Venice trip - Part 2

The reason for us all going down to Venice was actually CJ's business. They acquired a saw blade company in Italy and brought a bunch of press and trade magazine reps from the US to show them around and to promote the new business. So every day CJ got to participate in the fun things and tours they all had planned for the press people.


Here is what he did...
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While in Venice we took a tour of a Gondola building and repair facility. There are only 3 of them in Venice and they are all family owned and have been in operation forever. Interesting all 3 families have come from the North of Italy because that’s where the skilled woodworkers are, as they have large timbers to work with.

In Venice all buildings are made of masonry, with wood trim only on high end buildings. However these Gondola shops are all built out of wood that was brought down from the North of Italy.

The Gondola business is a critical part of Venice and there are 350 licensed Gondoliers who each own their own custom boat. The boats truly are 100% custom - they are built to fit each individual Gondolier's height and weight which creates the perfect balance when the guy is standing on the boat rowing (or paddling?....) So if a guy eats too much pasta ang gains 20 lbs the boat has to bi modified to fit his new frame! Dead serious about that!

The city of Venice only gives 3-5 new licenses per year and doing this job is not your typically cabbie job. A good Gondolier makes $75 - $85K per year.

 This guy left his boat at a public drop off a little too long and got a parking ticket!

When we traveled to the IRWIN saw blade factory in the north of Italy we also toured a high end furniture making company who uses IRWIN blades. While we were there, they were making custom furniture for one of the royal Saudi families. This company also makes travel trunks for Louis Vuitton (Mada is salivating...) and crazy enough people have the money to buy these. The one on display sells for $70K.

In case you were wondering if this company makes any money, the owner took us to his garage behind the factory, which had two buildings, a 4 bay garage and a 6 bay garage. This was not your average garage filled with household junk and a chevy. The cars in the pictures range from $200K to $1.5M and one of them is one of only 6 in the world. This is a private collection and not just for show he drives these on a regular basis.

Personalized Ferrari anyone?

One of the evenings back in Venice we were gathering to go to a dinner and while taking the boat over to San Marco Piazza our guide pointed out the full moon and said this could cause us some trouble in getting around the city. We walked through the square and deep into the narrow streets of Venice to a lovely palace. An actual palace owned by an aristocratic family who rent it out for events. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner hosted by the Countess, the Count was out that night. The palace overlooks the grand canal and has a rooftop terrace. The building is a few hundred years old and still decorated in the original style.

View from the palace...

 Being silly Venice style...

Then when we walked back to Piazza San Marco to take the boat home, we were stopped in our tracks because the square was flooded!! Since the square is surrounded by the largest and heaviest buildings, it is the lowest point in the city, and when the moon is full and the tide is high, it becomes an underwater square.

We had to backtrack through the streets for 45 minutes to go to the other side of the city to higher ground where we could get a boat back to our hotel.

Interesting enough the next morning when the girls and I went to the square it was dry and beautiful again.

Fun times!