Lady in the Fog

The Osteria ae Spezia is both beautiful and quiet.

It lurks between the Greci and the Arsenale and, as it is that hour between the end of lunch and the beginning of evening meals, the small and elegant room is empty.

I ask for "tramezzini," my favorite Venice snack - a thick high-piled juicy half-sandwich of many different fillings, say shrimp and mushrooms, or sliced ham and hard-boiled egg. When the counter man syas that they are out, I ask what I could have instead. He rattles off something about meats and cheese and bread in rapid-fire Italian and I quickly, if not entirely sure, agree.

I take a table with my back to the ample window so the light will afford my reading.

Shortly arrives a heavenly snack. A large white plate of three different cured meats, sliced paper-thin and three huge cuts of paremsan reggiano. The pear juice is nicely cool, but not freezing.

After, an unusually large tea cup of machiatto cafe. Wow! How deliscious it all is.

Afternoons are often taken with friends over lunch, but when they are not I am happy to be The Wandering Jew.

At the Teatro Fondamente Nove, I had only to ring the intercom bell and Matteo appeared full of good cheer to take me inside and show me the stage and the seating for 150 paying customers. This weekend they will have a New Dance Festival, but it seemed to me a great place to do a run of "Shylock" some day.

On the Riva della Schiavone, in the fog and looking out to the open lagoon, was berthed the magnificent "Signora della Vento" - The Lady of the Wind, a 3-masted schooner out of Rome.

In one day, in spite of the abscence now of large numbers of tourists, there must have been 10,000 photos taken.