Blogs from Otranto, Apulia, Italy, Europe - page 2

Hard to believe I have been gone 2 weeks!!! Today, Thursday, is glass recycling day. We have a container for the glass that we put out the night before. The recycling man come in a little garbage type truck and picks up outside of every house. Recycling for plastic and paper are another day, and trash is every day. We found some information on a Byzanine Church of St. Peter. We tried to find it, and did, but it is being restored! Too bad, it has some fabulous frescoes of the Last Supper that I would like to have seen. Today was a work day, very productive. I got my process going and results were good. I know that I can produce work here. The castle was all a-buzz about a huge party for the regional ... read more

Today was a work day. I tried to get something going but ended up waiting on Federico for some negative printing. Maybe tomorrow. We had a tour of the cathedral by Paola and Martha. The cathedral is amazing and I plan to visit ever day, to gain a stronger connection. There is so much to see. I will describe some of it here today. The mosaic floor is just amazing (see earlier blog). On this visit, the crypt was open. It is down a long stone staircase, below the main cathedral. It reminds me of Cordova, Spain, with its 42 marble columns that support arches and vaulted ceilings. Each column has a different capital (Ionian, Corinthian, Asiatic, Egyptian, Byzantine, Islamic, Syrian, Persian, etc.). They are so interesting! The frescoes were from the 11th-12th century, pre-Giotto. Another ... read more

Awoke around 6, watered the plants, made some instant coffee I’d picked up at the hotel in Malta, and worked on the blog on the balcony. The town is very quiet in the morning, only the lady across the alley cleaning her balcony and sweeping the street. We walked to the café/meeting place and had coffee and pastry. The group met and we had a tour of the city, with Marthe Keller pointing out practical places like the grocery and hardware store. My roomie Martha and I went to the grocery and stocked up. We came home and made ham and cheese paninis and a beer for lunch. At 3 pm, we met in the castle and drew numbers for studio space. It was tense! Mine was easy, any place without light. I got the storage ... read more

Travel Blog Monday 13th June to Sunday 3rd July 2011. We had some bad news over the weekend. My Dad is very sick and is in hospital. He will not be able to take care of himself when he gets out of hospital - he would have to go into a nursing home. So we make the decision, to return home to live with and take care of him in his own home. So now the nightmare of organising our return home begins. For the next two weeks we are trying to find somewhere to store the camper for the next year, booking flights home and organize ourselves for our return trip. Otranto, Puglia. Monday 13th June 2011. I’m off to school. Tom doubles me in on the scooter. He goes back and has a swim. ... read more

I'm tired, i'll put all the pics tomorrow. see you, alessandra... read more