René's old blog
Whatever I feel like posting, whenever
This site goes back some twenty-five years, so it is bound to be full of stale links and irrelevant information. It is, at best, updated irregularly.
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The Italian government has decided to dig a new deep canal through the Venetian lagoon to give the next generation of cruise ships, even bigger then the current ones, a passage to Venice. Please consider signing the online petition against…
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The Redentore Feast
The Redentore Feast is probably the most important popular celebration in Venice. Dinner down in the calle, fondamenta or in barca, ended by huge fireworks in the bacino afterwards. We celebrated in Riva de l’Arsenal, and enjoyed the fireworks from…
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Repairing the s-ciopon
Our s-ciopon (a traditional Venetian wooden boat) is currently under repair. It started to take in a bit of water back in February, and as I was leaving for a short holiday, I had to take it out of the…
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Poor Poveglia
The challenge of the association Poveglia per tutti of collecting enough money to beat the other bid for the island, failed. The association arrived at €420,000 but that was not enough, as the unknown other bidder had offered €513,000 for…
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Gondola on gondola
Most gondolas in Venice sport a little figure on the front. Normally its a human figure, or an angel, or even a Buddha or a Ganesh. You see a bit of everything. It is, however, a first to see a…
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Save Poveglia
Help the Venetianskeep the island Poveglia! Venice is slowly being taken over by tourism. Ever more property is being bought and converted to offers for tourists, leaving less and less space for the residents of the city, who often feel…
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Early May in Venice
A few photos from a recent paddle through Venice.
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Mare Nostrum Project
A couple of French kayakers are on a journey along the northern side of the Mediterranean, a 10.000km trip from Gibraltar to Istanbul. We hope to host them when they arrive here in Venice in a few weeks time. They’re…
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The Burano Colour Game
Burano is famous for its many coloured houses. One of the fun things to do there is to find houses that matches people’s clothes.
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Bits of Rusty History
The Certosa island was home to an armaments factory, the Pirotecnica della Certosa, for the first half of the 20th century. It was shut down definitively in 1958. I found this on the ground a few days ago.
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Gondoliere practise
Waiting for the Carnival procession on the Canal Grande at the traghetto San Samuele we enjoyed the view of two gondolieri practising the manoeuvres they need to do the operate the traghetto. They needed to turn the boat repeatedly and…
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La Festa dei Veneziani
The Venetian carnival has just started, and one of the first events is the Festa dei Veneziani, which more or less implies that the rest of the carnival is not for or of the Venetians, which is also entirely true.…