34. Italy Venice 意大利威尼斯 1979

{jcomments on}

I don't know how Barbara managed it, but she was allowed to go on summer holiday with me for three weeks. We wanted to go to a warm country. Barbara wanted to stay near an historic city and I wanted to be near some a nice nature. We decided to go to Italy near the ancient city of Venice. Hoping we could find a camping with some the nice countryside.

We went to my my parents first, stayed there for a week. We went by boat to Holland. This timewe hired a sleeping cabin just for the two of us. After staying with my parent we went with their car to Italy. Barbara didn't dare to drive on the continent as the steering wheel was on the 'wrong side'.

This was one of those holidays that everything went as we wanted it to be. We found a camping next to a lake, not to far from Venice and in a lovely wild nature area. We spend our time walking through the countryside, playing games at the camping, messing around on the lake with the rubber boat we brought along and of course visiting Venice.

Barbara enjoyed the historic and romantic city of Venice. Barbara especially enjoyed the little backwards alleys with the little shops with beautiful fragile glass sculptures. She couldn't take her eyes of them. Venice gave Barbara a kind of endless energy. Many hours we spend there walking hand in hand, trying to keep in shade, admiring de seemingly never ending stream of historic buildings.

Being together for three weeks without having to worry about anything was unknown to us. No family to hide from, no distances to travel before we could see each other. No obligations, we just did what we wanted when we wanted it. We didn't go out in the evening, not even to go and eat somewhere. We happy spending our evenings playing games and chatting.

The ancient charisma and romance of the city of Venice. The wild nature area to make long undisturbed walks. The very hot days where we only could just lay in the shadow under a tree. The water fights we had in the lake by the camping. All these things made Barbara completely relaxed. She could be her complete self without having to care about anything.

This Barbara was at one moment cheerful, full of energy and sometimes she was very boy like in the rough-and-tumble games we played. At another time she was very girly in picking flowers to decorate the tent or she could be very tender and caring. Like the moments we lay in the grass in the shadow, me with my head on her lap and she stroking my face and hair with her hands while singing softly Chinese songs to me.

Sometimes she felt insecure and became fragile. At those moments she just wanted to be held, listening to the sweet words I be whispering to her, and then, after a while, that smile would re-appear again.

It was a nice holiday. One of those we hoped that we would have many more times. I found a few pictures; I think they speak for themselves.

I wonder how often Barbara thought about this holiday while she was leading her busy and demanding life in Hong Kong.

A little anecdote from that holiday.

Barbara and I were doing some shopping in the village near the camping. Somehow, I can't remember why, Barbara was walking around on her own. Three local young Italian guys started talking to her. Most young women who have been to Italy probably know their routine. They all have the same approach towards women, I think it genetic, there must be some kind of Italian gen for this. They started asking Barbara questions like 'What is your name?', 'Where are you from?' Where are you staying?' All being very friendly, smiling and laughing. And of course Barbara being a polite person, answered the questions and she might have given them her smile (and you can imagine what effect must have had). It was just a short conversation and soon Barbara joined me again.
The following day we went out for a day tour somewhere. When we came back our neighbor on the camping said that there had been three Italian guys on the camping asking about Barbara. A day later they came again, but I guessed that they saw me with Barbara and they didn't try to make contact with Barbara. After that we never saw them again. Barbara made a continues joke of this during that holiday. Often she would suddenly pull me into a hiding space like an alley and call out 'quickly hide! young Italians!'.
When I told this story to my partner/wife she said 'how stupid could Barbara be! Every young girl who goes to Italy for a holiday should know that if an Italian guy starts to talk to you, she has two options. Either ignore him or be rude to him. If you react friendly that guy will follow you the whole holiday like a stray dog, until he gets what he wants'.
.

意大利威尼斯

不知道Barbara用了什么办法，她居然获许和我一起外出度3周的夏日假期。我们想去一个温暖的国家。Barbara希望能够去历史悠久的城市，我则希望去接近大自然的地方。我们最终决定去意大利古城威尼斯附近，希望在那里美丽的郊外能找到一个可以露营的地点。

和上一年一样我们先乘坐夜船到我父母家，这次我们也租了一个小客舱。 然后我们开我父母的车去意大利。 Barbara不敢开这车，因为方向盘在"错的一边"（英国车方向盘在车右边，欧洲大陆方向盘在车左边）。

这次旅行是那种一切皆如所愿的旅行。我们在湖边找到了露营地，离威尼斯不远周边有美丽的自然风光。我们的时间都用来在郊外漫步，在露营地玩游戏，用我们带来的橡皮船在湖里乱划，当然我们也去威尼斯。

Barbara非常喜欢威尼斯这个历史悠久的浪漫之都。她尤其热爱后街小巷子里的那些小店，里面有美丽精致的玻璃花瓶和琉璃雕塑。她简直无法从它们身上移开目光。威尼斯给了Barbara某种无穷无尽的精力。我们手牵手漫步在街边的荫地，欣赏着似乎无限延展的古老建筑。

整整三个星期呆在一起，不需要担心任何的事。不需要躲着家人，没有必需要完成的责任，不需要长途跋涉就能见到对方。我们想做什么就做什么。

古老城市和浪漫之都的威尼斯，野外的大自然都是我们无人打扰地长途漫步的好地方。天气太热的时候，我们就躺在树荫里，在露营地边的湖里我们打水仗。 所有这些令Barbara身心得到完全的放松。她只需要完完全全地做回自己，不需要担心任何事情。

有时Barbara满心欢愉，精力旺盛。玩起扭打游戏时她就像个男孩子。而有时她又会去采野花来装饰帐篷，是个很温柔很体贴的女孩子。有时我们躺在树荫下的草地上，我把头枕在她的腿上，她轻轻抚摸我的脸和头发，轻轻地唱中文歌给我听。

有时她会觉得没有安全感，变得很脆弱。那种时候她会希望我抱着她，轻轻地对她耳语甜蜜的话语。过一小会儿，笑容又会回到她的脸上。

那是一个美好的假日。我们多希望能有更多的时间。我发现了很多的照片， 在这些老照片里能够看得出一切。

我现在会想，Barbara在香港过着忙碌高压力的生活的时候，有几次她会想起这次假日。

Barbara和意大利男孩

Barbara和我在附近的村里买东西。我不记得为了什么，Barbara一个人在逛街，三个当地意大利男人开始和她搭讪。大多数去过意大利的女孩子可能都了解他们的套路。他们总是用同样的手段追女孩子。我想这可能是遗传，多半是某种意大利基因在起作用。他们开始问Barbara"你叫什么名字""你从哪儿来""你住在哪儿"之类的问题。他们很有礼貌，带着笑容。当然Barbara也很有礼貌地回答了他们的问题，可能也还以了微笑（你可以想象到这微笑可能引起的反应了）。他们谈了几句，Barbara就回到我身边了。
第二天我们出去游玩了一天。我们回来后，临近的人告诉我们有三个意大利男人在露营地打听Barbara.一天后他们又来了，我猜想他们看到Barbara和我在一起，他们没有试图和Barbara联系。从那之后我们没再见到他们。这次旅行中Barbara老把这件事当笑话来讲。她常常会把我拉到一个小巷子里，嚷道 "快躲起来，意大利男孩子来了！"
我后来和我的太太讲起这件事，她说，"Barbara好傻哦，每个去意大利的女孩都知道如果一个意大利男人来找你说话，你有两个选择：不理他，或是对他粗暴点。如果你的反应友好的话，他会像个流浪狗似一直跟着你，直到他达到目的为止。

(thanks to Natalie for the translation)

Pictures Barbara made of Venice