Journal : OpenRoadWorks

Italian sojourns have become my secret travel vice, ever since my exchange student days in Milan. A day in to the Venice leg of the honeymoon reminded me again of this fact - and no sooner than the hour-long vaporetto ride that introduced Wendy & I to the deserted nightlife of post-ferragosto Lido, an accompanying island to Venice. After a semi-restful first night (Wendy's introduction of the paperback thriller "Angels & Demons" kept me turning pages later than I would have liked), the adventure took us by water taxi around to Piazza San Marco and the center of Venice. 10 hours later, we were happily fed (pasta, pizza, frittata mista, and gelattoed out), newly dressed (a wonderful present of a shirt from Wendy and other close calls for her too numerous to list), monumented (the impressive Doge's Palace with an equally superb temporary exhibit on Venice's connection to the muslim world through history), and walked out (including narrow lanes and bridges)...

A solitary moment to drop a quick note. On my honeymoon and loving it, after a restful night from a long flight. The weather in northeastern Spain is superb, and the people are their usual festive selves late into the night. I am content the morning after a truly amazing paella and resting in the honeymoon suite which overlooks La Rambla. Who could ask for anything more?

It is a day on from the end of the wedding weekend, and I am still trying to figure out what happened to me. The affair that I thought was just a dream ended up leaving a ring on my left hand and a house full of gifts. What was once a source of stress became at the march of the bride a source of immeasurable joy, such that the rest of the wedding night ended up passing as a cascade of wonderful moments beyond measure. I remember the wedding ceremony distinctly. Walking along the side of the deck out to the front of the altar, with a closely packed group of onlookers that had been there through so much of my life. After setting myself at the front, briskly walking up the aisle to get my parents. Once at both their sides, focusing all my nerve on walking delicately back down the aisle without engaging them too deeply, lest seeing their beaming faces turn into tears that might throw off my composure. Catching Wendy move like a ghost through the cocktail room before emerging onto the...