last marangona for a while

That midnight bell started tolling as I walked past the Teatro Goldoni.  Finished about the time I was by the monument in Campo Manin.  It was a beautiful, great day.  I didn’t get those crucial, last-minute gifts bought.  The ones I wanted to buy fresh and not a week ahead of time.  (So don’t expect any bussola or parmigiano reggiano from me.)  I did however have a marvelous, over-the-top meal of fish at Fondaco dei Pescatori.  Capilunghi (a revelation), the orologio (crudo, of course), a risotto, and then for good measure some tuna, also cruda (or practically so).  If I were a foodie, I could and would describe in loving detail all that edible goodness.

I walked home from Cannaregio.  Decided to skip the Piazza.  Decided to skip the Rialto.  Decided to skip the other random detours I considered.  No point really.  I took my usual, well-worn path. The path that used to lead home (in Campo S. Angelo), then past S. Stefano, over the Accademia bridge (pausing to note the scaffolding coming down off the Salute and the lone figures at the vap stop below), past where I got my photos taken for the Questura last October, over to the Zattere,  Then a short boat ride home to Palanca.  All I have to do now is take out the trash and bed down.

Luckily it’s not a terribly early start tomorrow.  I’m planning to take the 2 instead of the 42 — my gift to the locals who would not appreciate someone loaded with massive quantities of luggage getting on the little, fast boat.  Plus, to get to my bus I have to leave at 8:00 anyhow, so i’m not really saving any time with the quicker journey. And, hey, I get to see Tronchetto one last time.  Woohoo!

Oh, and lest I forget — I was party to a fabulous interview for the documentary on the voga I’m working on with Nan.  What a fabulous, compelling story it makes!  More later.  www.vogadoc.org.

The breeze has kicked up.  I hear it in the trees outside my window.  Winter is cold and dank here, and the Giudecca is the worst of the lot.  Perhaps I’m getting out while the getting’s good.  My ducks are more or less in a row.  Next stop, Chicago.  Much love to any and all who are reading.  xoxox

perfect, sunny day

What a gorgeous day it is!  Cloudless skies, cool breeze, full sun.  The sheets are drying out on the terrazza.  I’ve cleaned and mopped.  I’ve packed.  I’ve shipped a box.  (And realized, for the last time this trip, that no information found online regarding anything here is to be trusted without a call for confirmation.  The cheap way of sending books to the US?  Only possible from some post office near the airport.  If I’d gotten this far last week, perhaps I’d have done it.)

The light has changed so much in the last weeks.  The narrow alleys really accentuate the seasonal change of light.  The city is like a great celestial time piece.

Clean laundry put out to dry scents the entire calle.  That’s at least true here on the GIudecca, where the houses are mostly two stories and everything feels very small and close.

The campo near my grocery store was full of kids riding bikes overseen by some grandmas in chairs they’d pulled outside. The first time I tried to find the grocery I came through that campo –and thus from the back way.  The only obvious thing I saw was a shop front with three carrelli parked in front.  You never know, so I poked my head in.  Hairdressers.  Just around the corner is the Coop, with its big, bold signage.   Compare this to the Prix which is down the fondamenta near the Redentore, which has no outside signage, meaning it’s only visible when open.  I still wish I had a photo of that hairdressers with the carrelli out front.  It’s one of my favorite mental snapshots of this year.

packing

I’m packing.  It’s a state I’ve been in for about a week, but I’m now to the point of getting ALL the stuff in actual bags and making final decisions.  I have a little box to ship home.  Another bag of stuff to stow away for my inevitable, not-to-distant return (knock wood), and another bag of stuff to give away wholesale.  Not bad.
It’s a beautiful, sunny day — defying the prediction for heavy rain.  Hurrah!  Let’s hope for more of the same tomorrow.  As for Thursday, well, that’s too far in the future to consider.