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Published: August 7th 2007
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I promise the rest of the entries won't be quite as manic.
As surprising as it may sound, life in Italy so far has been full of indecisions. Time to relax, but feeling restless. Working for years at the pace of a New York minute really gets your wheels wound up. So Amanda and I arrived here on July 4, and since then I've been a bit up and down just trying to get relaxed. My thought processes?
I brought a handful of books to read and have started, oh, nearly all of them but can't decide which to stick with. Or if I want to even read at all right now. Not sure if I want to stay up late or sleep all day and kick this jet lag. So I get up early, have due caffè and take a nap under the blazing Venetian sole. Not sure if I want to start the blog yet or even what to call it; if I want to detail for you every step of our journey which would include the 19 hours of travel where we drove from Philadelphia to JFK NYC, checked bags, flew to Heathrow, picked up our
bags, bussed to Gatwick (the other major London airport. Actually, it's like a mall with a few planes coming in and out), rechecked bags, flew a turbulent and death-defying flight to Venice landing in a hail storm and then driving another hour in "traffic" to Amanda's hometown of Concordia Sagittaria, etc (it took my sister less time to get to Africa two weeks ago), or if I should just dole out the highlights: drove, flew, landed, drove, flew, landed, drove, dinner Wednesday night of an antipasto plate of three different kinds of pig-- prosciutto crudo, speck & ossicolo-- and pizza quattro staggione, un mezza litro di vino alla spina (regional wine poured from a tap, yes, like a beer tap), un caffè, went to bed.
Thursday woke up at 7 am, due caffè and a couple of crumbly breakfast biscuits, cleaned the pool, walked through the mercato (the larger town just north, Portogruaro, has a weekly farmer's market each Thursday with everything from fruits, meats and spices to clothes, purses, and toys), went for a noon spritz aperol cocktail before everyone boarded up and rushed home for lunch, had a pasta lunch and a nap in the sun, met
one zia (aunt) of many zie (aunts), biked out for another cocktail, harassed by the town drug addict, ran into Amanda's cusina Roberta, had dinner at home of pollo, insalata mista, formaggio, vino, pepperonata, squash from the garden, another couple caffè, some melon from the market, entertained a visit from Lucio and Luciana (more cousins), in bed by midnight.
Forced myself Friday to sleep in until 8, due caffè, the train to Venezia, lunch at the Grand Canal Restaurant of risotto di pesce & vino bianco, un caffè, hours-long walk around Venice, due gelatti, ancora (another) caffè, a ride on the vaporetto (water bus) back to the train station, wine before dinner, dinner of leftovers, salsiccia (sausage), vino, ancora caffè, a couple of cookies and now bed, just after midnight, well deserved, on a Friday night.
Be sure to check out Amanda's blog, too.
http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Bugglette/
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Juan, o Giovanni
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Mangia, mangia
Eating well, drinking well, living, breathing in the italian life is good for the soul. Tough to decide what to do when everything is good :) I hope you get some writing in while you are there. Your first blog is good. I can't wait to see how they transform over the next three months. You'd be more italian than english soon enough. You and Amanda look real happy in these pix too. Keep soaking in the life, food and wine. Peace, Juan