photo by Isabella Mohr
Gondolier Simon Atkins prepares for an afternoon cruise
on the gondola we call "Stella".
When she left Venezia back in 2009,
she was on her way to New York for an expedition around Staten Island. Somewhere along the way she was given quite a collection of stickers.
Sponsors, slogans, and the like were printed and cut out in vinyl
and plastered along both sides and on the bow deck as well.
Really, it looked pretty cool (for an expedition gondola),
but for passenger service,
we knew she would have to be returned to the classic look.
Before any sanding and painting could be done,
we had to do a lot of picking and peeling.
A fair amount of adhesive remover came in handy as well.
see my post "Stickers - Lots and Lots of Stickers!"
I worked my way from front to back,
and as I reached the tail, I came upon these great flag decals.
One that was half US and half Italia,
and the other a nice image of the flag of the Venetian Republic.
I just couldn't peel them off.
So we masked off the flag decals, sanded and painted around them,
and they live on - serving as a subtle reminder of one of her previous adventures (and of all that sticker peeling we did when we first got her).
To read more about this gondola,
read my post "Staten Island Gondola - Full Story",
which was written even before we gave her the name "Stella".