Monday, December 8, 2008

Trying to keep dry in Venice

Exactly a week ago I left Istanbul to return home to London. It was a sad moment as I had just enjoyed one of my most entertaining weekends away for some time. From being serenaded by my enormous, hirsute masseur in the Turkish Baths to standing in the middle of the cavernous Haggia Sophia as the afternoon sunlight angled through the slatted windows spilling out onto the floor below, there was something for every mood and occasion. 


Unlike in Venice. For as I was wandering through the grounds of Topkapi Palace in 20 degrees celcius I had a couple of friends who were spending their weekend away on the first floor of their Hotel, huddling around the radiator. I though that they were painting a rather over imaginative picture of their weekend as I received their texts until I got back to the office on Tuesday morning - until I found this email from our guide in Venice:


"Hi all,
Thought you might like to see these images of Venice during one of the worst floods since records began.
I had a very interesting morning trying to find a route that didn't have water above knee level, but was stumped, so had to go to a dentist's surgery and ask if I could take off my tights, then waded through knee-high murky and freezing canal water to get to work.
I then washed, dried  off and put my immaculate tights and some boots other than wellies on! However, the water continued to rise, reaching thigh-high levels, meaning that I was trapped at work
(without electricity or heating for a couple of hours). 
The local boat company workers were also on strike yesterday, meaning that the city was completely paralyzed and isolated.  
The good news is that nobody was seriously hurt or killed; the bad news is that  lots of people had their homes and businesses ruined by the salty lagoon water. Life went back to semi-normal in our lovely city today.  
Hope you enjoy the images! 
Best Jo"



It's clear that not every city is perfect for exploring all of the time, least of all by foot. It's why we believe our Hotspots are so good.We developed them for the citystroller to use both before and during your his/her stay. If they'd at least taken our 60 Minute City when them my friends would have left with a vague sense of what normally goes on outside. But who knows, maybe Italian television was particularly good last weekend.

Venice flood photos will be uploaded on the website shortly. Might even be able to sneak one or two of them onto the blog. 

...in the meantime, StrollOn.








A World of Audio guides, Walks and iPods


About StrollOn

Hello and welcome to StrollOn, where we produce audio guides and audio tours of London, Paris and an ever-expanding list of major european cities. We have also developed our free city overviews and "Hot spots" (individual audio commentaries for individual sights and attractions). Whichever product interests you we simply ask that you select the relevant audio guide or audio tour on our website and download the mp3 files onto your iPod or other mp3 player, thereby turning your iPod into your "GuidePod".

As you will see from the this blog, we are a new company, providing recently developed products on our website. We've set up this blog so that we can tell you all about us as you join us from our infancy. And we are actively looking for feedback, both on the website and the blog. We don't want you to help us simply to become the biggest, but we do want you to help us become the best walking audio tours company.