Cats from Venice {Italy}

Time-pressed sightseers don't often visit the eastern section of Venice's main island. A spacious green park extends throughout the area, filled with seniors chatting and enjoying the warmth of the sun, with neighbors strolling while exercising their dogs, with joggers, and with children at lunchtime.

I grocery shopped with the local folks and, occasionally, I ate lunch in the plaza, sitting on a bench and taking in the sunshine. It was here that I saw some cats cautiously poking their faces out from the bushes. Curious to investigate the food they smelled, they slowly approached me. When I shared a little of my food with them, they gobbled it up, all caution abandoned. But once they were finished, they nonchalantly disappeared once again into the bushes.

Except at mealtimes, the cats didn't seem at all interested in human beings. They seemed completely independent, living as they pleased. I remember one cat that was leaping at the bugs darting through the air around him. Innocent and enthusiastic, he inspired me to be more carefree in my own life. Mesmerized by the cats' calm, I thought and dozed in the afternoon sunlight while the cat napped near a vine-entangled wall.

Source: The Cats of Venice by Shin Otani