I want to start from the beginning......
My Dear friend Jeanette took a job at a US Military Base 40 kilomiters from Venice. She was my inspiration to RETURN to VENICE!!!

She and I had been together in Venice in ???? 1989???? Not sure exactly which year?

Jennifer and I had been there for Carnival in 2000. 
After that expereince I was happy to DIE?? The rest of life would just be the cherry on top. I had waltzed in a ball gown in a palace... It had been someone else husband but I waltzed!!

After making my 2013 Vision Board (see photos and stories in a previous post) I decided to JUST DO IT and go back to Venice (with Jeanette begin my GREAT EXCUSE) Unfortunetly Jeanette got sick and we only go to spend one afternoon together. We played in Venice, ate Frittle with Zambioni (My absolute FAVORITE tongue treat), I got my phone and wallet stollen and I got to show her my apartment. 

But that is really not the beginning either.......

I meet Falco at the Amsterdam airport (the only photo was on my stollen phone), it was good to see him.. I did NOT punch him in the face as I expected to do... I cried on and off for the three hours we were together. Dumb guy.... he says he thinks about me every day, loves me more than his girlfriend and has never danced with anyone the way we danced AND yet... He does not want to be life partners anymore???? He is happy living alone in Hollland?? Closure for me??? It helped but it still feels like we should still be life partners?? As much as the guy drives me crazy I still love him BUT I will do my damdest to let us go and move on.

I dont have a photo of arriving in Venice but picture this.......

BLACK DARK night, rain pouring down, umbrellas flying through the air the storm was so fierce.....I got dropped off at the bus stop at Piazza San Roma.... I drag my two suitcases through the pouring rain to the ticket counter where I am sopose to meet the woman who will show me the way to my apartment?? I have no idea how she will find me? or I her? I did send a photo of myself?? I did have directions to the apartment if she did not show up?? I had NO hope that she would show up? I was drenching wet, soaked through standing waiting, reading my directions on how to find the apartment becaause I'm sure she has not come to find me. I have no idea where to start with the directions, they make no sense to me??I'm thinking to myself how I'm going to deal with this situation when a woman looks at me and mouths .... Cheryle???? YES YES YES... That is ME!!! She grabs one of my suitcases and dashes off into the rain. I am soooo glad I decided to spring for the extra 20 Euros for her to meet me and show me the way to the apartment becasue I would NEVER EVER had found it alone in the dark rainy windy night. We dragged the suitcase over stairs, bridges, stairs, down dark alley ways, (Calles they are called in Venice, their "streets" ha ha) She stopped from time to time and loooked around, questioning herself which way to go?? I had my doubts that she would ever find the apartment because I was told it was only minuites from the train station and we had been walking for at least 30 mins already?? BUT she found it... We got through the gate, up the stairs and into the apartment..... WHICH WAS NOT the one I had seen on the website??? instand disappointment??? the one on the website had a window overlooking an canal, it had cream colored curtains drapping down to the floor, it has a rod iron bed with a cream colored bedspread??? This was a fine apartment but it was NOT the one on the website????

Deal with it Cheryle......

I came to LOVE my apartment... It was in a great location. One night I had a tango lesson right around the cornor from my apartment. One night French Boroche music, one night Opera, Several nights Aperola Spritz at the local cafe/pub.

Yep...... Carnival is about LACE, especialy on men. Lace, Brocade, Wonderful textures and colors, Masks, Seduction, Flirtation, FUN FRIVOLOUS FUN!!!

And Sillinesss and Jokesters

And Regal Royalty

And Romance

FOR ME..... It was about HAVING FUN
Playing dress up, enjoying light hearted JOY

YEP..... and the MEN!!!!

There was also culture.......

The opera, French Borouqe piano, Palaces, museums.........

And the FUN and THRILL of DRESSING UP, even on the days when I just couldn't be bothered to put on my wig!!!!!

BUT WAIT..... There is MORE...... There was SNOW in Venice!!!!!

It had been 10 years sense the last snow stayed on the ground. I walked for HOURS photographing all the places I had been in the bright sunshine a few days before.

Lets not forget about the FOOD.........

The out door markets and Bakeries were my favorite!

Can't forget Pepino and Pier the bartenders at my local cafe/pub
They welcomed me into the cold even after the bar was closed, they feed me when I was hugry, walked me to my Tango class, attemepted to translate what was happening in the news, they shared their coffee martini with me.... Two verry sweet young men whom I hope to show the same hospitality to someday.

The last full day in Venice I found a fur coat at a Charity Shop. They wanted $250 Eruos for it, I had $100 in my wallet, they accepted my offer.... ARRRGGGG, I was the proud new owner of a fur coat on a sunny day in Venice!! Boy could I have used that coat all two weeks I was there. I could NOT help myself, I LOVE it, it fits me perfectly. I dont care if Jessica says I look like a pimp!! It is soooo warm. I now HAVE to be a GYPSY in Europe.

Three visits to Venice in my lifetime and I have still NOT had a ride in a Gondola. I was verry tempted this trip (all the Gondola drivers are soooo darn cute!!) But I did not have a lover sooooo I will hold out until I can lay back in my lovers arms and float through the smelly canals of Venice! Seriously, they only stink from time to time and the beauty of the place makes up for the stinch.

On  my last full day in Venice I JUST sat on a bench in San Palo Square and soaked up the sun and atmosphere. My favorite site was a couple holding hads the whole time they sat on the bench, they litteraly could not keep their hands off each other, it was beautiful. I sooo want to grow old with a man so madly in love with me that when I'm OLLLLD and Totaly Grey and can barely stand up he still cant keep his hands off me!!

Bruno and Giorgina were my neighbors in Venice. The first night my key did not work, I buzzed the first button my fingers touched and desperatly asked for them to open the gate because my key would not work.. The next day when my key would not work again a man was walking into the gate as I was trying to open it, he made it clear to me that I had woken him up the night before when I called him to open the gate..... He was not happy about it but he was verry sweet, he tried the key, he too could not get it to work. He said he would make me a new one the next day, he had the keys to my apartment. All this communication took place with me knowing no Italian other than Chow Bella and Bruno trying his best to speak some English to me. They let me use their computer after my phone and wallet was stollen so I could stop my phone account. Giorgina took me to the store and showed me the ropes on what to buy. They had me to lunch several times, Verry sweet neighbors, hard to leave Venice and my new friends.

Verona.......Tragic Romantic.....Romeo and Juliet... Love the paintings on the wall, floors, the falling off paint, stucco, exposed layers of history.

Amazzing works of art in glass.

Reflections of the beauty in the water.

Picture perfect Murrono, Alllll of Venice is Picture Purfect.. I was happy to just walk the streets and look... The falling apart old place. Beauty.

The light on the water is perfect.

The little Island of Bruono is a colorful fishing village where they have historicaly make lace

My beloved Hungarian musicain, ANOTHER Happily married man! I swear the men were either Happily Married, TOTALY PLAY BOYS or SHORT!!! This man was a reallll winner, verry sweet, humble, honest and DAM GOOD LOOKING! Just about every evening on my way home from where ever I had been I came across him playing his music.. The Acadamia Bridge was the first night, The Rialto on Valentines night... I bought his CD the first night so I could have an excuse to talk with him, I was brave enough to buy him a drink on Velentines night... that is when I learned he was happily married with three kids at home in Hungary! His music was intoxicating to me, I have it playing on the slide show of my trip. I DREAM of meeting a man to share my life with that plays the piano, waltzes, can hold me in his arms, loves to have adventures and dress up!!

MORE stories to tell but I have to go to work now. xxxooo