And below is even further evidence of it- Farmacia Morelli in Campo San Bartolmeo keeps this digital display in the front window, constantly updating the number of full time residents in the city, along with a document posting the number from years prior. You can see in 1971, we had 108,426. Today the number is 58, 990, the lowest ever.
An update on my broken living room window situation: our landlord paid us a visit late last week to inspect the damage. He told us he would arrange for Daniele, the handyman, to arrive on Tuesday. He also informed us we should always remember to make sure the shutters are closed firmly two times during the year- on New Years and during Carnevale. Duly noted.
Daniele arrived as scheduled at 9:30 am on Tuesday. We were expecting the worst, as we have lots of experience replacing window panes at our Baltimore house. It used to take us hours to get one of those windows out, dig out the broken pane, take it down to Home Depot to have a new glass cut, then re-install the thing with glazing points and glaze. Several hours work for just one pane. Based on our experiences here, we thought this could be a multiple day operation, maybe even longer. Boy, were we surprised!
Daniele slipped the window off it's hinge- didn't even need a screwdriver. He took the entire window with him, and told us he was going to Vito for glass and would come back. He didn't say WHEN. We figured a few days, maybe a week. 15 minutes later, Daniele was at the door with the new glass installed in the window frame. He came in, slipped the window back onto the hinge and was gone. 25 minutes tops. Holy cow!
A little blog news: I get a significant amount of email requests asking me to blog more often, and to write more about everyday events in my life. My goal for 2012 is to write more. I'm asking for some input from you all - please tell me if there is anything in particular you would like me to write about. Keep posting comments and giving me feedback!!!
One last thing- I am so blessed to have each of you along with me! Grazie, tutti!
18 comments:
Well Karen, I would expect that from the place that invented glass, :-D
Hi, my New Years resolution was to write and complete a book so I was super suprised when I found your blog because my main character goes to Venice for a year and I have no clue what goes on there. So the idea o what goes on in your everydy life sounds fantastic. This is my first book ever, I just thought I would give it a go.
Dear Karen:
You mentioned going to Sacca Fisola, presumably to the market that takes place on Friday mornings: you will see that most of the market stands arrive by truck at the back of the island, offload and then transform into sales stands. Fascinating. I particularly liked the seller of dried fruits, nuts, etc.
Your life is truly enviable and I am not alone in saying we look forward to lots more entries about everyday life in the city of your dreams.
Jane
PS if you and Mike were not there, the population would be 58,988.
I just found your blog! This is interesting. I was born in Friuli and left at the age of 5. It brings back early childhood memories. :)
Karen,
Blog when you want, about whatever you want. Don't let the blog dictate your life or you'll come to resent it (and us).
As long as you blog slightly more often than Mike I'll be happy ;-)
Rob
Rob- Grazie!!! LOL!
I'm so happy I found your blog. I love Venice! I dream each day of returning in the near future. As long as you blog - I'll be happy!
Hi Karen
Keep your posts coming! Love the every day "stuff". Would love to share some photos with you as seen through my eyes/camera lens. How can I do that? Is there a way to attach them to my comment? Let me know :-)
I think have almost the same photo as yours of the coverered vegi boat. I took it during my trip in September.
Restaurant to try: "ristoro fantasia" located in zona arsenale or castello. The owners: Giovanni and Renza. They have a daughter and two sons. They are such warm welcoming people. If you go see if Giovanni remembers Marisa and Martino from America. Or you could say Marisa who makes spaghetti con aragosto. We tried sending him fresh lobsters from New England but we could only send frozen tails. We did not want to do this. I've been meaning to write to him and will get to it. But if you stop by you could tell him I said ciao. The food is really delicious. We ate there both nights that we were in Venice. You should try their pizza or seafood. Buonissimo!
Glad you got your window fixed so quickly! Incedibile! Not your typical fix-it story in Italia.
A presto
Marisa
Hi Karen
Keep your posts coming! Love the every day "stuff". Would love to share some photos with you as seen through my eyes/camera lens. How can I do that? Is there a way to attach them to my comment? Let me know :-)
I think have almost the same photo as yours of the coverered vegi boat. I took it during my trip in September.
Restaurant to try: "ristoro fantasia" located in zona arsenale or castello. The owners: Giovanni and Renza. They have a daughter and two sons. They are such warm welcoming people. If you go see if Giovanni remembers Marisa and Martino from America. Or you could say Marisa who makes spaghetti con aragosto. We tried sending him fresh lobsters from New England but we could only send frozen tails. We did not want to do this. I've been meaning to write to him and will get to it. But if you stop by you could tell him I said ciao. The food is really delicious. We ate there both nights that we were in Venice. You should try their pizza or seafood. Buonissimo!
Glad you got your window fixed so quickly! Incedibile! Not your typical fix-it story in Italia.
A presto
Marisa
Yes, please...whatever you like, whenever you like and more than slightly more often than Mike.;-)
I've read about Venice through Wikipedia, but I prefer to learn about the place (that I love too) the way you write - via personal experiences.
In other words, keep up the good work :)
Will
PS. as an anarcho-capitalist who is moving in 2012 to that other famous historical city-state, Hong Kong, I noticed that you don't have ads on your blog. I know from personal experiences that income from ads is another great motivator (the other is passion!) to keep blogging.
lKaren - I've read a lot of your old posts, and I love your positive spirit. You made a choice and you made it work. It's commendable. You were prepared to downsize your life, and that alone is a difficult thing to do.
I love to read about your everyday life. Your observations and reflections are so insightful about your chose path.
Just keep blogging and let your mind pour out. Nothing is trivial.
I,too, love reading your blog. I was in Venice a couple of years ago and loved it! Thanks so much for writing and sharing your pictures.
Ann from Kentucky
Grazie, Ann! Thanks for taking time to leave a message for me!! I'll hope to see you again :)
Karen, I am a Chicagoan looking to spend more time in Venezia, maybe a month or more per year. How do you deal with the health insurance challenges? A dull topic, to be sure, but one I have to confront. Perhaps you have citizenship or employment there and don`t have to deal with it. But I know that, technically, stanieri in Italy, staying more than 10 days (or is it 8 days) are required to have some private health insurance coverage. Perhaps this is widely ignored. Any thoughts? E Le ringrazio molto per il suo blog eccezionale.
Ciao, Nonno J! Thanks so much for your message. When we used to travel here for a month at a time, we just relied on our normal health insurance.I think that would also depend on what kind of coverage you had in the US. Fortunately we never had any incident where we needed to use it. I know if you are here longer than 90 days, yes, you must buy private health insurance and have proof of that when you get your visa. For stays less than 90 days you don't need a special visa, your passport allows a stay of 90 days. I am a dual citizen, so we are covered under the national health system.
If you are here longer than 8 days you must register with the police and file for a Permesso di soggiorno. This is critical, you must do this. This is different than the health insurance.
I really enjoy your blog and particularly since we are visiting Venice for two weeks in March. We thought Venice might be more like California in climate so the recent cold caught us by surprise. We hope to enjoy the experience of living in Venice if even for two weeks more like a resident than a tourist. Your blog gives that feeling. If you are inspired you might share what you enjoy about Venice in the Winter to help us with the experience.
Ciao, Ralph! Lucky you, two weeks in Venice!!! Unfortunately, we don't get California temperatures until July! March will still be chilly, but hopefully not as cold as this week. This is unusually cold!!! Normally winter is more wet, high tides and fog, but this winter we have had only one day of Aqua Alta! What I love about Venice in the winter time is quiet- very few tourists, which is quite a contrast to the number that will be here starting right before Easter. So the streets are emptier, the vaporettos are not packed with tourists.
If you want to feel less like a tourist, I recommend you spend time in the more remote areas of the city, and also shop at the little vendors who sell fruits, vegetables, fish etc. Spend time in the cafes in the campos and observe the locals.
I hope you have a wonderful 2 weeks!!!
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