"About two miles," answered her father. "We are going to the City in the Sea."
"Oh, I know now!" cried Molly. "We are going to Venice! We are going to Venice, May! That is the wonderful surprise. We are almost there. I can see some of the houses now."
A few moments later their train was pulling into a busy covered station and everybody was getting off, for no one goes beyond Venice by train. A porter took their bags, and the Sunbonnet Babies thought he would show them where to find a carriage or a taxi to take them to their hotel. But no, he led them to a long line of small black boats which were drawn up to the station platform.
"O father! Are these boats gondolas?" asked Molly excitedly. "And is this one of the water streets you have told us about?"
"Yes," said her father, "and this man is going to take us to our hotel in his gondola. So jump in!"
When they were all seated, an old man standing on the platform gave their gondola a push with his long pole and they were off.
The gondolier stood in the back of his graceful boat and paddled it lightly forward with one long oar.
Out into the sunset glow of the broad canal they slipped quietly. The soft colors of the setting sun, caught and reflected by the shining water, made a picture more beautiful than they had seen in any art gallery in Italy.
They glided around corners and through narrow canals