Lost

Our hotel room faced east, and the rising sun brightened the room early, waking me before the alarm. And, if I’m up, it’s pretty much time for Marlene to rise to the occasion too. I put on the coffee to ensure she would be at her best. We put the finishing touches on our plan for the day as we ate breakfast, and then packed a lunch into our day pack. Without wasting anytime, we were off to catch the water taxi, and headed out to another part of Venice that we had yet to see.

Marlene wanted to find a new dress or something else of importance. I was focused on reading the map to get us from A to B, which seemed important to me at the time. She was window shopping and dropping into some of the more promising shops. I had my head down following the map, street for street. I looked up but didn’t see Marlene. I checked a few shops but she wasn’t there. Was she ahead or behind? Marlene was gone.

Venice is a maze of winding streets. Individually they don’t lead anywhere except to another street or a bridge. The streets are narrow relative to the height of the buildings, so there’s no sense of north, south, east or west. After taking stock of the situation, I realized that I had the day pack and map, so I was going to be fine, except for having a very unhappy travelling partner should we ever meet again. My inner voice was telling me that Marlene only had her camera. Even her purse was in the day pack. Our Italian was somewhat limited to Buon Giorno (good day), and that wouldn't get her very far when asking for directions.

I walked back and forth on the street, checking shops as I went, then back and forth again, and again, each time going a little further. Eventually, I got to where the street opened into a campo or community square. That would’ve been the perfect place for Marlene to be waiting, but she wasn’t there. Now, I could take any number of different streets leaving the square, but I didn’t know which one. Which way did she go?

I finally decided to go back down the street from where I had come. Was that a good idea? Or, was I wasting time and getting further behind? Marlene was lost in Venice.

Click here for the next story in this series:
http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.ca/2011/09/finding-quiet-in-chaos.html