WOW. I've never seen anything like it. People EVERYWHERE. The streets were literally a problem to get through without police directing the way. First of all, I was super excited to see my good girlfriend from home. Learning a lot about friendships here.
Lesson number one: friends come in seasons. Friendship needs to come naturally...just like mine and Joanna's did!
Joanna is a girl I met in Venice. But let me back track real quick. I was basically with a group of girls that didn't want to explore EVERY inch of Venice like I did...every church, home and museum there is to see, that's my idea of traveling. I wanted to feel Venetian by the end of the weekend! And there's no stopping me when I've got an idea of how things are going to go in my head...my life is turning into something more and more like a movie these days. I basically ditched the girls...I know, I know, it's my good friend, but we've grown apart. It's nobody's fault, it's just a part of life.
So! Where was I?! Oh yes. JO!!! Sweetest girl I have ever met. After I went off on my own to see my beloved museums and churches, I walked into Chiesa San Vidal and was just in awe of the architecture. It always gets you when you think of how someone did that piece of art hundreds of years ago...each brush stroke, each sculpture's form..makes you realize human hands are capable of amazing things. Well, now that I was off on my own, I wanted to ask this girl selling souvenirs about what to do in Venice...what her recommendations are, ya know? She was young, she'd know all the cool spots to make me jizz my artsy fartsy PANTS! Immediately it was like we knew each other forever. So trippy. She's had the most amazing life...from living in Italy, to Washington, D.C., to Egypt, to God knows where. I told her my dilemma with my friends and she just said, "hey...you know what you need? A concert! There's one here tonight - classical music. It's actually supposed to be really good! Fifth best violincelloist. Come!" And all I was thinking is that these things are expensive so I said, "Yeah that'd be wonderful but how much?" She just goes, "It's on me!" My heart dropped. I WAS SO HAPPY. I gave her the biggest hug and quickly hurried home to freshen up then show up for this concert.
Now, on these weekend trips, I pack extremely lightly and basically only have one outfit for the weekend. I was SO out of place mingling with these sophisticated Venetians in their Armani and Dolce and Gabana characters. I was sitting next to this ER doc from Spain for God sakes. All I knew was that we were listening to a rendition of Vivaldi and Vivaldi was from Venice. Interpreti Venezia was the name of the group playing...and gosh, thank goodness music is a universal language. I was in an absolute trance. I couldn't believe I was at this at this beautiful concert in this beautiful church with this awesome new friend in Venice, all the way across the world, doing just fine...happy as a clam actually!
Afterwards, Jo asked me, "You happy G?" and I just gave her another huge hug with the corniest smile. I was speechless. She said tomorrow she needed to walk around all of Venice actually to put up posters in hotels advertising this group and she said that, you know, I should just come along, because I'd see all of Venice...even the parts tourists don't go. That's when I jizzed. THAT'S THE SHIT I LOVE. Forget being a tourist. I want to see the REAL DEAL. Tourism is the farthest thing from it. Jo had me at "all of Venice" though. I woke up in the morning at the buttcrack of dawn which I NEVER do, packed my bag, said bye to the girls and went on my randevu with this girl! It was so cute. We were so chill with each other and laughed the whole way, writing our names everywhere in sharpie. I got pooped on and just laughed. On other occassions I'm sure I would have cried, but how can someone cry when they're in Venice? Just gotta laugh at yourself! We would walk into the hotels and tell the concierge what happened and they would just crack up too. We were like a theatrical act walking into these places. The dynamic duo! Well, afterwards we went to Piazza San Marco to see the main festivities. I knew my train was leaving soon so we split ways. I walked around by myself a little...stole 3 postcards, shhh. They were over-priced anyways! I went to this area where nobody was. It was really beautiful. People's laundry hanging from apartment to apartment and the canals underneath. Ugh...you should have seen it. Oh! I forgot to tell you about the sweet gelato man that deserves mention in this blog. He was so funny..his son worked with him and he told us where all the cool places are and gave me directions. I don't want to forget him! Such a great person!
I'm supposed to go back to Venice when it gets hotter to go on her boyfriend's boat to all the islands. God really takes care of me. That is exactly what I want in life - that's it, in fact. Being in good places in good company.
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