When Antonella, a reader of Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods, heard that I was going to Venice, she invited me to come and spend a week-end with her family in Bassano del Grappa, in the region of Veneto.
Antonella wanted to come in to Venice to pick me up, and we decided to meet outside the Santa Lucia railway station Saturday morning. Before meeting Antonella I had to say goodbye to Venice though. Not at all an easy task. The last night I slept with the window widely open, I wanted to hear the boats, I wanted to smell the water of the laguna. Then, when I was almost ready to leave the flat, Mauro sent me a message; "are you ready for the last cappuccino?" Mauro must have sensed my sadness of leaving my beloved city. "Are you crying now" he asked while we had coffee, talked and shared even more stories (he wrote down in my diary the recipe for a mascarpone cream to go with some special biscuits he gave me). I was not.....yet, but while finally on the vaporetto, filming with my small camera the ride from Murano........then I cried. Goodbyes are always so sad. Though in the middle of my tears I had to laugh. When Mauro walked me to the vaporetto stop we met some of his friends, Mauro greeted them and said, while dragging my heavy suitcase: "Goodbye friends, see you later. I am running away with a rich woman"
Murano had been so quiet, the vaporetto was almost empty. Then, arriving at the train station stop I met the crowd. It felt like meeting the whole world. It was May 1st and it looked like EVERYBODY was going to celebrate the day in La Serenissima. How would I be able to find Antonella in this crowd!
Standing there, right in front of the stairs, as I had said I would, I started to look around. Have you ever tried to find one person among three, four, five million others? I needn't have worried. Suddenly I saw the most beautiful red curls I've ever seen, the owner of the curls was apparently searching for someone, she turned around, a face just as beautiful as the curls spotted me and then we were both waving frantically. We had found each other in the middle of the millions.
I am in Bassano now, with Antonella, her husband Francesco and their two boys Leonardo and Gabriele. And if anyone could make it easier for me to leave Venice, well, these four are the right people.
As long as blogging will lead me to people like Antonella, I will keep on blogging for the rest of my life!