Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

Saying goodbye

@brittarnhild

The last day has come. Tomorrow, after breakfast, I fly back home to Norway. I have left the very mice apartment in Venice, where I have stayed for a week, and am now back on Murano and Hotel Conterie for my last night.

Because of Bank Holiday, the nice weather and also today being a Saturday, there are really a lot of tourists here. But after many visits on the island, I know it well, and try most of the time to walk to places most tourists don´t find.

Last night I had invited Mauro and Barbara and their two girls for dinner. Irene, at 11, is getting quite good at understanding English now, and I had so much fun telling her, quite slowly, using simple words, about how I, Terje and Marta met Mauro the first time. Marta was only 10 then, a year younger than Irene is now, Irene was a baby, and Linda, the youngest of the girls was not born yet :-)

Retelling the tale makes me once more aware of what a blessing this first meeting was. And what it has meant for our two family. A lifelong friendship was made just because Terje was so busy reading a map when he walked with me and Marta, he bumped into a window,  inside we saw a man making glass animals, Marta wanted a squirrel.......and the rest is history. A fabulous history.

 

Lagre

Early morning at Rialto fish market

@brittarnhild

When I woke at 6.30 this morning I knew that the day had come. The day to make an old dream come true. The day to be at the Rialto fish- and vegetable market when it opened.

 

 I jumped into my clothes, ran down the 51 stairs from my apartment, walked through an empty city,

 

 and came to the market just in time.

 

Quite another side of Venice.

 No tourists, busy workmen.......and a few workwomen.

 Colours and shapes.

 

Smells and fishes I have never seen before.

 The fishmongers are artists, and very proud of their products.

 I worked around with my camera, trying to be invisible.

 Oh my! I am glad I woke early.

Lagre

Lagre

The island S. Francesco del Deserto

@brittarnhild

The boat trip in the laguna the other day, with Mauro and his family, had a very special purpose. Saint Frances plays a part in my project, and he visited Isola S. Francesco del Deserto in 1220.

 

 Before coming to Italy, as a preparation to the project I am working on, I had read a book about St. Francis written by a Norwegian woman. In the book she mentions that she spent some days out at Isola Deserto while writing the book. I found the address of the island monastry online, and wrote them an email, asking if I could come and stay for a night or two.

Unfortunately they said no, the monastery was only open to public during the regular opening hours. They also added that to get there I had to come by public boat from Burano.

I told Mauro about this, and he didn´t hesitate at all: "I´ll take you there. We can go in my boat and make it a family trip!"

So we did.
And had a most precious time together.

 

Lagre

Lagre

Lagre

Lagre

On a rainy day

@brittarnhild

Today has been a rainy day. Actually the first day with rain since I came to Italy three weeks ago. Since I am here to work on a special project, I didn´t mind the rain at all, it gave me a good opportunity for studies. There is some contruction work going on in the palazzio where I am staying though, and today was drilling day. Some time after lunch I couldn´t bear it any more. The noise was getting into my bones, making me crazy! So I decided to go out for a walk, and a vaporetta/waterbus drive. I paid a fortune for a one week´s card for the vaporettos, but as I walk almost everywhere, I have hardly used it so far.

Because of the rain, and since I should be out only for a short time, I did not bring my camera. Something I soon regretted. I could see good motifs everywhere.

After some time I remembered.......no big camera, but I still had my phone, and on the vaporetta I was standing dry under the roof.

Almost as dry as the vaporetta driver :-)

I was too late for the most colourful situations I observed. But tomorrow might be another rainy day, and when I get out I will NOT leave my camera at home.

Queen for a day

@brittarnhild

The last thing I did last night was to check the weather forecast. The first thing I did this morning was to check the weather forecast. You see, this man, the one in the photo above, yes, I am sure you know him, had promised me a day in the laguna, weather permitted!

Some time after breakfast I got a message where he, sure, he is Mauro, of course it is Mauro, told me that the weather was too unpredictable still, but when if I came over to their house for lunch, and then we would see.......

 

Good for me, good for all of us, the rain blew away and the sun made the day beautiful. And soon we were out in the boat, in search for island in the laguna to visit.

From then on I felt like a queen of the day.

I am back in my apartment now, head and heart filled with impressions, and an internet which is really too slow to let me share all I want to share.

But the essense of what I have to say is short, and contains ALL:
Mauro and Barbara, I love you both! Thank you for coming into mine, into our lives. Thank you for becoming our Italian family.

Lagre

Back to where I had my first real spaghetti vongole

@brittarnhild

I have been such a good student today, working hard on my project, so I decided to give myself a special treat for lunch, spaghetti vongole at Trattoria alla Scala. Many years ago Mauro took me to this restaurant to teach me about spaghetti vongole the real way. He presented me as a famous food writer, and we really had a feast, a lunch which lasted for several hours. Trattoria alla Scala can be a bit hard to find, but with Google Map as my helper, it turned out to be just a piece of cake. I put the nake into the map and was told I could walk there in 6 minutes. Which I did.

The spaghetti vongole was just as good as it was the first time I had it. The best vongole in Venice, except.......the one from Mauro´s kitchen. I recognised several of the people working there, among them the owner, and by using internet on my cell phone I could show them what I had written about the place back in 2009. The owner laughed, pointed to his stomach and said: my face is the same, my stomach has grown...a lot!"

As I sat there, thinking back to my first visit, and another one I had a few years later with my Austrian friend Dagmar, and then on all the wonderful visitas I have had in Venize, I decided the day was a perfect day to have dessert with my lunch. Some thing I never have, usually. And believe me, the strawberris with gelato tasted just as good as it looks.

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By the way, here is the post from June 2009:

 

Spaghetti vongole - the real way

 

I am back home in Norway, in my own house, my own garden, and I am unpacking. Unpacking memories. Which will take days, weeks, months, probably a whole life.

Terje met me at the airport around midnight last night, and on the drive back here we spoke about our weeks in Italy and my extra week in Austria, trying to choose favorite memories.

The list went on and on.

 

While making the list, Mauro's name came up again and again. His workshop, getting to see his new place which opens one of these days, trying to work with glass with the help of his steady hands, the boat trip with him........and again and again I told Terje about the lunch I had with Mauro one of my last days. When I was treated like a famous author and served spaghetti vongole (and alot of other things)

 

On our way to the lunch we walked through a wonderful maze of Venezia's calles and fondamentas, Mauro always pointed out  - this way, that way, straight ahead, ending up in Trattoria alla Scala in Corte Lucatello. I was introduced to the waitress, the chef Nicola and the owner Salvatore, and soon our feast started.

Only a lunch you might say. Well, for me it was a feats from start till end.

 

When Salvatore heard about my Norwegian spaghetti vongole adventures, he came into the restaurant himself with his special work table. Now I was to learn The Real Stuff:

 

 

No need of words. The photos tell the story.

Thank you Salvatore!

 

Second course - Rombo al forno con patate olive e pomodorini

We were shown the fresh fish before the chef started to prepare it, and when Nicola realised my interest in the cooking, he came out with one of his old cookbooks to teach me more about this laguna fish

 

 

 

For dessert: Sorbetto al limone

 

 

 

I needed a long siesta after this meal......

You find Trattoria alla Scala here.

 

A special thank to Nicola for the plate of dolces he offered us.

And how can I ever thank Mauro?????

Here is the link to Mauro's webpage.

 

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

and here is the restaurant´s website:
Trattoria alla Scala

 

 

I am back home in Norway, in my own house, my own garden, and I am unpacking. Unpacking memories. Which will take days, weeks, months, probably a whole life.

Terje met me at the airport around midnight last night, and on the drive back here we spoke about our weeks in Italy and my extra week in Austria, trying to choose favorite memories.

The list went on and on.

 

While making the list, Mauro's name came up again and again. His workshop, getting to see his new place which opens one of these days, trying to work with glass with the help of his steady hands, the boat trip with him........and again and again I told Terje about the lunch I had with Mauro one of my last days. When I was treated like a famous author and served spaghetti vongole (and alot of other things)

 

On our way to the lunch we walked through a wonderful maze of Venezia's calles and fondamentas, Mauro always pointed out  - this way, that way, straight ahead, ending up in Trattoria alla Scala in Corte Lucatello. I was introduced to the waitress, the chef Nicola and the owner Salvatore, and soon our feast started.

Only a lunch you might say. Well, for me it was a feats from start till end.

 

When Salvatore heard about my Norwegian spaghetti vongole adventures, he came into the restaurant himself with his special work table. Now I was to learn The Real Stuff:

 

 

No need of words. The photos tell the story.

Thank you Salvatore!

 

Second course - Rombo al forno con patate olive e pomodorini

We were shown the fresh fish before the chef started to prepare it, and when Nicola realised my interest in the cooking, he came out with one of his old cookbooks to teach me more about this laguna fish

 

 

 

For dessert: Sorbetto al limone

 

 

 

I needed a long siesta after this meal......

You find Trattoria alla Scala here.

 

A special thank to Nicola for the plate of dolces he offered us.

And how can I ever thank Mauro?????

Here is the link to Mauro's webpage.

 

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

and here is the restaurant´s website:
Trattoria alla Scala

 

A special blog post for a special woman

@brittarnhild

After blogging on blogspot for a few months from January 2005, I moved over to typepad in April that same year. This means that Britt-Arnhild´s House in the Woods is 12 years old :-)

One of the readers who has followed me almost from the wee beginning is Ardi.

Ardi lives in Seattle, USA, but this summer she is coming to Norway to stay in the real House in the Woods.

Ardi loves traveling, and over the years she has shared a lot of her travel information with me.

 The first time we took Marta to Venice, Ardi sent us one of those tiny little booklets which unfolds to a map.
The booklet is worned out a long time ago.

Ardi loves Venice,

and she loves clothlines.

This blogpost is for you Ardi.

And for all of you others :-)

Lagre

Glass beads at the antique market

@brittarnhild

Walking without a map is the best way to walk in Venice. It takes you away from the tourist crowds, you get lost again and again, but don´t despair, the island is not big, you will always find your way back again, to somewhere....... And while walking you might stumble into things and places and events you never knew about.

Like today, when I suddenly found myself at an antique market at Campo S. Maurizio.

I seldom buy anything at such markets, but today I could not resist the glass beads.

Probably not antique, they were too cheap for that, but some of them were very nice, and will be perfect om knitted wrist warmers.

 

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If you want to see more photos from my month in Italy, you can follow the other blogs I update for the moment:

Britt-Arnhild´s dagboksblader

maskerade (the blog about knitting)

Vandring gjennom året

and the special blog I am writing for the studies I am doing this week:

Pilegrimens diakonale fotspor

 

 

 

 

When God created Burano

@brittarnhild

When God created Burano he lost his crayon box.

He reached out to pick them up, but then he saw the beautiful way they were laid out.

People made the crayons their houses.

And in the afternoons the woman sat outside with their lacework.

We met two of them; Italia and Carmela.

Italia. What a perfect name for a woman.

We visited Burano yesterday afternoon.

This tiny little island crayon box in the Venetian laguna.

 

To go for a swim

@brittarnhild

The young boys of Murano fight the heath by diving from the bridges into the canals.

Terje and I took the vaporetto out to Lido and spent the day there.

 

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On Britt-Arnhild´s House in the Wood´s facebook page I have posted two live videos from Venice. Hopefully there will be more. Like the page and you will know when I post live.