A foggy day in Venice

If you have never been to Venice in winter before, these photos will give you a little taste of what a winter day can be like:  fog so thick you can't see anything in front of your face.  It's days like this that you can feel mystery in the air. You can just imagine people wearing dark flowing capes disappearing down long narrow calles. It's quintessential Venice. 

 To the right of this shot, you should be able to see some of Sant'Elena's trees. Can't see a thing!

 In this shot, you should be able to see all the trees of Giardini just in the middle of the photo, but you can't see a one. Like it never even existed.

 I have no idea how vaporetto drivers cope on days like this. I know they have radar. Still, I'd be a nervous wreck.  I didn't see one of the smaller motoscafi ( lines 6, 5.1, 5.2, 4.1, 4.2) all day long, I think they were cancelled because of zero visibility.

 Beautiful foggy view on the Grand Canal

 This photo was taken about 2 pm. That's the sun trying to make an appearance. 

Kind of spooky. Venice in the haze.

Like I said, this kind of weather brings out Venice's  mysterious moods. Made me want to run buy a cape. Maybe tomorrow!

Good news and bad news for vaporetto users- effective TODAY!!

First- the bad news:  The price of a 60 minute vaporetto ticket has gone up from 6.50 Euros to 7.00 Euros effective May 10, 2012. That's today, folks.

Unfortunately- there is more bad news- price of the traghetto is going up to 4 Euros. Thanks to one of my readers MaryK for checking alittle further on which traghetto. I see now on the announcement I didn't read down far enough. I assumed it was the traghetto crossing the Grand Canal. It's  not. It's to use the regular vaporetto to cross a body of water, for example from Lido to S. Elena. Thank goodness it's not the one's crossing the Grand Canal! I was about to have a little hissy-fit!

Here's a photo of the announcement posted in the vaporetto docks today:

And the good news- according to the second announcement, the multi-day vaporetto ticket prices have been reduced.  New prices are posted below.

I'm going to add my 2 cents in here: compared to other European cities (for example Prague), Venice's public transportation is quite expensive. Considering the number of tourists using the vaporetto each year, ACTV must be doing pretty well. We all should buy stock, if it's a publicly held company! Venice's coffers are dry, despite it being a major tourist attraction. I would venture to bet the city is not getting any of this increase in the vaporetto fees.  Everywhere you look on the internet you will see articles and editorials moaning Venice's financial status, and the reasons why. I'm still not clear on why a tourist tax is not an acceptable alternative. Whenever I fly into the Dominican Republic, I pay just to enter the country. You cannot walk through the arrivals area of the airport without  handing over a $10   US "tourist" fee.  OK, Venice. There's my 2 cents. 

New Vaporetto line- the Boat of Art!

Today in the news I read an article announcing a new Vaporetto line beginning April 25, 2012. This new line, the "Boat of Art" will leave from the Train station and end at San Giorgio Maggiore, with 8 stops in between, and will run every 30 minutes.  It will work like the Hop-On, Hop-Off buses you see in lots of big cities, and will require a special ticket. Purchasers of this special ticket, which will be available on line as well as at ACTV ticket office,  will also receive a welcome kit including a city map and other information about cultural institutions who are partners in the project.

Alright, now we have yet another initiative to aid tourists. I'm wondering how different this is will be from purchasing a 12 hour vaporetto ticket. Isn't that just like Hop-on, Hop-off? You can get on and off anywhere you like, anytime you like within the 12 hour time period.  I am going to hope that the advantage to using this special boat/ticket will divert the crowds of tourists from the regular vaporettos. That would be a huge advantage.  You may see me personally directing people to the ACTV ticket office.  Ok, people, step right up, buy your Boat of Art ticket today!!