Back to my soul place for a last visit before returning to Australia. It's a long walk to the hotel but it's a lovely old one and I have a beautiful old fashioned room with a bath. This is the time to be in Venice, it's cheap and quiet.
I have the obligatory Fritto Misto for lunch and wander through the empty back streets to where there's a few gondolas parked, waiting for the tourists. They ask me if I'd like a ride and I say: No, too expensive just for one. One of the men halved the price for me. I couldn't resist. I hadn't been on a gondola ride since I'd been with my late husband almost thirty years ago; I thought to myself that this was probably him arranging this cheap ride from the other side.
The gondolier was such a character, he sat me down, draped a blanket over my knees and then sat beside me, arm around me and got his friend to take a photo of us both. It reminded me of the chicken man in Morocco! He chatted with me as we slid through the canals. He loved his job, his son would follow him. There were only 400 licensed gondoliers in Venice, it's a prestigious job requiring 400 hours of training to be granted a licence, of which only three or four are issued each year. He breaks into song as we glide along, the winter light is magic, everything is in high definition, the colours reflected in the quiet back canals ripple and distort in the wintry light.
When I asked him at the end for a restaurant recommendation, he said the best food could be had at his place and then he winked. Ah, the Italians. As I walked home, the daughter rang and said: Do you remember what day it is? And I suddenly realised it was the anniversary of my husband's death eight years ago. It was definitely him organising it!
I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering, going back to the Libreria Acqua Alta and walking through the squares where only Italians hang out.
And then at 5.30, I end up down by the Grand Canal just in time for sunset. Unbelievably beautiful, the black shiny gondolas tracking out along the waterway, the soft pink and apricot hues, I sat on a step and absorbed it's fragile yet resilient beauty and then found a place for 2.50 euro Spritz!
Then back to a place I'd dined before and the waiter remembered me and gave me a free wine, another sign from the departed husband.
Next morning, I go to find a famous cafe and have their apple donuts that all the Italians seem to be having with a macchiato. Melt in the mouth good, crispy and caramelised on the outside. Wild asparagus soup for lunch, seafood risotto for dinner and then exhausted I walk back home, tomorrow I leave for Auronzo.
Auronzo was covered in snow upon arrival but the next day it's melted! I walk down to the lake to see big turquoise holes in the iced part, it is incredibly beautiful. The air crisp and still. I cook for the sister-in-law and we dine together and I watch her strange German soap operas and hang out. I'm so glad I did as little did I know that would be the last time I saw her.
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