The 41st Vogalonga, or 30 kilometer "long row" around the lagoon, takes place tomorrow and is supposed to feature 8,000 participants in 2,000 boats this year. The latter number may include in it crafts of the sort pictured above (encountered in Cannaregio this evening), which seem to stretch the term "boat."
But at least the four French-speaking paddlers above were standing up and facing in what Venetians consider the "right" direction (ie, forward).
Though, it should be noted that a recent regulation makes it illegal for them, as non-residents of Venice, to take them on the Grand Canal or on many other waterways in the historic center.
I wonder if they know what's in the water.
ReplyDeleteAs many visitors don't, I suspect the odds are that the 4 paddlers are also in the dark about that matter (no pun intended). And, generally, I've noticed that those visitors dressed most as if for a day at the beach tend to be the most likely to assume that even the small canals of the central historic area are Caribbean seas rather than, among other things, a medieval sewage system.
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