More simple pleasures....

Yesterday, despite the high temperatures - 87 F that felt like 101- I experienced not  one, but three, simple pleasures, I couldn't wait to share here.  

First, I managed to eat lunch at one of my favorite little osteria's near the Rialto.  Just a wonderful serendipitous moment where I happened to be at the right place at the right time.  I love how the planets align for me like that- on occassion.  My lasagna con pesce (with fish) was divine- but the icing on the cake was the kiss on both cheeks I received from the owner as I was about to leave, followed by his cheery "Ciao, Amore!".  

Why was this so great?  I just felt like I had somehow slipped - finally- under that imaginary barrier. This man extending his salutation to me without solitiation on my part made me feel accepted, no longer the stranger, the outsider.  This is special.

Later in the day, I stopped for a cold drink at Imagina, one of our local caffe's in Campo Santa Margherita. While sitting outside sipping my Coca-light, I read the local paper, Il Gazzettino. There was a whole page article on recent happenings in the campo, a topic we've been following as it unfolds over the last week or so. There have been some recent changes in regulations regarding hours of operation for certain shops- the pizza shop, gelateria and kebob place have to be closed by 11 each night.  The problem is all the noise and trash in the campo made by the late-night party-ers.  But- the local beer joints can stay open.  Hardly seems fair to me that the gelato guy can't continue to be open, and is loosing some good business.  His customers aren't the ones drinking and being loud.  Also, the local police have been cracking down on the establishments in the campo about their outside tables.  The businesses need special licenses to have tables outside. Apparently they have applied to the city for the permits, but they have not yet been approved.  In the meantime, the tables have been put in the campo.  And the police are out assessing fines for this infraction- lots of them.  The bigger problem is that without the tables outside during warm weather, these new little establishments will be out of business in a month.  

Well, anyway, the article in the newspaper interested me, so I struggled through translating it.  I had a question about whether this situation impacted Imagina, where I was at the moment.  Stefano, one of the barista's, and I got into a great conversation about the article, and this whole predicament in Campo Santa Margherita.  The whole conversation was conducted in Italian!!!!   Simple pleasure  Numero Due (number 2)!!!  

And, last but not least- Simple pleasure #3.  Last night I took a few minutes to check out a fellow blogger's blog.  The day before, I spent a few hours with a family from New Zealand, showing them around some of my favorite spots in Venice. Their 9 year old son, Joseph, is writing a blog about his travels as a homework assignment. They are on a big trip, visiting several countries.  Somewhere during our time together the day before, Joseph mentioned they were planning a gondola ride the next morning. I suggested  he ask the gondolier if he could  try rowing. Sometimes, depending on the gondolier, they just might let you.  I can't help sharing this photo from Joseph's blog.  What do you think, did Joseph enjoy Venice yesterday???

Reading Joseph's blog was the perfect ending for my day. Grazie, Joseph!  You definitely made my day!

Simple pleasures

Here's my simple pleasure from yesterday. I'm smiling about it today still!

After having my ususal cup of tea at Imagina Caffe in Campo Santa Margherita, I made my way to the counter to pay the bill. Standing next to me, also waiting to pay up,was one of the neighborhoods more colorful characters, a fairly well known elderly artist, a Venetian gentleman who must be in his late 70's or early 80s.  I see him frequently here, and in the past we've always exchanged hellos.

Yesterday,  he said hello to me in English, I answered him back in Italian.
Also in English, he asked me how I was.  I said fine, and in turn asked him how he was.
He answers back, in English "Now that I've seen you, better".
I just laughed, and said, "You know, in America, we would say that was quite a line! "
He smiled back, and answered, "Illusion is everything. We need it, don't you agree?"
"Absolutely", I smiled back.
With that, he said, " See you later, baby", and went off on his way.

Domenico, behind the counter, overheard the conversation.  I commented to Domenico that this is one smooth character ! Domenico grinned, and replied, "That's how that old man is always with some young woman!"

I'm still grinning over hearing "See you later, baby" out of the mouth of this old Italian man. Gotta love it.

The blog I promised last nite

Last nite, neither one of us felt like cooking, and we had pretty much exhausted left overs, so we ventured out to one of our favorite places for a little bit to eat around 8:30 pm.





We love this little spot, and we feel like locals when we're here. There's nothing better than walking in and hearing a "Ciao!" from behind the bar directed at us. As usual, our platter of meats, cheeses, assorted vegetables and olives was perfect.



After the meal, we strolled across the campo to one of our other favorites, Imagina Caffe to say hello to the boys there. Last night, Marco and Andrea were the only ones working. Before the holidays, Andrea and I had a conversation about one of the bottles on the shelf above the bar, something that was a bright blue. It was blue curacao. I said I'd never tasted it, and he promised to make me a drink next time I wanted it. I'm not a big drinker at all. In fact, you probably would put me in the category of non-drinker, that's how many times I ever have a drink. And Andreas, as well as all the boys at Imagina, know this well. They bring me my tea every day, exactly the way I like it.



Last night I was feeling a bit adventurous, the night was young, so I asked Andreas to make that drink he promised with the blue stuff. Immediately he and Marco got huge smiles on their faces. They decided to make me something called a Blue Lagoon. Oh yeah, they know I am the tea drinker! And then the fun began. The two of them were like an operating team. Marco would say something to Andrea, then we'd see Andrea reach for a bottle and hand it off to Marco. Then another, then we heard "Ice" (in Italian, of course), and watched Andrea hand over a glass of ice. Then " Limone". Mike and I were laughing our heads off, joking that they probably had to go find a recipe book from the back room for this. What a team they were!! Next came the shaking, ala Tom Cruise in Cocktail! And finally, voila, there is Marco pouring out this lovely blue drink. He brings it over on a tray, and just smiles his big smile. Andrea, behind the counter, yells over " Forte!". I understood.. it was a strong drink. Ha, for the tea drinker!


Surprisingly, the drink was good. There's not a whole lot of drinks I can actually get down, but this one was good. I had such a good time watching the drink making process, I told the boys I was going to blog about them the next day, and that led to a conversation about the word blog in Italian. Was it a verb and a noun? In English, we would say, he blogs, meaning he writes in his blog. If it's used as a verb in Italian, how is that conjugated? Io blogo, tu blogi, lui/lei bloge, noi blogiamo...... You can see where this conversation was going! And you can tell we are REALLY trying to learn Italian! Andrea informed us that it is not used as a verb, instead you would say Io scrivo sul blog... I write in the blog. As promised, Io scrivo.


And my blog today would be remiss without this photo of the boys of Imagina Caffe, unfortunately minus Stefano. Marco's on the left, Andreas on the right, Domenico in the middle. Should you ever find yourself in Venice, I highly recommend you visit these guys in Dorsoduro, on Rio Canal.


Thanks, Andreas and Marco, I did not have a headache this morning either! Io scrivo.