My Italy Sketchbook. Day Two...Afternoon in Venice

So after a lovely morning exploring St. Mark's Square and Murano glass, David and I were looking forward to a relaxing afternoon. We were very lucky...we happened to be in Venice the day of the Regata Storica. Also....we were staying in a hotel right next to the Rialto bridge...with a balcony...where we could watch the whole thing! The first picture shows the Grand Canal as we approached the first part of the program - the parade.

This is a picture of what the canal usually looks like - LOTS of boats! Motorized and otherwise - all driven by men who never go less than 30MPH on the water - including while they are parking! They speed into a dock space then slam it in reverse. And they cut each other off like maniacs! I thought it was crazy...of course, that ended up being mild once I experienced a cab ride in Rome...but more on that later!

So as the parade and race was getting under way, we saw many of the teams warming up - here is a team in blue shirts and an orange boat - I loved the colors!

Here is a shot of the Rialto bridge as the crowds began to gather. I felt so awful for all of the spectators who perched atop the bridge to watch - as the race got started, the cops removed everyone from the bridge! The streets became very crowded.

As the afternoon went on many spectators appeared in the windows up and down the canal...

Here is our group watching from our perch. I think we ended up spending 7 hours eating, drinking, reading, watching and talking! It was a lovely afternoon.

The parade was wonderful - all of the teams participated as well as several boats in a "pageantry" style - lots of colorful costumes, as if they were royalty from long ago arriving in Venice.

More parade shots...

I hope this works - this is a short video of the younger competitors rounding the marker. As the teams make the turn, you can hear the announcer call out the order by team color "rosso verde bianco celeste".

I do have a couple of sketches to add - I'll post those later!