Day Eight - I'm Walking on Sunshine

I promised myself that today was the day I would get up early so that I could taking some photos of   Piazza San Marco in the early morning light. I jumped out of bed a little behind schedule and with my hair still wet and no makeup covering my angry-red mosquito bitten face,  I headed to the square.

I decided to take two cameras since I only brought the zoom lens for my Nikon.  There must be something about having two cameras hanging around your neck that either make you look like a geek.. or a photographer, because people tried to stay out of the way of my shots.  Or, perhaps, it was my wet hair and scary red dotted pre-pubescent looking face that just plain scared them.

I loved the serenity of the piazza and the Grand Canal without the intrusion of the hordes of tourists. It was almost like having the whole place to myself.  The few people that were there were mostly photo enthusiasts and people with young children.  I love photographing people - especially young children and old people.

So I  walked around shooting little kids whose parents for some odd reason, wanted to take their own photos of their progeny playing with dirty, filthy pigeons.  Letting these sky rats cover one's body for fun   is beyond  my wildest comprehension - to say nothing of unsanitary.

I wandered all around the San Marco area was able to capture some nice shots ...especially of one of my favorite Venetian subjects ...gondoliers and their gondolas.

After a couple of hours I headed home and spotted the best gelato place in Venice.  It was open and even though it was 9:30 a.m. and I hadn't even had coffee yet, I treated myself to three scoops of the best gelato I have ever tasted.

 It reminded me of a poem that starts, "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple."   The old woman does all these outrageous things because she is old and still can.  Eating pre coffee gelato was me "wearing purple." As I posted on my Facebook page, "There are no rules when traveling".

I had 7 p.m. reservations at  a neighborhood restaurant that had been recommended by the apartment greeter. I found it interesting however, that the only tables that had reserved signs on them were for Italians, the rest of us were seated on a first- come- first- served basis.

I waited 20 minutes for the waiter to take my drink order.  He was too busy fawning over the table of cigarette smoking locals to pay me any heed. As first their  prosecco, and then two types of bottled water, and then dinner wines appeared, I started to worry they would have their entire meal while I was at the next table dying of thirst.

I finally ordered my 1/2 liter of prosecco,  bottled water, appetizer and entree all at one time to assure I would be able to both eat and drink.  Meanwhile a lovely woman who appeared to be in her 70's was seated at the table next to me.  When I heard her speaking to the waiter with an American accent, I said in my outside voice rather than inside my head, "Oh good, you speak English!"

Meredith lives in Newport Beach, CA and loves to travel. Since her husband's Parkinson's Disease is progressing at a rapid rate, he is no longer able to travel. As the solo caretaker she annually takes a 2 -3 week traveling vacation as a caretaking  respite and for some much needed "me time".

At 72,  Meredith is fascinating and has traveled everywhere.  She had just spent three days hiking in the Dolomites, and was headed to Barcelona to join a Rick Steves tour and continue onto Madrid.  She encouraged me to go to South America especially Buenos Aires,  Argentina which she said was just like Europe, but, cheaper. She regaled me with stories of her three husbands and said she was looking to take a lover on this trip (she had her eye on an OB-GYN on her hiking trip but, feared he might be gay) Her pragmatic husband told her to go and have  good time but, made her promise not to fall in love.  Now THIS is a woman who is wearing purple!

I spent several delightful hours drinking wine and chatting with this intriguing woman who suggested that I never marry again but, just take a string of lovers.  She said, "You are a beautiful woman and there must be plenty of Italian men here that you could take as a lover. You just need to look and look for younger ones too!"

All too soon, it was time for us to leave. She to do some last minute nighttime sightseeing and me to look for a lover... one that was extremely drawn to large red mosquito welts.  Feeling euphoric I hummed the song "Walking on Sunshine" as I slowly walked home, looking everywhere for my lover... but,sadly... I did not find him.