A Flying
Bridge Wafted Me Across The River, Which Is Exceedingly Broad And Rapid To
The North Bank, Where A Barge Was In Waiting To Receive Passengers For
Venice.
This barge is well fitted up and supplied with comestibles of all
sorts and couches to recline on.
The price is twelve francs for the
passage, and you pay extra for refreshments. The bark got under weigh at
seven o'clock and descended rapidly this majestic river, which however,
from its great breadth, and from the country on each side of it being
perfectly flat, did not offer any interesting points of view. Plains and
cattle grazing thereon were the only objects, for they take care to build
the farms and houses at a considerable distance from the banks, on account
of the inundations. After having descended the Po for a considerable
distance, we entered a canal which unites the Po with the Adige. We then
descended the Adige for a short distance, and entered another canal which
unites the Adige with the Brenta. Here we stopped to change barges, and it
required an hour and half to unload and reload the baggage. We then entered
the Brenta and from thence into the Lagoons, and passing by the islands of
Malamocco and Chiozzo entered Venice by the Canale grande at three
o'clock in the morning. The whole night was so dark as totally to deprive
us of the view of the approach of Venice. The barge anchored near the Post
office and I hired a gondola to convey me to the inn called Le Regina
d'Ungheria.
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