http://www.boston.com/dailynews/210/world/Italians_make_history_by_cross:.shtml

Italians make history by crossing English Channel in a gondola

By Associated Press, 7/29/2001 11:54

LONDON (AP) Singing as they rowed, two 60-year-old Italians on Sunday completed the first known bid to cross the English Channel in a gondola.

Vittorio Orio and Enzo Liszka set off from Dover on the south coast of England at 6 a.m. A little over seven hours later, they arrived in Calais, 22 miles away.

''We both feel fine,'' Liszka said, adding that there had been heavy fog along the way.

''We sang lots of Venetian songs to keep us amused.''

The Dover coast guard service said it was the first gondola crossing it had heard of.

The men took on the challenge to raise money for people with diseases not covered by Italy's health service.

The Channel was the site of a second crossing bid Sunday, as Xhang Jian attempted to become the first Chinese man to swim the stretch of sea separating Britain and France.

-- Anonymous, July 30, 2001