Thursday, April 13, 2017

lay it all on me

Venice and my foreign travels are rapidly drawing to a close - it's odd to think that I'll be back in the US in two days, since I've spent thirteen weeks away. But I'm too high on life, drunk on Venice, and in love with the last few weeks to think about the future.

Today was utterly exhausting and utterly excellent. I woke up after getting the first full night's rest in a week, and I could have happily stayed in bed another couple of hours, but I ralled and dragged myself downstairs for this morning's writing workshop. It was all about memory and taboo subjects, which hits at some of the core of what I want to write (and what I have been avoiding writing forever). At the end we tore our exercises up into tiny pieces in the courtyard of the ancient monastery where we're holding our workshop, and it was all v. cathartic.

Then I had a break, and I used it to have a simple lunch of roasted chicken, potatoes, and wine (half a bottle of it) in the Venetian sun while scribbling in my journal. Then, we took a v. long trip to Burano and Murano - this was all kind of a killer, since it was an hour and a half each way to Burano, and while Murano was on the way back, we waited forty minutes for the boat in Burano. So, I didn't really see the glass blowing or the glassworks of Murano. But Burano was gorgeous - such beautiful colors on the buildings, and lots of lace (their traditional specialty).

I spent most of the afternoon/evening hanging out with Veronica and her family + Lisa, and we had a great time - after we finally got back from the other islands, we v. quickly grabbed jackets and went to the dinner Adam had reserved for us. We went back to the neighborhood we went to last night, and the meal was perfect - just different enough in terms of style to feel satisfying, but the food was gorgeous and decadent and wonderful. We split a couple of bottles of wine, and I courted disaster with gluten again by having spaghetti carbonara - if I was going to court disaster, I'm glad it was with this dish, since it was utterly perfect and I almost ordered another helping for dessert.

And now, I need sleep rathe desperately - goodnight!

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