I just keep finding good ones. I think this lady is being a pain the ars, and I don't think they should have given in to her crap.

Female gondolier turns tide of Venice's history
The Telegraph
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
02/04/2007

After a 10-year struggle, a German woman has breached one of Italy's oldest male-only clubs to become Venice's first female gondolier.

Alexandra Hai, 35, cannot sing and she has failed her basic gondola-steering exam three times. Nevertheless, a regional court has ruled that she can ferry guests to three one-star hotels in the city.

Alexandra Hai, after a 10-year struggle, a German woman has breached one of Italy's oldest male-only clubs to become Venice's first female gondolier.
Alexandra Hai had rules dating back more than 900 years, that only men can be gondoliers, overturned

"We won, we won!" she said yesterday. "I am delighted. It has been my mission. I promise not to wear jeans and I have a beautiful gondola, clean and built according to tradition."

Frau Hai, who moved to Venice from Hamburg 10 years ago, abandoned her plan to become a film-maker when she fell for the charms of the gondola after taking a trip on one through the city's famous waterways.

However, she was up against the 425 male members of the Italian Gondola Association, and the weight of history. Since the beginnings of gondoliering in 1094, there has never been a female, and foreigners are also frowned on.

Passing muster involves more than looking good in a striped shirt and a straw hat. After an 150-hour training course, there is a written test on the technical aspects of the boat, and a practical test.

In Frau Hai's case, the test involved steering with a single oar the 500lb, 35ft gondola about half a mile up and down the narrow Rio del Vin.

In spite of failing the test three times, she found a job with a hotel but was caught and fined £92 for illegal gondoliering by the city's authorities. Her employer, the hotel chain JM International, helped her win her appeal against the fine.

"It was a matter of principle," said Franco Martini, her employer. "The male gondoliers were not stingy with their insults and disgusting gestures."

However, Roberto Luppi, the president of the gondoliers' co-operative, was unrepentant.

"It is very important to be able to steer a gondola. That is why we have the exam," he said.

Who needs CNN, we have Arrow J. Honestly, I don't have a problem with a woman being a gondoleir, but I wouldn't want anybody driving me around who couldn't steer lol. Male or female, I don't want to be relaxing in Venice and all of a sudden I'm swimming around in all my clothes.

and let me tell you that water isn't exactly the carribean sea.....

Female gondolier! Do you how much it costs to take a gondola in Venice? Lots of money. With a singer, even more. Like the price of an airplane flight from here to Italy.

BTW do u know that the street walkers in Venice must learn how to swim?

Is she hot?