpine plants in bloom.

    About three-quarters way around the lake a path led off to the right and the sign said Engleberg. The Swiss do not mark mileage, instead  they talk about  the time needed to make a destination. This sign read one hour.

    Five or six of us decided to be smart and take the shortcut.  It didn’t take long to realize the foot path was a cow path and very muddy in spots as it wound around large boulders. We climbed up and down over slippery rocks sloshing about in the mud.

    A few hundred meters into the path I seriously thought about turning back as I really wasn’t into playing mountain goat. But it looked better up ahead so we trudged on---for the next 2 ½ hours.  The trail alternated to fairly decent in areas, then turned mucky again. When we finally hit level ground,  as in a narrow paved road, several of us were ready to pay some farmer to get us back to the train station. Since there was no farmer or motor vehicle of any kind  in sight we had no choice but to walk on.

    Rounding the last turn in the road I could see the gondola station. I shouted, “There it is! I can’t believe we all safely made it with no mishaps.” 

     The two who had elected to ride the gondola to ground level were sitting at a picnic table waiting for  us smart-alecks who took the sign as gospel!

    It was really rugged, and it was obvious our guide had not hiked that trail in a very long time.

In hindsight a few years later and after many more trails, easy and tough, it was probably not as rugged as we thought at the time as much as it was a surprise and the realization that we hadn’t been so smart after all!