tourist tuesday and the public beach on lido

Yes, I do know that you are expecting shots of Venezia with colorful masks and extravagant gondolas  floating down narrow canals but guess what.

Surprise! This is not the place today for that.

In fact, I am not so sure I took any photos of colorful Venetian masks at all as they spook me out sometimes. 

I am a what~you~see~is~what~you~get kind of girl and sometimes masks throw me for a loop. 

Mostly masks make me feel a bit uneasy. ( I have control issues, no doubt. )

Anyway, I left you on an island basking in the sun a few weeks ago.

You should be all tan and relaxed from hanging out here near my house. Maybe you caught some fish.

Now I plop you down gently on another island. A segue before canals and such.

I think I told you how much I love a good island--and I do--but what I love more is to collect oceans and seas.

Caribbean, Ligurian, Sea of Okhotsk, Gulf of Mexico. The names roll out of my mouth fat and full of salty mystery and geographic wonder.

I want to see all the seas in the world. I want to stick my toe in each and every one.

I am working on it.

Several times I have shown you my ocean. The one I have played next to all my life thus far.

For the longest time I thought all bodies of water were they same but I am here to tell you they are not. They are not all dressed like my Atlantic.

When I first saw this very flat one I said "No way is that a real sea!" and, of course, I was correct as it was only a gulf which is way different from an ocean.

There were no crashing waves to speak of. You can walk forever before the water flows over your head! More like a flood plain, really, until you get way out there. ( Or unless there is a hurricane brewing but that is another story.  )

Under normal conditions the Gulf of Mexico is not like the pushy and somewhat bossy Atlantic Ocean.

Then I saw the Caribbean so clear and blue and friendly.

"Such a friendly sea," I thought to myself.

Until the day I saw one of these under my john~boat feeding on one of these!

Yikes! With oceans and seas you never know what could be there just under the surface.

When I finally saw this churning ocean I was beside myself with disbelief.

The wave action was so immense and powerful, like the wildest thing in the whole wide world and always moving, never still. Seemingly angry at California, for some reason. Cold and standoffish.

I have respect for that powerful water~body monster , a king among the seas, the president of all the oceans, if they ever take a vote.

I was so sick crossing this rough sea twice that I prayed to die both times but fortunately I did not.

Either time.

I have photographed ugly oil tankers perched on the edge of this Russian sea.

At night I slept in a teeny blue cot under a pile of blankets in an unheated room in a small fishing camp. At night I had to pee in a bucket and in the morning I brushed my teeth with vodka for lack of water.

It wasn't so bad. I do like sleeping next to a sea.

I have hiked high into the lemon~tree~covered mountains by the Ligurian Sea.

Steep, steep trails where Germans walked by me singing songs and laughing like this hike was a piece of cake and all the while I knew one miss step would be all she wrote.

I met a nice old man who shared his drink with me. We sat and smiled and nodded and drank and could not even talk the same language.

It was a good hike near a lovely sea.

Last summer I tried to take photos of the sea near Barcelona but when the beaches are full of naked people I always feel awkward playing with my camera.

Does that ever happen to you?

The thing about oceans and sea is that all the good stuff to see and photograph is either underneath the water or on the edge where the water meets the sand.

So I am giving you the edge of the Adriatic Sea.

Here. Take it. Take this edge and look around.

Now you are wondering where are all the people?

A beautiful day, lovely weather and no folks--naked or otherwise-- sitting on this beach.

What gives?

Oh, here is one...

A tourist like me with a camera. I think he is looking for some informazioni.

So. This is the public beach on the far side of the island Lido off the coast of Venice.

Anyone can come to this beach and rent the little play~houses by the day or week or season.

It was quiet and still the day I visited. Neat and tidy in May.

There are hundreds of these little attached cabanas and I fell in love with them all.

Maybe you have such treasures on your beach but we do not have them on mine. We drive to the beach wearing our swim suits underneath t~shirts and shorts or clandestinely change in the car.

The white and cyan changing rooms on Lido are the best. I want one badly. I want to hang up a damp beach towel to dry in the breeze.

And a pink polka~dot, string bikini to be my national flag waving. As long as I do not have to wear it.

Wouldn't that be fun?

The sand here is not as white as the sand on my beach and the seaweed is different.

That is what I enjoy about the edges of my collected oceans. They are all so different and each is wonderful in its own briny way.

Do you want me to tell you why the public beach is so empty on a warm and sunny day? Why this side of the island is so bare? Why I have the entire thing almost to myself?

Well, I will give you one hint...

Something else was happening on the Other Side of the island.

Can you figure it out?  It was all over the sports page in every newspaper all around the world. ESPN was there. Tons of handsome Italian men were there, too.

And so was I...

Comments

[Stephanie]

These foreign sea weeds are beautiful! Thank you! for taking me along on this seaside visit, I am imagining that I am sitting in the doorway of one of the cabana's, sun on my face...just because

it is raining and cool here so let me tell you this was a welcome reprieve...

AND

the Giro de Italia!! yes, I have seen these lovely riders going round and round the streets of Milan.

[rochambeau]

Only you SPF could get the beach all for your own self in Italy on a nice sunny day. You are a lucky TS! The biking boys heard you were coming and planed their extravaganza accordingly.

Grateful you could help your Mama. It's NOT easy! We all need one another.

I can't tell you how glad I am that you are back in the saddle of Blogland. ;-)
Oh how we missed you!
And this is the honest truth!
xox
Constnace

[Jill]

ooooh how I wish there was a beach in Nebraska!

[shibori girl]

OH, SPF, Child of the Sea... you've made me long to be at the shore, and I have to wait MONTHS to go! I could smell the ocean as I read your post. Really smell it!

I love the idea of a string bikini as a banner - I, too, hope never to wear one again!

xoxo,

Kate

PS: you left your comment on my cooking post JUST as I was getting ready to publish another post!

[Elizabeth Wix]

I have only been to the Lido in high summer!
This is quite different indeed!
Did you see Visconti's "Death in Venice"? the 'IT" film of 1970
pretty good too.

[3rdEyeMuse]

I cannot imagine a more perfect segue (or more perfect timing on your part). That second photo has me a bit giddy & that piece of driftwood just might have followed me home.