A Human City

As he turned the corner he took me by surprise. I was startled, we came very close to running into each other, both of us stopping, we looked squarely into the eyes of the other deep as if looking into a vortex of time. He was smiling, a private joke reflected also in his eyes; unshaven barely a bristle of hair on his head he wore a stocking cap slightly cocked to one side it appeared close to falling off. He wore the striped shirt of the Gondolier blue and white, blue pants rolled up to his knees his sandals were old and worn to the point that you could imagine he had not removed them since the day he first placed them upon his feet. Tipping his hat he laughed and we parted. He continued on but within seconds as he had moved less than ten feet from me I heard him say Boo to two young girls who passed by him. This made me think he was drunk. Curious I decided to follow him for a short while. Soon It was clear that he was not drunk just a simple clown of a man walking through the streets amusing himself playing with the people he meets, clowning for the children, surprising pretty young girls as they stare at him; Boo! A simple man clowning with the world bringing to the streets his own piece of life contributing to ours in quite delightful way. This is a human city. Walking through Campo S. Polo rushing home as I was making preparations for a dinner party I had planned to gather my new Venetian friends to say thank you for their generosity warmth and for welcoming me into their lives. I had pictures to print wine to buy a Venetian albeit temporally I was busy in life. Nello and crew the local street musicians greeted me as I was passing, as I waved to them too hurried to stop and chat they approached me with intention; recognizing this I stop.
They had remembered the date of my departure and requested the opportunity to once again play for me. I explained that this evening I was entertaining friends at Taverna del Campiello Remer. They asked me what time they could come and play for us. We decided on 9:00 this turned out to be a perfect time as all the guest 25 in all had arrived and most of us were outside chatting with our cocktails when Nello and crew arrived once again delighting us all with their charm and music. This is a human town.
The dinner was of the best nights of my life. I had invited 26 people 25 showed up one had to go to the dentist for an emergency. The guest list was a mix of people I had met though Ciccio and Crew and people I had developed relationships with on my own just being in life, the interesting thing was that even though all the guest list was not from the same crew many of them knew somebody at the party if not all. Marlow from the Internet café dressed as a movie star matching his classic handsome Italian style had known Isacco since childhood and the two of them had not seen each other in years; this is only one example of the connection of the evening. Enrico brought his Clarinet being the quintessential musician he played along with BJ the resident musician, many sang along with classics in both Italian and English. A night to remember indeed as you can imagine we closed the place down and stood gathered outside the front door for one more smoke and laugh none of us wanting the evening to end. This is a human town. Last night I attended the birthday celebration of my dear friend Rosanna, gathering outside of her home away from home in a Campo near Rialto we shared food and wine and talked of the world. We discussed how different Venice is from other places and why it is different and Martina a multi generation Venetian who has been fortunate to have done a considerable amount of traveling I think said it best, Venice is still a human city.
The discussion of which went on for an hour or so, regardless I agree. People in Venice are in intimate relationship with each other as well as the city. They do not have to make appointments to see their friends, most of the family units are still connected they meet on the streets and in the cafes they speak of things that matter and the share their hearts. I love Venice it is still a human town, and for this my heart aches.
I leave tomorrow and as those of you who know me well know that I have yet to pack and I must post this last post from Venice (For now) not for any other reason than I must
Say ciao to Marlow and then I must stop by Postali and hug the crew until next time. And I must walk the streets of Venice filling my heart with as much as I can hold until I return to my new adopted home; Venice. To all of my friends…. do you know how much I love you? Until the end of time.