Italy |
Italy - August 2001
A Post Card from
Nancy Acevedo
Our villa in Tuscany is surrounded by olive groves and vineyards
-- fantastic views in every direction. Had a fun day in Florence yesterday
-- saw David! [Ed. Note: Michelangelo's David]
E-Mail Post Script to Post Card
Glad you got the postcard - with the reputation of Italian mail service I wasn't sure any would get through, but
apparently they did
and in pretty good time also. Tuscany was great - lots of good, very reasonable Chianti; wonderful food; good company; delightful hill towns to visit. We did have a terrific few days in Venice before we flew home.
Italy - July 1999
V. Blitz
I walked into this one with my eyes wide
open knowing full well that Mercury
was going into retrograde as we left here and was in full retrograde the entire
time we were there. (Mercury in retrograde means confusion and
complications in travel and communications. I NEVER travel, throw parties,
or plan anything important during those times, if I can avoid it.) But
this was Bob's trip, so I kept my mouth shut, sat back and was determined to be
cool, enjoy the ride, and not be upset by strange things that would occur.
Regardless of what would happen, I was simply going to enjoy the adventure...and
I did!
We started out with thirteen people, including the "tour guide."
One went home on the third day with angina. (I use that term, "tour
guide", loosely. She is an art teacher who spoke fluent Italian from
living in Italy for two years, but who, I'm sure, has never been on a tour,
herself and has obviously never taken a course nor read a book on
"leadership", and who has only led one other tour to Italy...and it
showed.) Oh, yes, from the onset, it was obvious that she was flighty, scatter-brained,
disorganized, and NEVER on time (15 minutes to an hour late), and her only
redeeming quality is that she is a well-intentioned and truly NICE person.
And by golly THAT is something.
After the first three days in her entourage, I decided that she was not even a
very good ART teacher and that it was NOT in my best interest to follow her
around any more, so I dropped out to do my own thing. After all, I had
been to these three cities in 1986 and there were things I wanted to see that
were not on HER agenda. By the end of the trip, she only had three
"regulars" in her lectures. The others had had their fill of ART and said
so.
We started and ended our trip in Rome, and among the exciting things there for me
this time were the Roman Forum (which I returned to for a leisurely stroll), the
newly opened Golden Palace, which had been Nero's little home (after seeing the
frescoes of Pompeii, it was a disappointment, but I wouldn't have missed it), the
newly cleaned and restored Sistine Chapel (yes, they saved that ceiling and it's beautiful), and Puccini's opera, La Boheme, under the stars (we had to
walk
up the Spanish Steps to get there, and I made it, despite my bum knee!!!).
In Florence, I finally walked the Ponte Vecchio (that very old, wide bridge over
the Arno River with shops on either side and no cars), walked to the highest
point in the Boboli Gardens (it's on a small mountain), and visited an outdoor
showing of Botero's works...about three blocks of them. Botero is the
artist who does those fat, silly sculptures in dark gray metal and each one is so
large, it would take up my entire family room. You HAVE to smile when you
see them.
For me, the highlight of Venice is Venice, itself. I just like being there
and riding the water buses, regardless of where they are going. Bob had
brought his swim suit and was determined to swim at Ledo Beach. It's on an
island, so we had to take a water bus (an hour getting there and an hour to
return, and in addition, the walk to and from the beach was another 30
minutes)...all for a 15 minute swim. Two others came with us. We saw
two or three topless female sunbathers. Such fun!
A real thrill for me, was the thirty minute ride in a boat from our hotel dock
in Venice to the airport dock, never mind that I dropped the small purse
containing my passport and our tickets on the hotel dock in Venice. When
we called the hotel from the airport, it had already been found and the hotel
sent it to me in Rome the following day. (Mercury retrograde again).
Any time something went wrong on this trip, we just blamed it on Mercury in
retrograde and made a joke out of it. The worst thing, for me, was that my
lucky suitcase is history. The "pull" handle was broken off in
one of the transfers. I had been looking at that bag for the past couple
years thinking it should be replaced, reluctant to do so because it has served
me so well. But now the universe has spoken. A new bag it is!
ITALY
Anne Crosman
I visited southern Italy in November 2001 to help Italian friends harvest their olive crop. They live in the town of Gravina, an hour outside Bari, a port on the Adriatic Sea. It is a beautiful city, whose patron saint is St. Nicholas. The cathedral of St. Nicholas is gorgeous; nearby, in old town, is the Norman Castle, which attracts many tourists. I think I was the only American tourist! I'd visited once before in the summer of 1999, and seen no Americans. I consider this a definite plus. Bari also has a museum, which is well-nigh impossible to find. It has a grand collection of religious and secular art from the 10th-20th centuries. It is well-worth a visit. When I went, there were no other visitors. Walking along the port/city walls, which everyone does in the summer twilight, is also great fun. The light in the Mediterranean is just wondrous.
Assisi, Italy - May 1986
Vicky Blitz
In a monastery garden in Assisi
THINK GLOBALLY - ACT LOCALLY - PRAY FOR WORLD PEACE