2011.09.26| Northern Italy Trip Venezia
After dismissed from our large group visit, a couple of friends and I were enjoying the dusk of Venice. Wondering around and visiting shops by random decisions, I felt like I was actually talking to the city by knocking open those doors. We went into a really cute antique bookstore. The cat, as welcoming as its owner as I later discovered, welcomed us by napping on the newspaper and magazine stand outside the store. One of my friend had spend her summer time in Venice and paid constant visits to this store. The owner recognized her and they had an interesting conversation about Italian guys. I was flipping through the postcard collections, as most tourists do. But the postcards were very unique-one had a pizza collection printed, one had italian leather shoes collection, and one had fenestration collection, etc. I bought a handful of postcards and a book on shoes from the shop, and in the end I asked him if I could take a photo of him. Usually I’m pretty shy about asking to take photos of strangers. But the homey feeling of this little store gave me courage. He was really shy too. So my friend helped me by talking to him. I like his wrinkles-he reminded me of my own grandpa, who is a book mania, and who wears the same kind of checkered shirt with pens sticking into the pockets. Looking back to the whole trip, the afternoon spend at his store is the most relaxing, pleasant and unforgettable part of the journey.
