Gondola Ride

The city of Venice, Italy is underwater. Means of transportation is by boat. Therefore, the gondola a flat shaped boat is used for transportation. For some reason Italy and France are two countries known to be romantic places. Why? Probably many factors. The gondola ride maybe one of those factors in Italy.

Somewhere between the Venetian and Palazzo hotel are the Grand Canal Shoppes. They have a small canal with gondola rides. The atmosphere feels like Venice (although I haven't been there I could only assume). Last time we were in Vegas, I really wanted to go on the Gondola Ride. However for some reason we didn’t have enough time. This time we would not be denied.

We started early and walked the 1 mile to the Venetian from the Circus Circus hotel and made our way to the Grand Canal Shoppes. The line was short, thus the wait was short. We paid $40 for the both of us. The setup is a group of 4 for $40 or a couples ride for $80. Ideally, you'd want to come with a group of 4 so you wouldn't have to share the gondola with strangers. Being that it was only us two, we assumed we had to share the gondola with another couple. Since we went so early today, no other couple was in the line with us. What to do right? We ended up getting the private ride which would have cost us $80. A private gondola ride! We just won.

Our gondolier was an Italian guy who sung a few Italian songs. The ride in itself is only 10 minutes and not even worth the money. But it is a good attraction to go to. It is the closest thing to Italy we can get since we ain't going there anytime soon. After the ride, a person escorts you and persuades you to buy some pictures they took of us at the beginning of the ride. It is definitely a rip off at $23, but since we got the private tour, it was well worth it.