Venice Travel Guide
6/10/2008 at 11:00 AM
Tags: Celeb Travel, Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, Movie Travel (all tags)
Forget an oversized pillow or a lucky horseshoe--when actress Sienna Miller travels far and wide for movie roles, she always takes with her a pair of men's pajamas. Not just any pajamas, though. Sienna's sleepwear was a gift from late actor Heath Ledger from back when they were shooting the period romance "Casanova."
Miller and Ledger, who play unlikely lovers in the film, were caught out in a rainstorm and had to rush back to his apartment, where he lent Sienna the dry clothes from under his pillow. She later passed them back to him when he couldn't sleep. Ledger's dad returned them to her after his death in January.
We all have that luxury item we won't leave home without; what's yours? Don't laugh; we swear by our silly eyeshade for catching some z's in a light hotel room or on a daytime flight.
Related Stories:
· Sienna Miller Remembers Heath Ledger--with Pajamas [People]
· Remembering Heath Ledger [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo from "Casanova": movies.aol.com]
by egw
6/02/2008 at 12:00 PM
Tags: Kayaking, Boats, Outdoor Travel, Adventure Travel (all tags)
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie is not what you'll be singing, our mother warned us. "The gondolas in Venice are dirty and unromantic!" But the New York Times offers a sporting alternative: kayaking Venice, where you're your own gondolier.
Motorized boating for nonresidents is technically illegal, but as far as writer David Kocieniewski could tell, people-powered skiffs are free to cruise the canals even with a foreign tourist at the helm. (Given all the rules in Venice, we're sort of amazed.)
Sure, you have to check an inflatable boat (or rent one there) and spend a few days practicing on back canals, but exploring the city by kayak gives you a resident's glimpse of Venice. And after the gondolas are moored for the night, the waterways are all yours.
Related Stories:
· On Venice's Grand Canal in a Kayak [NYT]
· It's the Summer of the Kayak [Jaunted]
· Get Your Row on in Venice [Jaunted]
· Free and Fun in NYC: Kayak the Hudson [Jaunted]
[Photo: jehr]
by egw
5/15/2008 at 11:00 AM
Tags: Italy Travel, Crime, Women, Chauvinist Travel (all tags)
We think short skirts and large bags could be the next items banned from Venice after Tuesday's shocking arrest of an alleged Italian voyeur with an affinity for bums.
Police say the 38-year-old married businessman had 2 kids but still found ample time to capture up-skirt images of 3,000 women in Saint Mark's Square. Apparently he rigged a rather sophisticated camera inside a bag with a little hole cut in the side. How MacGyver!
An investigation revealed that the guy has been perving around Venice for years, but it took officials until now to realized he was only following girls who were showing some leg. As if having the images for private use wasn't gross enough, DVDs with the material he filmed were also found in his bag.
One might assume that Venice's boys in blue were too busy controlling topless sunbathers and pigeon feeders to notice a creep on the loose--until we present this photo, taken in Venice this Sunday. Italian police: As efficient as you'd expect!
Related Stories:
· Furtive Venice Snapper Arrested [BBC]
· Man Arrested in Italy for Allegedly Filming Thousands of Women's Bottoms [Fox News]
· Chauvinism Is a French Word, Right? [Jaunted]
· Italy Travel coverage [Jaunted]
by CourtScott
5/13/2008 at 2:00 PM
Tags: Italy Travel, Attractions, Tourist Attractions (all tags)
We hate to pick on Venice--and we think everyone should try to get there to see it--but after cruising amidst the sea of tourists this weekend we fear the once romantic gondola ride is a dying art, replaced by a cookie cutter experience that isn't anything to write home about. The trouble starts with the price tag.
A half-hour ride for an Italian native starts at €50 ($77). For real tourists, especially non-Europeans, 30 minutes begin at €80. Depending on how motivated your gondolier is feeling, he may spend 10 of those 30 minutes pushing off the dock and turning his gondola in the correct direction. If "Let's get a move on, chief" isn't in your Italian phrasebook, you're basically stuck.
And, oh yes, it gets worse...
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by CourtScott
5/06/2008 at 12:00 PM
Tags: Boats, Italy Travel, Tourist Attractions, Attractions, Events, Spring Travel (all tags)
Venice is opening its normally protected waterways to the public this Sunday for the 34th annual Vogalonga rowing event. The "Long Row" began in the 70s as a peaceful protest--"the revenge of oars over engines"--and now thousands of boating clubs, rowers and tourists come to experience the colorful spring regatta.
If you're keen to participate, the rules are rather uncharacteristically pretty lax. You'll need a row boat of any weight and size, some oars and at least one rower. The deadline for entrants is this Thursday so we suggest you quickly round up a few friends, hire a dinghy and submit your €15 entry fee. (Considering gondaliers are charging tourists upwards of €80 for a 30 minute float down the Grand Canal, the enrollment cost for Vogalonga is cheap!)
According to Wikipedia, some have even tried swimming the 19 mile route, but can hardly recommend it without at least some inflatable swimmies. If you haven't got your sea legs, take a front, uh, row seat near the Cannaragio Canal. It's a less touristy area and a perfect spot to watch the thousands of boats enter Venice.
Post-click, check out a groovy Vogalonga video montage with moody elevator music.
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by CourtScott
5/02/2008 at 9:45 AM
Tags: Regulations, Tourist Attractions, Animals, Venice, Italy Travel (all tags)
Venice used to be a romantic getaway. Now it's kinda like being in grade school, because there are just so many rules you have to follow. Last year, we warned you to keep your shirt on--being bare-chested, or eating a picnic on St Mark's Square, can get you fined almost $40. But starting next week, feeding pigeons will be banned, too.
Venetian authorities are sick of the repair bills the birds cause, not just from droppings but also because they peck at gaps in building facades. Feeding the pigeons is apparently much worse than exposing your chest, because the fines start at €50 (nearly US$80).
We're not sure that the pigeons will get the message here, as they've been ruining St Mark's Square for decades now. And we're curious about what activity will be next on the "Not in Venice" list.
Related Stories:
· Venice to Fine Tourists Who Feed Pigeons [Reuters]
· Topless Tourists in Venice Fined [Jaunted]
· Bare Chests Banned in Venice [Jaunted]
[Photo: Malingering]
by amandak
3/26/2008 at 12:17 PM
Tags: Venice Film Festival, Film Festival Travel (all tags)
If a Labor Day barbeque isn't your ideal end-of-summer bash, jaunt over to Venice where, from August 27-September 6, you can experience how Italians celebrate cinema at the 65th Venice International Film Festival.
Sure the city will be swarming with fanny-packin' tourists and parasitical pigeons and you may catch an unpleasant whiff of Venice at low tide but if George, Johnny and Charlize can stand it, I'm sure you can too.
MORE...
Related Stories:
Venice Film Festival Site
by CourtScott
1/22/2008 at 9:35 AM
Tags: Public Transportation, Europe Travel (all tags)
If you're anything like us, you've been to Venice, hopped on the vaporetto and then been crushed by a Canadian hauling a backpack the size of a Volkswagen. And while the average traveler can't do much about it besides complain, the Venetians have had enough. They're starting up their own private water bus for locals only.
As the population of the city continues to shrink, tourism continues to boom. And that means there just isn't enough room for everybody, says one woman:
Now that Carnival is starting, you can't move around anymore...We get packed like sardines, and then fights break out. That's if you manage to get on [a vaporetto].
Hard to say what would happen if you try to jump on the locals-only ferry. We'd guess a fine more severe than if you're simply caught with your shirt off.
Related Stories:
· Venice Opens a Water Bus for Residents [NYT]
· Topless Tourists in Venice Fined [Jaunted]
· Bare Chests Banned in Venice [Jaunted]
· Venice Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: ezioman]
by pbb
