Walking just about anywhere in Italy at 1pm will put one in a philosophical mood, prompting such questions as…What would happen if everyone was out to lunch at the same time? Who would there be to serve it? This is a conundrum that mysteriously works itself out. Four hour lunches are an Italian custom, as are the apparent visits from ghosts who died between courses.
We visited a tiny island off Venice called Lazarus. The island, once home to lepers, is now inhabited by Armenians. Owned by the Armenian Catholic Church for several hundred years, it consists solely of a monastery that contains a museum of interesting artifacts, as well as an Egyptian mummy and the house where Lord Byron lived for two years studying the Armenian language. The mummy actually resided in Lord Byron’s study room and did not look unaffected by the experience.
We found a priest as he was ushering out a group and asked him for a tour.
“Can we eat?” he asked desperately.
