It’s a small World. They say. And one thing always leads to another. Participating in a science conference in London lead me to Italy and Croatia last week. Or actually, the guy I met there did. Robin is a writer and he was interested in my story. So even though he’s from Denmark, he visited me in the Netherlands quickly and next thing I knew I got an invite for this trip…
“Let’s go on a holiday together”, said the perfect stranger. “Really?” “But I am a poor student and I do need to study”, I tried, not even convincing myself. In fact, I strongly feel I want to make most of life and so I love this kind of spontaneity. A week later we had booked flights to Venice. One from Copenhagen and one from Dusseldorf, where my dad dropped me off on the late Sunday morning of my autumn holiday. I met Robin again in Italy, where we had planned to hang around till Tuesday. Then we’d travel to Croatia, to stay in the house Robin owns, until Friday. So he had made this trip before and was the perfect guide too.
He showed me the lively city, on the Sunday evening, when we went looking for pizza (of course) and managed to find this nice little restaurant across the Ponte de Rialto. The locals live with the tourists, but if you walk around that extra corner, you’ll find the nicest places most tourists don’t. The Italian guys assumed Robin and I were a couple, but made sure I knew my smile was ‘bella’ anyway. Which did make me smile. We finished the evening with ice cream and enjoyed the view of Jupiter close to the bright Moon – also reflected in the water – when walking over these nice little bridges.
Venice is ‘bella’. Especially this time of year, I assume. It was sunny and nice, but not too hot (and knowing it was only 6 degrees back home, made it a whole different world too). If you know me a little, you probably know I love water and boats and in Venice roads are made of water and taxis and buses are boats! It’s brilliant: no traffic lights, rules or serious accidents and a beautiful sight. Needless to say, I loved it. On Monday we took it all in by taking the ‘busboat’ to the famous San Marco, where we found a Hard Rock Café with a view on lots of gondolas.
Robin had assured me there would be time for studying (and writing) and this place – with a free wireless connection and great acoustic – seemed the perfect café to do so. While the Sun seduced us, we displayed some willpower. Although my chapter’s subject was ‘the importance of water to life’, which was not only interesting, but also quite fitting considering our location. After a great lunch there and some more H and O molecules, we gave in and let the city take us to some more gorgeous sights.
That evening we found another small restaurant for pasta and salads, bought two great grasshoppers made of grass from this guy selling them on the street, and made plans to travel through Slovenia next morning.
One Comment
Beautiful Venice – what a magical city. It comes across as a nice and wonderous account of a happy adventure.