Gondola ride

  

click photo to enlarge		 For our anniversary I took Karen on a surprise Gondola ride in Long Beach at sunset. We started with dinner in an area of Long Beach called Belmont Shore. We had dinner at a restaurant named La Creperie Café. The food and ambiance were very nice but the service this night was.. well a bit lacking. We both decided we needed to come back and explore Belmont Shore again. They had some very nice looking places to eat and some interesting shops.

click photo to enlarge		 As we were driving from the restaurant to Gondola Getaways, about 1/2 mile away,  Karen still had no idea where we were going. Their sign was kind of hard to see also. They have apparently been doing this for about 25 years now and have a number of boats. The Gondola we ended up in was a 2 person boat imported from Venice Italy. They have one Gondola that can seat from 7 to 14 people. The rides are 1 hour long. You bring your own bubbly which in out case was sparkling cider. They provide a basket of bread, cheese and salami.

click photo to enlarge		 Out Gondolier was telling us that one of their busiest times of the year is before Christmas because all the homes along the canals decorate their homes and the light show from the canals is pretty cool. The ride sure takes you through some pretty exclusive areas. Most of the homes along the canals have electric party boats to go cruising the canals.

click photo to enlarge
               click photo to enlarge