A gondola ride in Venice

I have always wanted to go to Venice especially with recent news that it is sinking. When we took the fairy ride over to Venice I was super excited. We first came into the famous St. Marten's square. This square really is full of pigeons everywhere. They sit on people and run after people. They only managed to run away from me though. We walked around Venice for hours. It was really lovely. Venetian glass blowing and masks are very popular there. For 10 days, they have a festival where everyone walks out and wears masks. There are designer stores also in Venice everywhere. Gucci and Pucci as well as Armani decorate the streets. As soon as we were ready for our gondola ride, we were given really good champaign on a gondola in Italy. The gondoliers though cute were not as romantic as we had thought. We even had some traffic on the water as the different gondolas made their way through. Our ride was during the daytime so we could see all the narrow streets looming above us, people with flower baskets on their balconies waved to us. There were staircases disappearing into no where as the water levels of Venice are rising. Our gondolier didn't sing either. Some even talked on their cell phones. I thought it was funny how modernity even plays a role here. This reminded me of the Bedouins in Israel who use cell phones riding camels in the desert. In regards to the gondoliers apparently it is forbidden for them to sing so that they do not disgrace the Italian heritage. A special singing assistant can also be arranged with an accordion who will uphold the true Venetian musical principles. This is ironic that they try to uphold tradition here but the gondoliers themselves aren't what one would expect them to be. We then had dinner in a local Venetian restaurant. A man playing a clarinet walked around our tables. Roses were sold. Everywhere we dine, we had live entertainment. We also saw a traditional glass blowing presentation. Venice is wonderful. I wish we could have stayed more there at night in St. Marten's Square to see it light up in all its grandeur.