Thoughts

It's Christmas morning here. As a small present, I looked outside at 7:30 and the sky was pink. It was the first evidence of sun I have seen. It is supposed to rain today though. Nothing will be open so it will be a good day for me to get put and shoot.
I had wanted to go to midnight mass at The Frari last night, but I have a raging head cold and I really needed to sleep. Yesterday I walked and walked to try to get to the frescoes and churches that I wanted to see.

Here is something that I never considered. If you need an ambulance, a boat has to come for you. There is a beautiful hospital far on the other side of Venice and their emergency room is on the canal so boats came come up with the patients.  It must be terrible to be hauled on a stretcher through these narrow streets to a waiting boat.
It's easy to imagine the plague here, for me it is anyway. There are so many dark alleyways and hiding places. To get to the apartment where I am staying you have to go through a maze of alleyways...about wide enough for one person. You can't see around the next corner. I can imagine mysterious people with hooded capes haunting these passages. bring out your dead..as bodies are heaped onto waiting boats...rats scurrying in the shadows, all windows and doors are locked up tight. Only the churches are open.
Wish I could have taken the plague tour from a Context Travel. I am left with my imagination and all of the reading I have done, long ago, mostly fiction, on the plague.

Also, the police...the Italians do not like the police of any sort....you can see by the demeanor of the police. They are in severe regimented uniforms with gloves and hats. On the Vaporetto , the people stand away from them. You won't see a smile on their faces. The finance police are especially despised. The people close ranks to protect each other from the police. In Italy, it's us against them...and this, of course,  includes the government.