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WELCOME
TO OUR ITALY:
A
sensuously beautiful country full of warm, exhuberant
people, delicious gelatos and crazy drivers.
Noreen's watercolor painting of Amalfi
Noreen and Jim Travel Light
ITALIAN
HOLIDAY:
On
September 12, 2002, my friend Jim and I set off for
our carefully planned one month holiday in Italy. For
a year we had saved money, mapped out our itinerary
in great detail and studied Pimsler's Italian language
tapes up to lesson 47. We were traveling light and ready
for adventure.
However,
this holiday pilgrimage had a mind of it's own unlike
any I've known before. From the get-go, the unexpected
became the norm. For starters, our luggage was lost
in Paris for the first week. I ask you, how many times
can you turn your underwear inside out and continue
wearing in comfort! We had underestimated the number
of tourists everywhere; overestimated our driving capabilities
in this land of insane drivers; vastly underestimated
the amouht of 'stuff' we would buy and eventually have
to spend mega bucks to mail it home; overestimated our
ability to keep relatively stress free as we took off
to parts unknown and not on our original itinerary.
The list goes on ...
Yet
the miracle is that this holiday was also packed full
of mind-blowing, memorable, marvelous experiences which
we have both written up in great detail ... enough for
a book!! My hope is that the following picture-stories
entice you enough to want to embark on more never-to-be-forgotten
adventures of your own.
VENICE:
Our
one day in Venice will remain a magical memory for the
rest of my life. Upon arrival at night, the vision of
the town encircled by hundreds of twinkling lights set
the stage for awakening the next morning to what felt
like pages from a well-loved fairy tale ... with the
droves of tourists all playing their roles.
Pigeons
and gondolas intrigued me the most. In the famous Piazza
de San Marco, these birds are rampant. Give them corn
and they instantly become a part of you! More enchantment
awaited for me in the midst of dazzling shops full of
hand-blown glass. Venice is well-known for beautiful
vases, jewelry and the like. Equally appealing were
the colorful shop windows adorned with beguiling masks.
Even today, Venice celebrates with Carnivals at the
drop of a mask! Yes, I love Venice.
FLORENCE
Since
my middle name is Florence, I've always wanted to go
to my namesake town. I'd heard this was the city of
art and flowers. I didn't see many flowers but the art
was breathtaking. A lot of my time was engrossed in
taking numerous photos of the magnificent marble statue,
Michelangelo's 'David,' from as many angles as possible.
(see left)
We
stayed just a block from the world famous Duomo cathedral
(top left), delighted daily by the deeply sonorous 'bonging'
of the bells whose powerful vibrations seemed to dominate
the whole city during those moments. I wanted to bring
them home!
The
picturesque Arno river is laden with bridges, the most
famous (top right) is full of pricey shops in keeping
with tradition from times gone by. Here are Jim and
I in our Fido Dido shirts -- recently purchased just
across the bridge.
ASSISI:
Photographs
do not do justice to this town which Saint Francis called
home back in the 12th century. We arrived after a rain
shower in time to view a magnificent double rainbow
which I took to be a hearty welcome from Francis. Of
course, the town was packed with tourists and I found
it humorous that now most gift shops were filled with
thousands of crosses, little fat monk statues and the
like.
Even
so, the spirit of Saint Francis felt alive to me as
I roamed the ancient picturesque narrow streets adorned
with pots of colorful flowers, imagining how these same
cobblestones pathways may have been walked upon by Francis.
Did our footsteps merge over the centuries?
AMALFI:
Here
we are doing some Tai Chi in the splendid town of Amalfi
along the south west Mediterranean coast where the rich
and famous like to hang out, so I heard. The drive down
the coast road to get there was pure hell. Yes, Italian
drivers ARE insane! But once we got there it was heavenly
to just relax in the warm sun, play on the beach and
cavort in the sea like happy kids.
Beautiful
sunrises, sunsets and richness of color in the land
and sea inspired me to paint my favorite painting of
this trip. You can probably tell by the contented look
on my face that I love this place.
This
is also where the world famous Amalfi paper is made
and a tour of their museum intrigued me no end. Even
today, some of this paper is still made by hand in the
original ‘natural’ manner where the finished
sheets are taken up into the high mountain caves to
dry in the wind. However, this precious paper is only
given to the Pope and other high dignitaries for their
very important documents. Jim and I bought their ‘affordable’
paper to sketch and write neat stories upon and even
a pack each of Amalfi computer paper. For more information
…
Email: info@museodellacarta.it
Web: www.museodellacarta.it
CAPRI:
A
spontaneous day trip from Amalfi to Capri brought smiles
to our faces, especially since the sea was calm and
the sky blue. We are not good sailors and don't do waves!
This island is not big (see top left photo) but has
made good use of available building space, now full
of picturesque homes perched on and around narrow cliff
roads. The many shops are mostly geared to rich folk
and we stared in awe at one of the world's most expensive
5 star hotels where Tom Cruise likes to indulge himself
here in his expensive suite.
We,
however, had a great time exploring the island, buying
t-shirts, and I bought perfume only made in Capri. We
heard that during World War 11 many of the world leaders
would meet secretly in the Piazza (square) here and
discuss the state of the world (probably over a delicious
Italian dinner with pasta and wine). Churchill and Eisenhower
were two of the notables and we saw the house where
they used to meet in private. So, this island is full
of history and beauty it seems.
POMPEII:
I
debated about whether to include this photo (top left)
of what I call the "ash person," because of
the troubling emotional feelings it can evoke, yet I
decided, yes, since this is crucial to understanding
what Pompeii and many of it's inhabitants underwent
around two thousand years ago when the volcano, Mt.
Vesuvius, blew it's top big time.
On
our visit, the day was gray and packed with tourists,
many Chinese and Japanese, and I felt uneasy as we trekked
around the ruins for 5 hours. Yet, at the same time,
my fascination for the culture, the art, the splendor
and beauty that was once here was in high gear also.
It felt good to sit on the marble column (bottom right)
and gaze into it's designs while imagining what it might
have been like to live here long ago.
CINQUE
TERRE:
By
now we had traveled north by train (we really enjoy
trains in Italy) to the Cinque Terre area named after
the 5 charming towns perched on the mountains rising
above the northern Mediterranean Sea coast. It rained
quite a bit here and I overdid it while hiking the hills
between villages in a downpour with no rain gear and
got sick. Not smart! We heard the next day of a landslide
in that same area.
On
the sunny days we hiked, played with local animals,
admired the precarious rock sculptures on the beach
(bottom left) that reminded me of Picasso's sand paintings.
Here today, gone tomorrow! And so it was with us as
we headed home to America
CIAO!
Noreen's
sketch of Cinque Terre one fun day
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