Venice is on my mind this evening...

I don't know why. Maybe because I saw a poster going to my train platform saying you could go by bus for nineteen Euros, I don't know....

Just remembering. The first time I took Peter there. He'd never been, I had, alone, and fell in love with the city. And I booked a 'reasonably priced' ho-tel room for five days on the Lido, which is an island of itself and borders the Adriatic sea . There was one wall totally glassed in and looked out to the ocean. Splendiferous. At high tide, the water came to within fifteen feet of the building.

We had a wonderful time there. And I think it was the second night, we ferried back from downtown, and it was sultry and decided to eat at a place on the main drag, Via Santa Maria Elisabetta. And had harldly gotten our food, it had gotten very black of a sudden, and started to rain. So we grabbed our plates and went indoors, which was also a very nice place.

Other guests weren't so considerate, and the waiters ran all over the place, bringing in the food they'd served outside. It was mad-cap, and thunder and lightning came up, and one poor waiter came rushing in with a huge platter of stuff, and did a prat-fall that was extraordinary. No, he didn't get hurt. But you do NOT run on wet marble floors, take a lesson. It was like a choreography scene by Blake Edwards.

Optically, it was so funny, I could hardly contain myself. Well... it wasn't on the one hand, but on the other? ''Adventure.'

'The storm got worse, the food was excellent... and we grabbed a cab to the ho-tel. And I sat in a chair facing that incredible view, and that thunderstorm was more than any fireworks I ever saw. Seeing it all come down over the sea. And we just stayed very quiet, and watched Nature do what it does, and it was overwhelming. I can still feel Peter holding me, and feeling 'safe'.

How could we NOT fall in love with a place so mysterious, and wonderful, and mystifying? Some people have been with me there. One can visit many cities in the world. But I think they would agree... it ranks very high for exceptional.

I've missed feeling that safe for years now.