11 am; venician park

 the farm is great. we've had a blast being here, grayson and i. before i get too much into that, however, the how of how i, and we, got here needs some explaining.

 for this story you can picture me seated on a bench in venice. it is a small park and behind me, out of view, is the bus station i just came from. beside me is my rucksack and i've my arm around it. around my waist is the uncomfortable jab of a traveler's "thingthatkeepsthemoneyandpassportsafe" (that's not so much as important for the story as it is a reassurance for dad to know that i am wearing it this time around*). in front of me is the city of venice with all it's boats and canals and sinking buildings and tourists, and here is me on a park bench wondering what it is i am supposed to do.

 beside me is also a map of the city with a circle on it telling me what park i am in; the lady who sold it to me spoke enough english to draw a circle. you might also notice that i wrote bought a map which to those who have travelled or have been a tourist in any city might be thinking what the hell are you doing buying a map, let alone paying tre euro for it (i hadn't told you the price yet although i am sure most of you could have improvised a bit and carried on as if i had). this is an odd thing, buying a map in a tourist city, because the people in the city like you to be there spending your foreign money and make it as easy as possible to get the information you need to spend the money you're carrying in the stupid thingthatkeepsthemoneyandpassportsafe.

 grayson and i had exchanged a few txt's earlier that morning, the latest informing me he was en route. i had nothing to do but sit and watch the boats go by, the tourists spend money and the old lady crawl onto the park bench across from me. she didn't bother me, and i didn't want to bother her. after all, it was her city, and for all i knew it was her park too; who was i to make any suggestions.

 a month ago i was looking into flight costs to istanbul and athens when i had found a flight for 0.01 euro, so i booked it. turns out venice was in italy and grayson was too. little did i know i had arranged for us to meet up after having been simultaniously exploring the continent for the past six months. you see, we were supposed to be in ireland last spring at the same time and would have been had it not been for my dragging of the feet and the need for some money and a certian wedding i wanted to go to.

 so there i am: on a park bench in italy, waiting on a friend whom i was supposed to meet up with a year ago and still not really knowing what i was supposed to do. do i get a boat, or a glass of wine or take out my camera? i felt like asking the old woman, but she looked so peaceful sleeping there that i just couldn't bring myself to wake her. so i did what i hadn't been able to do for a long time; i read.

 however just as soon as i fished out my book from the bottom of my rucksack another rucksack was dropped nexted to it and the top hatted dude who had done the dropping was standing there waiting for a hello. so after a hug and some stories we set off to explore the city, which is what i was supposed to be doing after all.

 

*when i was in auz i had my wallet stolen just a few days into the trip. i'll try and tell that story another time