Monday, March 19, 2007

The Kiss



Why is it that some days, the whole world finds you attractive? Well, maybe not the whole world, but you get enough attention to notice that something weird is going on. The same hairstyle, makeup, clothes that you’ve worn before, but for some reason, this day, everyone notices, comments, smiles, and appreciates who you are. What is that? Pheromones?


I had one of those days today. It was another fantastic weather day, and I was still basking in the glow of having completed the dreaded Permesso di Soggiorno, so maybe that was it. I had nothing in particular to do, so left the house late in the day for a stroll, and to get some lunch. Maybe it was my imagination, but men were more attentive than usual. A glint in their eye, a Ciao bella under their breathe.


I stopped at a leather vendor to look at bags, and struck up a lengthy and flirtatious conversation with Marco who owns Leonardo da Vince Leathers. Everyone is named Marco and everyone is in leather. Anyway, the waiter at Boccadama (the mouth of the woman) an enoteca (wine café) were I had lunch was especially enamored, and brought me a complimentary limoncello (2 days in a row now). All this was very nice and complimentary and added to the beautiful relaxed springness of the day.


I decided it was time to make my way home, so cut through a short cut that I usually take from Piazza della Signora. I passed a man on the sidewalk and we glanced at each other and said Ciao!. He took my hand as we passed, and turned me around, and did the customary kiss on each cheek that Italians do. He said something in Italian, and I replied, "No parla Italiano.", so he reverted to English and said, "I want to kiss you". I laughed and said no, and he asked why not. I told him that I did not know him, and he said, "My name is Marco, I live in Florence, and I work at a restaurant down by the Ponte Vecchio. Now can I kiss you?" I said no, but he did anyway. Dammit.


I didn’t have time to take a photo, as I said I would to post on the PDA site, but maybe next time. You can tell from the photos of the beautiful Tuscan countryside that Spring is here. Ciao Bella!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'll bet you're starting to wish you had taken that job in Texas aren't you :-)

Anonymous said...

What an amazing adventure you're having! I would comment that reading about it almost makes you feel that you are there, but that would be blase, and inaccurate. Life in the states trudges on. Well, life does better than trudge, but, compared to the exotic erotic you're experiencing, "trudge" seems to be a good verb. Write, write, write. By the way, I think the poster that puts the smiley face after every comment is someone I know. She's addicted to smiley faces but has avoided intervention thus far. I'll catch up with you on the e side.

Anonymous said...

Karen -

Catching up on your posts. Great stuff - thank you for sharing.

Not so beautiful in the land o Cleve today - 80 degrees yesterday (a record) and 30 right now and some of that white stuff. It's just like a roller coaster but not.

Keep writing and, if you can, please translate Doug's all italian post (I wonder how long it took him!)

Matt