BOLDFACERS

Picnic Perfection

“We offer a basket of cheese, crackers, and rich chocolate truffles for every tour to compliment the wine/champagne selection that our guests are encouraged to bring. We supply the glasses, ice, ice bucket, and corkscrew!” says Gondola di Venezia owner Megan Sliger. “ We also include fresh strawberries and Italian cookies, depending on the selected tour option!”

Best Gondola Times

“Many of our guests opt for the tours that fall upon the sunset hour, as the view from our gondola on the Charles River is the BEST way to enjoy the sunset in Boston. Evening tours are absolutely lovely, serene, private and romantic,” says Gondola di Venezia owner Megan Sliger. “We have lanterns on the bow of the gondola, as well as votive candles with the complimentary basket, which add to the romantic ambiance of the experience. Oftentimes, if you look up on a clear night, you can even see shooting stars.”

Tour Favorites

“I enjoy the footbridges and overhanging willow trees of the canoe-way in the Esplanade - you will often see ducklings traveling in rows, turtles on the rocks at the river's edge, occasional fish jumping out of the water - it's beautiful,” says Gondola di Venezia owner Megan Sliger. “But there's also a certain point on the open river, where the view of the skyline is phenomenal - especially when the moon is full and low. Sometimes on tours, there have been random fireworks from the Cambridge side that make the experience almost laughably unreal.”

Fancy the Accordion?

Gondola di Venezia owner Megan Sliger's aim in life? Play, play, play – the accordion. Interested yourself? “Our accordionists are a great place to start!” says Sliger. “Some of them offer lessons, and they can be reached by contacting our office. Also, Evan Harlan, from NEC, is a fabulous teacher of accordion, and offers private lessons!”

www.bostongondola.com

www.newenglandconservatory.edu/faculty/harlanE.html

www.evanharlan.com

Captain Gondolette

Keywords: Music

True story: Megan Sliger arrives at Boldfacers Central in full, stripe-shirted gondolier garb. We chat. She straps on her accordion and begins to sing. Something Italian. Soft voice. Lovely. Next thing you know, two photographers, a writer, two interns and our editor-in-chief gather around her. We're enraptured. We forget, for a moment, where we are and why.

Megan has that effect on most people. She runs Gondola Di Venezia, one of a handful authentic gondola tour companies in the United States. Instead of canals in Venice, passengers glide along the Charles River. Maybe they have cheese and chocolates, roses, maybe an accordion player. That's how Megan started, performing on-board before she bought the company two years ago. And, yes, it’s all as romantic as it sounds: in eight years, there’ve been 204 gondola-inspired proposals (“yes!”) and six weddings.

And that brings us back to Megan. An accomplished accordionist, she graduated from the Berklee College of Music and quickly landed a full-time gig with the gondola company. Si, she knows the old Far Side cartoon (“Welcome to heaven, here’s your harp. Welcome to hell, here’s your accordion.”) and says Gary Larson couldn’t be more wrong. The accordion can carry the most romantic French and Italian tunes, not to mention a jouncy Cajun zydeco.

Megan also learned how to drive a gondola. She says she is one of about five women in the world highly skilled and trained to pilot the craft. She can row in the traditional voga style with the best of them, and she flies to Venice on occasion to talk shop and compete in gondola races. She owns two gondolas, both built in Venice, and keeps them meticulously maintained. She says she never in her wildest dreams saw herself as owning a business—she didn’t think she’d be able to support herself as an accordion player either—but she’s done both. And while the economy is down, romance is up. Love is in the air, and on the Charles River.

www.Bostongondolas.com

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