Venice, one of the most romantic cities in the world and surprises you with every step you take. You will find yourself locked in a maze of similar looking streets and bridges. There are no traffic signals in this city and no automobiles as well. To talk about this fascinating city would require an entire blog post. But there was something else that has made Venice special for us. There was another incident that sunk in so deeply and will always be in our memories for years to come.
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| Copyright +Cynthia Vincent |
On the last night of our honeymoon to Italy, my husband and I had planned to attend a live Orchestra which is considered to be a shame if not witnessed while it Venice. We booked our tickets in the morning and after our visit to the great St. Mark's Cathedral and Doge's palace we walked to the place where the orchestra was supposed to be conducted. There was a huge queue standing outside since the gates hadn't opened yet. We joined to queue and waited for around 10 minutes. After a while, we found a couple standing in front of us who requested us to click a photo of theirs. I was busy in a phone call and my husband did the honours of clicking a picture.
They thanked us and began a conversation by asking us where were we from. We told them that we were from India and we got to know that they were from the USA. They told us that they were touring Europe and it had been around three weeks since they were out of home. On telling them that we were on our honeymoon we got to know that John and Joanna were married for 6 years. We were surprised as it contradicted the assumption we have of Americans that they do not have long-term relationships. Thanks to the hollywood superhits that brief us on this subject n-number of times.
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| Copyright +Cynthia Vincent |
The gates for the Orchestra had opened and we took our seats. For the first time, we had witnessed a live orchestra of 7 violinists. The Orchestra lasted for an hour and a half and left us swaying to its tune for even longer.
As we began to leave the hall, John and Joanna came up to us and asked us if we wished to join them for dinner. We were overwhelmed. I always had a fetish to meet new people and get to know about them. Maybe it's the writer instinct in me that makes me inquisitive and curious. We walked into a small restaurant on Campo Manin.
We ordered food and since it was the finals of the Fifa world cup that day we were excited to hear the news as well. We talked about the different cultures we were brought up in. I realized that Joanna came from a very close knit family and both of them valued the relationships they shared with their parents. We found that our upbringing was nothing different. They spoke about how difficult the first year of their marriage was and advised us on making it an effort to work out the differences in married life that may arise after a period of time.
Joanna spoke about her love for bollywood movies and how much she loved watching the dances on bollywood numbers. We told them about Mumbai and asked them to visit us soon.
We spent an hour and a half talking and finally got up to leave as we had to catch the flight back to India the next day. As for them, they were heading towards Rome. On the way back to India, I realised that there was no other better way to end our honeymoon. We met a couple hail from a place (where we thought relationships are taken for granted) living together for so long and making it an effort to live in harmony. They were the best example for a newly married couple like us. Ever since we are back, there have been times when things may not have been the way it should be between my husband and me, but in those times I remember our friends John and Joanna and the example they set before us.
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| Copyright @Cynthia Vincent |
It's true that many a times we meet strangers to whom we are reluctant to open up, but when they become a part of our lives, they become so special. I still continue to message Joanna over facebook and we still continue to share our experiences.
Wishing them the best in life always!! Love you guys and thank you so much for asking us to click your picture on the last evening in Venice.
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| Copyright +Cynthia Vincent |
This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.
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