Blogs from Italy, Europe - page 1591

Date: 29.12.2004 Destination: Pisa, Italy Day: 3 We reached Rome early in the morning. The night train is not as good as those in Germany, here it was more crowded and some of the passengers didn't care to make reservation, so they just sit places that are empty. We sat with a couple from Albania and they are the most talkative people I have ever met. We can't even have a short nap. After reaching Rome, we decided to go straight to Pisa which is a 3 hour journey instead of walking around Rome so tired. So, after checking into the hostel which is near the main train station, we sat a normal express train towards Pisa. Along the way, the ocean was just on the left side. Nobody was swimming because it is near winter. ... read more

Christmas in Vicenza For one who loves and appreciates not only food but talking, laughing and eating it too, Christmas with Ebe and family (the cousin of my father) in Vicenza, Italy is a gift to the palate and heart. I have just returned to Firenze after 2 full days of eating. Literally. Christmas, though very different than the Christmas my heart was fully missing with family in Connecticut, was still filled with the warmth of family. I was lucky enough to join in on the festivities-being lunch AND dinner, around which we cook, eat, chat, smoke (well, 75% of us), laugh, drink, chat and eat a bit more. My Vicentino family is wonderful and big and open. On Thursday when I arrived, my first meal was a steaming dish of pastina and instantly my ... read more

we checked-out of the wellington hotel at half-past three in the morning and trudged the paved streets of vincent square to london-victoria bus station. it was still dark outside and the inert air was very cold. good thing we layered our coats but our toes froze to popsicles after a few minutes. i wondered on how could i ever want to live in a cold country like this. but still, it would be nice to walk the streets in those knee-length high-heeled boots, multihued scarves and black trench coats and look like kate beckinsale with snowflakes on my nose. my legs are feeling much better now and i decided not to use the damn insoles lest another drama ensues. on our walk to the bus station, we saw a lot of people sleeping on the doorsteps ... read more

December 16th, 2004 Along with a glass of milk, I just ate the green, sugar crystal-speckled head of a molasses reindeer. I shared a confection-sugar coated almond cookie with my flat mate who closed her eyes to savor, and I smiled thinking of my mother. Christmas. Downtown, the church bells are ringing deep and far above us, there is the Romanian street band playing in Piazza Republica around the corner, behind me in the busy street passers-by pause by a video and music presentation that takes up an entire store-front, a hip advertisement strategy. Today I had lunch with my nephew and climbed 463 stairs to witness a birds eye view of a very misty and hauntingly quiet Firenze from Ghiberti’s dome. At the top of this stone magnificence, breathless, he proposed to his girlfriend. My ... read more

December 5-9 Letting the music sing me to sleep one restless evening, I decided to change the equalizing filter from “hip hop” to “jazz” and experienced sounds I had never before heard within songs I’d listened to hundreds of times. All of a sudden, I was paying attention to percussive rhythms in the backdrop, small sets that have, until this moment, remained present but out of my awareness-seemingly unnoticed. What a difference, a completely different perspective, a whole new song, the same song. A new song. I can’t forget this-how adjusting the filter, the view, the glass, the lens, can offer newness and renew purpose. What made me want to come to Italy so strongly and passionately has not been lost, but the perspective has changed with the change in perspective. There is no longer a ... read more