After Marseille I headed to Montebelluna, outside Venice, to see Roberta, an old friend. I seem to find myself here for some duration in all my travels to Europe.

I headed to Padua on one evening with Roberta’s boyfriend and friend Mattia, to find a party. We winded up at the Annual Sherwood Festival. It was surprisingly fun. Normally the electronic music scene out in this area is a bit lagging, but it was actually ok this time. We met up with Mattia’s friend, Matteo.

The next day we headed to the mountains at Pian Cansiglio. We went to a restaurant where the main dish were 4 pieces of gnocci. Roberta asked if I was still hungry, maintaining a straight face, I said, “I could eat more”. The second dish was a piece of fried cheese. I could’ve had something else, but it was the best sounding out of the other options, “pig” or “pig in milk.” (Roberta is a good translator.)

After lunch we started our “hike,” which kind of consisted of driving to different parking spots and walking in the close vicinity to those spots. There seemed to be some tension among my hosts surrounding the issue of planning, but I was quite content to sit/ lay anywhere as I was dragging from the all the dancing into the wee hours from the previous night.
On the way back home, we stopped in Vittorio Veneto to have a drink.

While in Montebelluna, I like to frequent this one ice cream shop, Ducale. They make a special vegan ice cream made out of the Lupini bean. I’ve only ever seen this at this one shop. I met owner, Francesco, the last time I was here. This time he offered to show me how to make ice cream. One evening he invited me to have dinner with him and his partner.

The nature surrounding Montebelluna is pretty.

I spent my 40^th birthday here. The day before was like some kind of existential groundless limbo, with all powerful emotions existing at once at various parts of the day. My actual birthday was more grounded. I did have one epiphany, thanks to help from Roberta, about a subconscious anger I hold toward a loved one concerning the matter of listening.
I feel like what makes a good listener is someone who takes into consideration the other person’s perspective. Sometimes a person’s communication can be overbearing and can involve talking in such a way that ignores important information from past encounters. I was able to recognize and acknowledge this relationship, which was an important first step in working to improve it.
Roberta and I also spoke on the matter of death at length. I feel like turning 40 is some kind of milestone that brings up a sense of what life has amounted to up until that point. I don’t think we can properly talk about living fully without taking death into consideration. Death is so rich. It calls to mind subjects of renunciation, impermanence, and urgency. I once heard from some unmemorable source that the reason things have value is because they end/die.
Contemplating this, I felt a surge of energy that evening to celebrate life.