Physical Labor

Shortly before my stay in Venice ended, I met a gondoliero. The gondoliero had been navigating the Venetian lagoons for roughly fifty years. When I was readying to depart for the States, he treated me to a gratis ride up and down the city's canals. Because he was not "on duty," the gondoliero did not wear the classic uniform of a striped shirt and straw hat during that ride.

Venice, Italy, June 1984. This seventy-year old knew what he was doing.

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Venice, Italy, June 1984. The afternoon spent with the gondoliero was lovely.

Two Views from a Gondola

When I lived in Venice, I took only one ride in a gondola. Serendipity produced that ride. I had been traveling back to Venice from the Italian Alps, and the person who sat alongside me on the bus was an aging gondoliero. He insisted I couldn't leave Venice until I had explored the city from its canals, and he treated me to a free ride around the lagoons.

Venice Italy, June 1984. The gondoliero skillfully navigated the dark, narrow canals.

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Venice, Italy, June 1984. Things do look different when one sits in a gondola.

Quiet-Canal Reunion

Venice, Italy, April 1984. The gondoliero still wears his winter uniform.