Valentine's Day is Friday, and while the holiday usually means gifts of flowers and candy, Morning Edition host Andrew Garcia and I have an alternative if you're looking to surprise your sweetheart with something different.
How about a romantic gondola ride? You don't have to go to Venice for an authentic Italian boat ride. As it turns out, you can take one from Gondola Adventures in Irving. The company has been giving couples romantic gondola cruises around Lake Carolyn in Las Colinas since 2002.
In the spirit of the holiday, Andrew and his wife Emily decided to give the gondola a test drive.
"It was a real hardship." joked Andrew. "But Emily and I took one for the team and for the sake of radio and romance."
Tom Young (also known as "Tom Cruise" out on the lake) was the gondolier for the excursion.
He got the two situated with blankets and bubbly for the ride and then pointed out the sites as the trip got underway.
"Lake Carolyn is a very popular wedding destination," said Tom. "They do a lot of weddings like over there where the lights are."
As we know, no gondola ride is complete without a singing gondolier and Andrew and Emily's ride was no exception. Tom is more of a punk rocker, and in fact, is in a Ramone's tribute band called The Original Sedated (Tom sings Joey Ramones part), but rather than punk, he instead serenaded the couple with a sweet country song by Ray Price called For the Good Times.
Tom said he found his gig as a gondolier on Craigslist.
"Well, I'm a musician and I was looking through the musicians slot, and there was nothing in there. And I went to the gig area, which I very rarely go to, and I saw they were looking for a singing gondolier," said Tom.
"So I sang a song and they said, 'You're hired.' That was about to be seven years now."
Singing aside, Tom says his favorite part of the job is the proposals.
"I love to see people in that happy time of their life and be a part of something that they're going to remember forever., said Tom. "I get to create that experience and be part of that. It's just it's wonderful."
Tom estimates that he's witnessed over a thousand proposals during his time as a gondolier and nearly all have been "yeses."
"In all the years I've been doing this, I've only had two nos. So the odds are pretty good when you're on this boat," said Tom.
"That's an awkward ride back to the dock if they say no." said Emily.
"That's one of those questions you got to know the answer to before you go," replied Andrew.
Besides the romantic music and lapping water, there are other surprises for the sweethearts on the cruise.
According to Italian legend, if a couple kisses at sunset under Venice's famous Bridge of Signs while drifting below on a gondola, they will enjoy eternal love. The Mandalay Canal features several bridges which offer couples the chance to test the tradition locally.
There's also Love Lock Bridge on the canal, named for all of the padlocks attached to it. The gondola stops at the bridge and lets couples get out to put a lock engraved with their names on the bridge .
As you can probably guess, Valentine's week is especially busy--they refer to it as their Super Bowl. But the good news for the procrastinators out there is there are usually spots open for cruises all the way up until Valentine's Day morning.
Check Gondola Adventures' website for details. You can find even more Valentine's Day events in the North Texas area at KERAnews.org/arts.
