We are both feeling exhausted–spiritually and emotionally hung over. It was quite a trip!
On the train home I had a wonderful, unforgettable conversation with the woman sitting across from us. She was 55, from Le Marche and very ordinary looking. (What Cecelia would call “state worker”) When we first got on the train Ken said to me “I’ll bet she didn’t go to the concert.” But she did. She’d been given the ticket by her daughter who lives in Trieste–a birthday gift. We both gushed about the show for a bit and then she told me she thinks Bruce stands for everything good about America. She went on to talk about how bleak things are here in Italy politically and economically. We both ended up crying, sharing tissues. It was “a moment.”
We got off the train, glad to be coming home to Venice, the city we love so much. Got into the apartment and tried to unpack–both of us disoriented and not functioning at our highest level. Finally we decided to get some coffee and a snack for lunch. Went to the Majer bar, right near us. Good coffee, good scene. I’m so into the tuna tremezzino (triangle sandwich on white bread)–it was a great little lunch. We walked back to the west from there and found a new (to us) area, near the Santa Maria Maggiore; I took a few pictures.


We helped out a young guy from Montreal. I had seen him looking at his map, on his little blackberry, right outside of our apartment when we left. Then he appeared out there in remote Venice–still looking at his tiny little map. We ended up walking him back to Santa Margherita. He needed to be near San Marco and wanted to just “get in a Taxi.” He was on his way to Ukraine to see Euro Cup soccer, spending the night in Venice. Ken said it was the most exciting thing that happened to us today!
That was until we found out there had been a tornado here. No, we didn’t notice it. We may have still been on the train??? The weather was really crazy all day though. One minute clear and blue and cool and breezy–then you would walk through a pocket of warm humidity. The skies got eerily dark in the evening while I was cooking dinner. I took this photo our of our kitchen window.

Went to bed early.
Tomorrow Missy and Mark and family arrive!