Love Venice.
Hate pigeons.
Love Murano (small island off of Venice).
Hate the weather in early March.
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What can I say about this trip? We had been planning it for two months and it finally arrived. There had been several times when I didn't think I was going to go...and, in the end, sticking through the rough spots paid off.
It was everything that I had hoped for. Romantic, poignant, loads of fun, and not that expensive. And it really reaffirmed to me how easy it is to get along with Davide. But, again, like everything between us...it feels bittersweet. Because I know some day that will come sooner than I want, I will leave. And I'll be heartbroken.
So, Davide and I got up at 4am to catch a train to the airport for our 7am flight. We rode the train, and checked in at the airport. I have to say, it felt like the most normal, natural thing in the world to be traveling with him. In my little heart I felt like us traveling together as a couple, being able to fuss over each other, made so much sense. Something small like that seems so RIGHT.
We arrived in Venice on time, where the baggage trolley was like a roulette wheel. Davide was so interested in this that he forgot we were actually supposed to be getting our baggage...and so I ended up having to drag luggage around while he called his parents to tell them we had arrived the how cool the trolley was. Good grief. :)
Our host, Tomasso, who I had been speaking to on a regular basic via IM, came and met us. We drove through the mainland, and arrived at the house. Since Davide and I had only gotten a couple hours of sleep the night before, we crashed out and took a nap. In the afternoon, we decided to head to the island but the weather was so terrible--cold to the bone, howling wind, and sideways sleet rain--that it was basically too much just to get to the island, walk the 50 meters to the grocery market and hurry back to the bus. So...first day was spent inside. See me freezing and miserable outside in Venice:
We had a relaxed evening at home and managed to get to bed early. The next morning we headed out mid-morning to explore the island of Venice with some sunshine. What a great place. We wandered, and found little corners, unexpected places, saw a wedding, ate sandwiches, found Saint Mark's Piazza, went inside the cathedral, and generally did the tourist thing. Although I have to say I was really grossed out by the pigeons, which Davide thought they were pretty great.
I say a Sicilian word in this video for the Pigeons: Fa schifo. This means: totally disgusting (in this sense).
I think really, the pictures are more valuable here than anything else.
So, as the sun set and the cold came back, we headed back towards the mainland. I'm lucky to have inherited a great sense of direction from my father, and so I managed to navigate us back through the maze that is the group of islands of Venice and only stopping to look at the map once (which I didn't need to do, but wanted to be sure).
We met up with Tomasso and friends for an aperitivo at a place where you buy a drink, they ring a bell, and enough free food comes out to serve as dinner. We made it back to the house and I did something that I will never forget after walking around all day in the FREEZING cold....I took a very hot, very long bubble bath. Ohhhh, heaven. Simple pleasures.
The next day we went to Murano, a small island off of the main part of Venice, which is where they make the famous Murano glass. I bought a few things for friends and family. I just loved this little island. It was very quaint, and intimate, and it felt like somewhere I could live. Old men played cards in one of the bars, and the pace of life was slower than on Venice. The canals were straighter, and legend has it that the wives of fisherman would paint their houses a different color so their husbands could find their way home after a long trip, or a long night of drinking. Works for me!
Despite the horrific wind, I thought this day with Davide was one of the best in memory. We cuddled, and laughed, and explored. We managed to not freeze to death, and we rode the boat back, stopping randomly for an espresso and some chocolate.
THIS VIDEO IS ON MURANO....you can hear how LOUD the wind is! And Davide thought it was a great idea to stand on the wet rocks, in the wind, while carrying the delicate glass things we had. Silly men.... :)
That night we went to the Casino.
We watched a performance by a guy called Pupo. He is a famous Italian comic/singer who does a melee of a show...with a crazy demonic dwarf inner voice, a sappy romantic, an arrogant bastard, and a gambling addict. It was, uh, different. Honestly, I didn't understand a lot of it though. It went to fast and was too strange for me to follow completely. I mostly hung out in a lounge while the boys played. Tomasso came and found me, while Davide lost 50 Euro quickly. We had a Bellini downstairs, and on a whim on the way out (because I HATE gambling), I decided to just try one of the video machines which has sparked that little voice inside that I have learned to listen to. So, Tomasso provided 5 Euro, (even though I only wanted to play 1)...and I just started pushing random buttons. The entire time I was saying things like: this is the stupidest thing in the entire world, why does anybody enjoy this dumb gambling thins...and BING BING BING BING!!!!!!!! Congratulations, you just won the maximum amount!!!!!
I won 53 Euro. Gave Tomasso 1/2 plus his 5, which he then gave to Davide so everybody walked away a winner.
We were leaving but I decided I needed to use the restroom...and so I made us miss one boat. As we were getting the next boat to go back to the mainland, a group of older, very elegantly dressed Italians got on the same private boat as us. Turns out, it was the owner of the Casino, his wife, and their associates. I was completely fascinated with the wife, because her face and bone structure was so similar to mine--but she was in her 50's or 60's. She had the most beautiful fur coat...and I was having a moment where I realized that how she looked and her social status is something that I can have in 40 years. It just WORKS.
So, the boys decided that I officially have the best luck--winning the money and then getting us in the same boat as the owner of the Casino (who is jolly and fat like Santa Clause). Good fun.
Unfortunately, that was my last night in Venice. The next morning, Davide took me to the airport to return to Palermo. He would go on to Slovenia for his birthday. When we had originally booked the trip, I had to work, so I couldn't continue the trip there with him. So, I lived for the next five days with heartache, and then Davide came home (I surprised him by meeting him at the airport).
And that, my friends, basically concludes the Venice trip. So, wind, romance, luck, and so on. That's just how the breezes of life blow.....
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