i set out this morning with the intention of getting lost in venice... venice the wondrous city of stone. I am a great fan of stone. It appeals to me in the way of elderly kings and grandfathers. The sun cast angular beams across the busy markets filled with small scarved women bustling with bags of today's lunch and tonight's dinner. Men in worn work clothes buzz by in boats filled with furniture. No one seems to see what I do. That's good, but what i  wonder is, does anybody else see what i see... Do you see how gently the sun touches these white and gray stones? Or how the green water swirls and leaps on the moss covered steps that lead down into the depths to who knows where... Look at those orange fruits hanging in that dark leafless tree. See how they match the colors of those old houses. Look at the laundry hanging like an upside-down rainbow between the balconies of pastel houses in a pastel sky. Each shirt has its own story. The story of people who are busily getting on with their lives in their very own sphere of existence. Do you know that you are a picture old man? I have seen you in a book from my childhood.  Your face has the story of this place hand-written in it by the wind and the water… He was standing at a glass sandwich bar having a   10am beer with two friends. I watched from a corner table. I like corner tables, they are like center seats at the movie theater and life is too interesting to have bad seats. Does anybody see? I wondered... To be fair I must allow that this is their home. Their everyday existence. i guess even streets of gold would become ordinary if you walked them every day. we are fickle creatures. I prefer granite myself, as far as streets go, it ages better and causes less trouble. The walls in the alleys leaned in to each other like lovers who had been trying for hundreds of years to kiss. Walls move much slower than humans do, but they do move. alleys led to squares that led to more alleys. I had no trouble getting lost, in fact, I have decided to make it a daily ritual. I always feel I am shorting myself if I walk straight to anything, even if I do know the way...