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.

ANTIQUE CLOCKS

It seems every city has a major clock somewhere within its boundaries. I’ll relate a few that I’ve found interesting and have enjoyed in my many travels.

VENICE, ITALY—St. Mark Sq

This clock near the palace is several hundred years old. It strikes on the hour and the roman numerals move every five minutes. It’s fascinating to watch the little people up there strike the bell. The slowly rotating bell is struck in a different place each time.

VIENNA Anchor Clock, Ankeruhr.

Built between 1911 and 1917 it is situated at Hoher Markt, the oldest square in Vienna. The Art Nouveau designed clock forms a bridge between two parts of the Anker Insurance Company's building. The clock itself is adorned with mosaic ornaments. In the course of 12 hours, twelve historical figures or pairs of figures move across the bridge, Joseph Haydn and Empress Maria Theresa among them. Music from various eras accompanies the figures at noon each day as they all parade by. This tourist spectacle is a special kind of Viennese High Noon.

WERTHEIM, GERMANY:

The tower clock at the 1383 Gothic church is rather unusual. The tower was added 40 years later. On the town side is a normal clock with both minute and hour hands so workers would work to the last minute. But only an hour hand is on the clock facing the castle, as the rulers were only interested in the hour, not the minutes.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

There is a marvelous hanging clock in the center of the foyer of the QVC building in Sydney, Australia. Every hour on the hour loud trumpeters announce the display of a series of mechanically moving tableaux of British kings and queens. The exhibition ends with the beheading of Charles I. It is interesting to watch.

HALIFAX'S Citadel

On the harbor side of Citadel Hill is the Old Town Clock. Prince Edward, father of Queen Victoria, commissioned it in 1803. The clock on each side is a different size. The population in each direction, N,E,S,W, determined the clock size. Staring at this unusual four-sided clock all I could say was, “Amazing.”

MUNICH'S glockenspiel

Late morning we hurried to Maria Square to join a large crowd gathered to watch the 10-minute performance of the century old glockenspiel. In the tower of the new City Hall, which looks like a big Gothic church, the glockenspiel plays at 11:00 AM and again at noon. The figures in the 1908 clock are about six feet tall. The bells ring first, then the figures move around in a circle. It is over when the rooster at the top crows three times.

Departing the square for lunch I said, “ What a fun performance, but I expected the rooster to move forward when it crowed.instead of flapping its wings.” 

VANCOUVER Steam clock

The famous antique steam clock is the first built in the world. Douglas Smith was the engineer who built the clock over a steam vent at a cost of $42,000 in 1977. Ray Saunders, a well-known inventor and clockmaker designed the 16.9-foot clock. Weighing two ton, steel weights go to the top and then drop by gravity. Every quarter hour Westminster chimes are heard, and on the hour a large whistle belches from the clock. The steam pipes are all underground and also heat many of the buildings as well as running the clock.

One evening at a nearby Japanese restaurant we listened to all its chimes and whistles while enjoying a delightful dinner.

Since the city of Reykjavik is totally run on an underground steam system it would be a great place for a steam clock.

YORKMINSTER

On one wall in York, England’s Yorkminster is a charming 400 year old clock. Oak figures strike the clock every fifteen minutes. The clock movements date to 1749. The 15^th century screen is decorated with statues of fifteen kings from William I to Henry VI.

PRAGUE

On the front of the Old Town Hall in Prague’s old square sits an astronomical clock that chimes every hour on the hour from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM. The clocks shows the year, month, day and hour as well as the rising and setting of the sun, east and west, the noon and the signs of the zodiac. But crowds gather on the hour to see the 1410 clock’s animated movements. The clock was restored in the 19^th century. When the hour approaches the window opens and the apostles move by.

Flanking the clock are statues representing the values of the day. The fellow looking in the mirror representing vanity perhaps saying he who spends time before a mirror has a poor life; he who helps others has a rich life. The miser represents greed saying spend your money, enjoy life, and have fun. The skeleton representing death says, enjoy life, it is short.. I don’t have you now, but I will. Finally is the Turk soldier representing pleasure and entertainment and not such a good life under them.

This astronomical clock is the third oldest in the world and the oldest still working. The legend is that the builder of the clock was blinded when his job was finished, so he could never duplicate his fine piece of work. I have heard this same legend about other artists being blinded in at least a couple of other places.

In Prague’s old Jewish Center on the Old Jewish Town Hall is a clock with Jewish numerals and the clock runs counterclockwise. Was the builder left handed? No, he was just following how Hebrew is read, from right to left. I really don’t know a lot about the clock, other than it is unique. Above it is a smaller clock with Roman numerals.

ZAGREB, CROATIA

Wandering around the capitol city I spied a wall with an unusual sun dial clock on it. A little over a half circle in size, it was divided into 12 pie-shaped sections with a roman numeral at the end of each pie. It was a most unusual clock and I have never seen another one.

VENICE ITALY

Venician  Memories   

Gondolas of Venice are for tourists. Water taxis get one around the city, and water boats transport all goods and supplies.  There are no cars or bikes in old Venice.

 

Venice is easy to walk, but the many alleyways make it real easy to get lost.

Italian coffee is so strong a spoon will stand up in it all by itself

Venice is at the northern end of the Adriatic Sea. The city is divided into six districts. Yellow signs around the city direct you to Piazza San Marcos, the Rialto Bridge, Pizzale Roma, or the train station.

The Grand Canal is the main waterway and is shaped like an inverted ‘S’. The train station is at one end, and Piazza San Marco (St Mark) at the other. You can cross the Grand Canal at three points

  The large St. Mark’s square is bordered  on three sides by stores that all are under a covered walkway.       The Basilicade de San Marco, a Byzantine church, and Doge’s Palace are on the fourth side.

All the paintings inside the church are done in mosaics and simply gorgeous! The many columns are of different colored marble, and there are many statues.

The elevator to the top of the church tower provides a fantastic view of St Mark’s Square.

This clock near the palace is several hundred years old. It strikes on the hour and the hand on the roman

numerals move every five minutes. It’s fascinating to watch the little people strike the bell. The bell slowly rotates so it is struck in a different spot each time.

The winged lion is the symbol of both St. Mark and of Venice.

Handmade lace was gorgeous and still made in Venice.

A very rude young vendor in the square.

The Rialto Bridge is the largest bridge in Venice and the only one with shops on it.

By the evening dinner hour the vendors are gone, and musicians play for the dinner crowd at the sidewalk restaurants.

A nice visit with a medical student from Madrid who was visiting the city and with whom we struck up a conversation.

We were lucky to stay in an old hotel in old Venice to get the real flavor of the city. There was no A/C, but with the window open at night we were sent to dreamland by the singing gondoliers below!

VENETIAN GONDOLAS

VENETIAN CANALS AND GONDOLA RIDES

            Arriving in Venice we quickly learned that the hotel chains are across the canal on the mainland. Our hotel was in Venice which meant we arrived by water taxi. Our luggage arrived by water boat. On the main island there are no vehicles and no bikes. It’s foot power or a boat ride. The canals are the roads.

            Before I embarked on this trip I’d made a deal with my traveling partner. I’d go to the Moulin Rouge with her if she’d go on a gondola ride with me. A gondola ride in romantic Venice was high on my to do list, no matter the cost. One quickly learns that the gondolas are strictly for tourist traffic. Venice is easy to walk, and even though yellow signs around the city direct you to Piazza San Marcos, the Rialto Bridge, Pizza Roma, or the train station, the many alleyways make it very easy to get lost.

            After dinner one evening we ventured down to the canal to find a gondola. That was no problem as they were lined up like taxi cabs outside an airport. Each gondola had an accordion player to accompany the singing gondolier. We were lucky to have a very pleasant gondolier who happened to have a fantastic voice. He serenaded us with lovely Italian love songs which we enjoyed but that would have been very romantic if one were with her honey. He took no requests and appeared to speak only Italian. It was a nice way to end a long busy exciting day.

            Everything in Venice is old. Our hotel was comfortable and clean and had no air conditioning. The windows had no screens, but after we turned off the lights we simply opened the window and actually were serenaded to sleep by the singing gondoliers below. That was nice!

SOME FUN INCIDENTS

Puskin
          Because Lake Kitzi was still frozen we had to forego our scheduled visit there, so made an unscheduled stop in Mandrogy, Russia. Mandrogy is a get away area for Russia's new rich. After perusing the  pricy gift shop we made a  short walk to a pull ferry that took us across a small river to Puskin Island. Puskin was a writer of children’s stories. It was a cold windy day but on the tree covered island we were sheltered from the wind. We walked a circular path around the island perimeter stopping to view the many wooden characters from Puskin's stories. It was a delightful walk into another culture.

Blueberries and more blueberries
       I was lucky to be in Nova Scotia at prime blueberry season. I love blueberries and unfortunately live in an area where they don’t grow. Believe me I’ve tried. The morning I went to breakfast and saw a punch bowl full of beautiful large ripe berries I was in blueberry heaven. Mumm, those cereal bows are too small, I need to find a soup bowl. I filled that bowl with blueberries, added a bit of milk and dug in. As I left the restaurant I said to the waitress, “I sure enjoyed your blueberries.”
      Smiling she responded, “I noticed.”

Singing Nuns
          One day in Poland when touring the countryside we stopped for lunch at a Bernadine Monastery. The nuns prepared and served a meal of delicious vegetable soup and fresh bread still warm out of the oven. The nuns run the equivalent of a soup kitchen serving several hungry people every day.
         The nuns were most gracious and it was fun talking and visiting with them. When we left, the nuns stood at the doorway at the top of the steps and serenaded us with their lovely voices. It was a delightful stop and a scrumptious lunch.

Water, water everywhere
        The only place where I have been delivered to my hotel by water taxi was in Venice, Italy as we stayed on the island in a local hotel, not on the mainland in a large chain hotel. The luggage was all transported in a water boat. The gondolas of Venice are for tourists. Water taxis get one around in Venice, and water boats transport all goods and supplies. There are no cars or bikes. On dry land one walks!