thursday part two

It was cool and quiet, just three people at the bar. 

I smile at the chandelier in front of me.  Two others like it hang several feet apart in the long dining room.  They are Venetian glass; very thick and bright, the color of tangerines.

I order a house chardonnay and think about Venice, remembering those couple of hours Spoke and I spent in Harry's Bar. 

We walked to Harry's from Piazza San Marco, passing the gondolas lined up at the water's edge, like the chairs lined up at this bar. 

The guy to my left was finishing a glass of white wine.  He had a chocolate cake and was slicing some for the staff.  "It's the best," he exclaimed, turning the Eatzi's box for me to see. 

I told him about Truluck's dark, dark, dark, chocolate cake.  I didn't tell him the restaurant once gave my dad not just the slice he ordered but the entire, multi layered cake.  It was his birthday.  It was December 23rd.  It was the season of O Come All Ye Faithful.

Great restaurants surprise you that way...

The man with the cake box left, giving me a view of the patio and the courtyard beyond.  See the groundskeeper?  He wears a bow tie. 

I watched him work, feeling rather guilty; me on the inside looking out. 

He takes short breaks from the heat, cooling off at the wall in the shade. 

Northpark has a world-class art collection, scattered throughout the center.  This is Corridor Pin, Blue 1999 by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. 

I know because these two guys told me. 

Maybe I'll run into them again.  I hope so.  I have a feeling I'd learn something else new and interesting.

I'll come back to this bar for sure.  I'll bring the groundskeeper some photographs.  I'll invite my sister and we'll share some appetizers.  I'll bring my joyful memories.

Maybe I'll even bring a chocolate cake.





Harry's Bar, Venice, Italy