SICILY - WHEN CAN I COME BACK TO YOU?

I thought I should make a post while still in the south of Italy before my flight back up to Milan.  It is cheaper and takes far less time to fly from Sicily to Milan so I am doing it.  There is so little time left.  How is it that time speeds up at the end of a journey?  And it really speeds up when you are feeling well and in warmer weather.  It seems like more magic happens.   The flow flows better.

I bumped into him in the outdoor market my first day in Palermo.  That's a big pig.

I finally got a concrete answer as to ferries to Sicily then also called the ferry company. It is an overnight boat and as it is not yet season it was not full.  I could kick back and get a bit of shut-eye.  I also had booked a hostel so knew where I was going when I arrived at 7:00 in the morning.  It was a nice vibe hostel with friendly staff and my room had only two beds which is great but unfortunately my delicate nose had a problem.  A cat had decided to claim its territory with its spray.  It wasn't a big problem.  I was out and about most of the time taking photos and buying fresh asparagus and artichokes at the wonderful outdoor market in the city.  After two nights I left and was hosted by a delightful fellow and author of True Crime Novels (#3 on the best seller kindle list), Daniel from Ireland.  He gave me his bed in his loft and took the sofa downstairs for a few nights leaving me on my own during the days to wander the streets shooting photos.  I even got some scooter rides and went to a Sunday asado in the suburbs (Asado is BBQ for those reading non-Argentinos.)

Now many think of Sicily and especially Palermo as gritty and dark and filled with Mafia mayhem but I did not find that to be the case.  I found the people wonderful with so many smiles and the neighborhoods diverse with lots of KEBAB places.  If murder and mayhem is going on it is behind closed doors.  I understand that the M guys don't flaunt.  They prefer a more stealth presence.

After several days in Palermo I hopped on a bus to the other side of the island.  I went to Catania which was a truly great experience.  I had a host that I found through Couchsurfing.  I saw his profile and knew it was to be a great connection.  (Little did I know we have the same friends.)  In fact, he responded in about 15 minutes.  In his response he wrote that he could host me one night in the city but then he couldn't unless I wanted to move over to the beach house. YES YES YES!  I am not one that is interested in clubbing at night.  A beach house with calm and quiet was PERFECT.  I got to join in with his family and the puppy Argo and the guests from England (a documentary filmmaker and a ceramic artist in their 70's) that were renting one of the floors of the family house.  We harvested mussels from the sea, drizzled lemon juice over them from lemons grown on the property, enjoyed local wines and totally enjoyed the marvelous space.  Blessed is the word I am inserting here, I felt so blessed.

After three nights I was brought back to the city of Catania and needed to form another plan knowing my departure from Sicily and Italy in it's whole was imminent   Oh I so didn't want to leave the sunshine and warmth.  I chose to go to a hostel in Syracuse (Siracusa)  for two days to see the ruins.  It has been raining and icky thus allowing me more time to form a plan for my last days.and also to rest a bit.  My plan is now formed.  I take the bus in the morning to the airport in Catania and a flight to Milan then two trains to Seregno.  I have a host there that teaches history and psychology and loves visitors.  It is a city that is well connected for visiting Milan and Lake Como PLUS the weather forecast calls for a few good sunny weather days up there.  The forecast is pouring rain for my last two days in Italy but my memories will still shine like the sun.

This visit went too fast. Life goes too fast.  Carpe Diem!

Tomorrow will be a long day so I will sign this horrid writing off for now.  I just needed to write whether good or bad as the Sicily moment needs to end in the AM.

So tired.... Ciao 4 NOW.

GRIT, SPIT AND PRETTY BLUE SEA

I love Napoli. It is a crazy, noisy, gritty place and it is ALIVE! You have to go to Napoli. I don't know if I can describe it in words in such a short space so a few photos will have to do. There are steep narrow streets of living, curving and damp with very large extended families and with shrines to saints, relatives, pets at every turn. Oh and the laundry hanging everywhere above and at path level and sometimes draped over temporarily deceased motorcycles and scooters. The ride to be resurrected with Neapolitan ingenuity, a few stolen parts, some duct tape and bubblegum. Yes Naples is GRIT and SPIT and their team colors are the same as Argentina.

Easter was a family dinner, then more family then out with friends to have drinks in the piazza. It was like being back in Buenos Aires in the fall with people in scarves and coats feeling damp all crammed around tables and talking for hours. It is not so much about the drinks, it is about being together with friends. The day after Easter was more consumption with friends bringing leftovers and new dishes to sit around the kitchen table and nosh all day. I had not known this but the day after Easter, the Monday is a holiday. The people need an extra day to eat and drink and laugh and yell. What fun!

 

After the long weekend it was time for me to move on and out of the gritty city. I took a little train south to Sorrento. I booked a hostel for five nights (as I write this is my sixh as I asked for one more so that I could coordinate my passage to Sicily). I am actually in the town outside of Sorrento which is lovely and quieter. Sorrento is also lovely but with more things including people.  I highly recommend it.

It was so nice to get a communication my first night from a local couchsurfer to meet for a drink. He texted me and noted to wear something warm. I have that motorcycle coat with me for a reason (insert happy face). Giuseppe arrived with his vintage 1972 Vespa to bring me on a little night tour. I loved it. Not only does he know all about the area he is also a very talented travel photographer. I could take some tips from him. I am impressed. When I get a link to a web site I can post it. Giuseppe is also setting up a new business for people that want to see the famous Amalfi Coast on the back of a vintage Vespa. Well I think that would be one of the best ways to do it, absolutely, but not by renting one of your own. Please go with Giuseppe! It is off season now but in a month the road will be crowded and full of people that are driving motos and scooters, and cars without knowing the traffic patterns. Not to mention locals in trucks and buses. You need a knowledgeable driver.  Unfortunately Giuseppe's work schedule and my Patt is a Tourist schedule didn't collide for a full day on the coast and as usual I made my way. My first full day I took the boat to the island of Capri and back. It was beautiful but I preferred my next day, The Famous Amalfi Coast and Another Adventure with Patt. (Is that being redundant?)

I purchased a full day hop on hop off bus ticket and nabbed a window seat on the sea side. I put my headphones on and listened to Andrea Bocelli's Viaggio Italiano as we rode around treacherous curves with stunning water and jagged rocks below. I started to cry! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. What a beautiful experience. Instead of hopping off in Positano I stayed on until Amalfi where I found out that having the full day ticket (less than 10 USD) entitled you to take one of those open air tourist buses with an audio narration of the history all the way up to Ravello. BONUS - start to cry again... NOOOO. Jump up and down. An American friend I know from living in Uruguay a few years ago had told me to go to the Villa Chimbrone when I was up there and I am so glad that I did. What a wonderful view, what a wonderful afternoon.

Back in Amalfi I wandered around taking photos and rlaxed in the sun and when I was hungry and thirsty I hopped on the bus to Positano. I had decided that I just wanted to sit at a cafe, overlook the sea and have a glass of wine and an antipasto. That would be my Positano ending to a perfect day. Too bad I didn't have anyone to share the experience. Enter Fred...

I had a spare seat next to me on the bus. I thought it odd that no one was taking it but then an American asked if it was free. He was traveling alone. We had such fun talking. The one liner vibe was on for both of us so I said, “Do you have one of those all day bus tickets? Why don't you get off in Positano and join me for a drink?” He did. We walked around looking for a place and asked a police officer where to overlook the sea. "Go up" she said. We looked into the open entrance to a hotel and decided that was the spot. It turned out to be the most expensive hotel in Positano. It really was gorgeous. Fred will never forget me, especially after he gets his credit card statement. I stopped at the front desk to get a brochure. $$$$$ Yesterday I returned to Positano just to see the beach area and learned the history of the hotel. I was sitting on a wall and was approached by an elderly Italian with a Scottish accent, Salvatore. He has houses in both Positano where we was raised and Scotland. He comes down to the beach to chat a lot since his wife passed away. He is a wealth of information and history. I had asked for another angel to show up in Positano. I smiled to myself.  

Then came the response to my next request to the heavens. After Salvatore shared conversation I "asked" for some eating and drinking company. That didn't look like it was going to happen and I felt like hiking out away from the shops and beach anyway. I hiked up and up knowing that I would eventually find the cross in the road and the bus stop coming down into Positano from Sorrento. At the curve there was a small cafe and out in front was a couple from Georgia, Paul and Becky. They were drinking white wine and watching the people go by and having fun. I double checked in the bar if I was in the right spot for the bus and chatted with them. When my bus came it was FULL from the stops before.  It would not stop to get more passengers. I would have to wait another half hour for the next one and hope that one wasn't full too. Paul and Becky invited me to stay at their villa as they had an extra room and to join them for a pasta dinner. I started laughing so hard.  My drinking and eating buddies - haaa. I was so tempted to say yes but they were half in the pot already and it would take a bit for me to catch up, also I needed to get back and extend my hostel a night and start figuring out passage to Sicily. The bus came going in the other direction and the traffic officer yelled to me GET ON! THEN GET OFF THE NEXT STOP. YOU HAVE BETTER CHANCES. Oh she was so right!

Well this is getting be a book and it is just a blog post. Things are speeding up now. I have 20 days left and I am in warmer weather. The cold slows me down. My vibe is always so much better when I am not all condensed and bundled. Thank God for the change of season. What next adventure awaits along Patt's path?  Who knows?  I cannot get a consistent answer of where I need to catch the ferry back in Naples to Palermo, Sicily tomorrow night backpack in tow.  Yes - life is an adventure.

Stay tuned... 

Ciao 4 NOW.  I have to find a hostel online to book.  My connection for a host in Palermo just fell through but all is not said and done.  One must stay flexible....

And the ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY is BICCHIERE = GLASS because after I finish proofreading and correcting all the typing errors (it is not easy writing on a netbook) I am going to need one or two of VINO ROSSO! 

CONIGLIETTO = BUNNY

Shoot. In my last post from Umbria I forgot to include a ITALIAN WORD OF THE DAY so at the end I will give you two.

Where am I now? I am in Napoli and it is Easter. After two weeks in Umbria I headed to the big city of Rome. I had an Argentine friend there trying to get her Italian passport. She saw me on Facebook and said COME TO ROME FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY. I did but she could not connect to me. We will have to wait until Buenos Aires to reunite and have a very belated birthday toast.

Having changed my plans to arrive a few days earlier to Rome and then be without housing with Laura had me scrambling to find a host or hostel. I wasn't too panicked. I came up with Plans A through E. I have learned that when something comes up you just take care of it. Not just in travel but pretty much everything. I put a post on Couchsurfing's Emergency Couch forum and was contacted by Marcello, a cyclist, volunteer EMT, karate instructor, runner and all around straight laced honest guy. He met me at the station in Rome on my birthday, got me settled in my own little room, introduced me to his two Russian roommates (girls studying in Italy for a year), handed me the keys and a pile of maps and off I went to the catacombs nearby. It was a perfect introduction to Rome outside the historic touristy area. 

Friday was another fantastic day. I dressed in layers and peeled them off as the weather got warmer and warmer. I had taken a subway into the Colosseum stop very early as there was a transportation strike beginning at 8:30 am. This is my first photo of the old city as I emerged from the station.

It felt quite surreal to me. My last visit to Rome was 33 years ago. I was amazed at how much the Colosseum had shrunk. In fact the whole city shrunk. I think the vast amounts of tourists dwarfed things. Thirty years ago there were definitely less tourists. You could actually go to the Trevi fountain and take a photo without a ton of camera totting foreigners getting in the way of the shots. I am so glad I was here before the onslaught but still if I had to find one word for Rome it would be IMPRESSIVE. There are layers upon layers. You take a photo of one thing and another is peaking through your frame and that really is IMPRESSIVE.

Into my fifth hour of walking I was down to my second layer. I had been thinking, “What a great day for a motorcycle ride.” My cell phone rang and it was a Peruvian couchsurfer living in Rome with the afternoon off from work and a motorcycle. He came to pick me up and we went to the beach. I have never thought of Rome as a beach area but it does have beaches and sailboats.

On Sunday I joined a group of Marcello's fellow GEOCACHERS at a lake, the one by where the former Pope now lives, the summer residence. And Monday Ii was contacted by a Swiss war correspondent living in Rome for 25 years. He also had seen by SOS. Though I did not need a place to stay I told him a tour would be nice so we met early in the morning and I was taken by car high above the city  We then visited some nearby lakes.  Of course I had a lunch of porcetta.

The story beyond the story.  The accordion player counts his change while the lovers count their kisses.

Rome was pretty busy for me but I was done after a week. Easter meant locals leaving the city to spend the weekend with family in other regions of the country.  I lost my couch in Rome but I did find a decent hostel in Naples. I also made a new friend. Valeria is also a couchsurfer close to my age. She has a photograph news agency. We had dinner the other night at her home.  I ate my first rabbit. I am not sure how I feel about that having raised them as pets as a child. Well, I will get over it. Valeria has also invited me for Easter dinner with her family. It will be a typical Neapolitan menu. I will sleep there tonight. I already have an amazing cake from the bakery. It is sitting here next to me. When the rain stops I will head over to her place with my backpack and cake. I am really looking forward to it.

So that is it for now. I am out of time. As promised the ITALIAN WORD(S) OF THE DAY - PASQUA = EASTER and CONIGLIETTO = BUNNY. Enjoy!

PS  I like Naples.  While Rome is impressive Naples is gritty and chaotic.  I don't want to make this post too long.  Perhaps I will write a separate article.  I feel as if this is where the Argentine Italians came from.  (Maradona just left the other day.)  People are so friendly, boys play futbol at cocktail parties while the girls in their high heels act coy, people are louder and they talk with their hands and yell, and the men catch your eyes in the streets.  Yes - I feel my Argentina here.  I so wish I had brought my national rugby shirt.  Perhaps I can find a little flag to sew on my day pack.  Valeria tells me that I would be hugged everywhere I go in the city.  Saluti!

REOCCURRING BEDSIDE ANGELS

Comfortably relaxing in bed in Florence Italy I got to thinking. When I was a budding young teenager my parents took me to Marco Island, FL.  Back in the early 70's there were only one or two condominium complexes over two stories high and except for the white sanded beaches the place was essentially a mosquito ridden dredging pit.  My parents had their agenda which was to check out investment opportunities and I headed for the pool.  Donned in my blue string bikini I swam and frolicked and soaked up the sun for five way-too-many-without-sunscreen hours.  I spent the rest of that week vomiting from sun exposure and blistering up in a very painful and ugly fashion.  If the sun poisoning wasn't bad enough worse was that I wasn't able to leave the condo.  I was reduced to precariously sitting on my butt (the small bit of it that had been covered by the string bikini) and watching the Watergate hearings on TV.  To a budding teen that was painful. The message?  I know what it is like to be miserable on vacation.  I am not miserable.  I have had the flu.

 My First Florence Hotel left a lot to be desired - LIKE AMPLE HEAT AND SUN!

Hmm... that statement makes me ponder.  Is this a vacation and if so a vacation from what?  I have been a NOMAD since July 2011 when I packed all my things in Buenos Aires into boxes, put them in storage and headed to Spain.  I have been back for short visits but not long enough to unpack yet.  I think this is now what one would call "A LIFESTYLE."

To catch ya up... since my last post I went from Padova where my headaches started to Vicenza where my wheezing started to Rovigo where the full flu blew up to Modena where I started to turn the corner.  All of these three day stops were with couchsurfing hosts/angels.  After Modena I said to myself, "That's it."  I really dislike arriving to a host with the premise of wanting to spend time with them and see their local sights (ALL TRUE) but not really having the energy to do much more than sleep and cough up and blow out massive amounts of phlegm.  I decided to go online and book a hotel in Florence in order to be on my own time and my own dime.  I had arranged for a host in Florence but the deal was I would be given a sleeping bag and a place of the floor.  Thank you Che but I need to decline now.  I need a bed.

I booked a cheap one star hotel with breakfast included for three nights.  Beauty and frills made no difference to me.  I would be sleeping most of the time anyway.  I just needed a clean place with a private bath and hot shower, heat and wifi and that's what I got.  It was adequate for three nights but then I switched over to something more simpatico and quaint.  When the manager opened the door to my room I said YES!!!!!!  THIS is what I need.  The first afternoon in the room I became a cat in the sun just soaking it in until the earth moved it beyond my window.  How sublime.  How perfect.  Healing under the Tuscan Sun.   MEOW  PURR.

Later I went out for a walk and to get some snacks and came upon this fellow.  Just walk down any alley here and turn left or right and fall into art.  It really is quite amazing.  The "other" David resides indoors at the Galleria dell'Accademia.  This one is for us peasants without a museum pass.

I am feeling quite well now.  I just have a tinge of under-the-weather-ness.  My left ear is blocked from all the congestion.  That just requires patience.  The pharmacist has sold me what I need.  It is similar to what my doctor in Buenos Aires prescribed to me when I got the flu last year.  It thins out all the gunky stuff so your body can absorb and assimilate it better.  I think I have done well.  I have subscribed myself to Patience.  

There is a piece though, just a tiny piece of me that feels guilty.  Ah but remember the sunburn story.  Sometimes you best just sit for a spell.  Healing takes some time.  I spoke to the hotel owner yesterday when she helped settle me in.  I told her, "People are watching me and my travels, where I go, what I do and how I handle things. There's a part of me that feels that I am paying for a hotel in Florence and therefore I should be out and about looking at all the art and architecture and running all over the city doing everything possible. But I say no, I have time.  I am going to have this cup of tea and wrap up in bed with a good book or lecture on my computer and relax.  After all, all that art and architecture has waited centuries for me to come and see it.  It can wait a little longer."  Sunday should be 60F and sunny.  Let's hope weather dot com is right this time.  I am ready.

I am signing out from Florence now.  Enjoy the weekend wherever you are.

Oh and before I forget...

Today's Italian word is CALDO = HOT as in tea.

Time to put the kettle on.

(TWINNINGS Blackcurrent Tea - Buy some.)

Side photo is of my digs in Toledo Spain in July 2011 when i house sat for a couchsurfing couple going on vacation.  Notice the angels above the bed.  :)

COLD HEARTS ON VALENTINE'S DAY

I arrived to Padova and took a bus to my host's apartment.  Julia is a Polish girl that was raised in Venice.  She had much to tell me.  I was jointly hosted by her roommate Valentino and her cat.  A great cat.  Lovely hosts.  I just had one slight problem.  From the moment I arrived to the train station I had (and still have) a terrible headache.  My eyes burn and I have developed a funny cough.  It is so cold for me in Italy this time of year, inside and outside of buildings, but I don't think it is a flu.  It might be something I have picked up riding public transportation but I felt better yesterday in Venice walking around.  I think maybe it is the air in Padova.  I did go into the town alone on Valentine's Day to take some photos but honestly, my eyes and head hurt so much that I didn't take many.  Although cold and a bit miserable I did find HEART(s).

Yesterday was my day to return to Venice without the crowd of people for carnival.  I was blessed with sunshine.  Once again I have the time now to make and upload a video slideshow before returning to Vicenza and my host Denis.  I left my cell phone charger at his place so he gets to see me one more night.  I joked with him that I missed his cooking.  But it isn't a joke!!!!  Tomorrow night I am not sure where I will be.   I have couch requests into people in Milan and in Bologna, two different directions entirely, but I have not heard any replies.  Today I feel like a real vagabond.

NOTE!  In case you haven't seen it I have a separate page on the blog for my VIDEO CREATIONS.  (LOOK ABOVE FOR THE TAB)  I can only post a few photos within a blog post so I thought making slideshows would be a good way to share my photos.

Well this is a short post for today because my fingers are freezing.  There is a heating system in this apartment but they don't turn it on.  The radiators are ice cold.  Julia went to Milan last night for a couchsurfing event and her roommate is asleep so I can't ask anyone to please put up the heat.  I need GUANTI with the fingertips cut off so I can continue to type more... But I need to eat something anyway and get to the Italian word of the day: FERMATA = BUSTOP.

Hot food, hot food...I will reheat the pasta I made last night and that will surely help.  Here is wishing for an early WARM SPRING!

DEAR ARTIST DON'T LEAVE ME

And now a moment to write, edit and create some slide videos to share the incredible photos that keep appearing miraculously in my camera.  There must be some ancient soul possessing my shutter finger because it amazes me what I find when I upload them to my little netbook.  Whoever you are dear artist spirit don't leave me, please stay and use me.  I am in delight!

It has been snowing the last two days in Vicenza therefore indoors safe and dry is where I am staying.  I have been blessed with perfect timing even with the weather (knock wood) in that I have had sunny afternoons to explore.  My host Denis has been a fantastic tour guide.  I have seen things that I never would have seen on my own and as we went here and there even villas usually closed to the public have spontaneously opened for us to wander their grounds.

Friday afternoon I went into the old city on my own to visit several of the museums.  Later in the evening guests were invited to the apartment for dinner.  What a lovely evening of laughter and good food.  I did some muscle testing demonstrations which got my host even more curious so last night we had another small gathering.  We started earlier so that I could give a little informal class. "You have been in my house for four days and only now you are showing me this?"  haaaaa  Well...you have been teaching me.  Now it is my turn to share what I know.  Let's have fun.  And it was a great deal of fun.

But backing up again... Saturday was a fantastic day.  I was awoken to the shutters being raised and a loud "GOOD MORNING AMERICA!  TIME TO WAKE UP.  WE HAVE A ROMANTIC TOUR TODAY.  YOU HAVE ONE HALF HOUR TO GET READY."   That's quick.  I washed my face, downed an espresso  got my contact lenses in and we were off to see Romeo's Castle and its neighbor's Juliet's.  What a gorgeous day for touring.  The views were stunning from atop Juliet''s Castle.  Although it is winter here it is still beautiful.  In the spring it must be simply intoxicating.

SERENDIPITA' was the Italian word of the day = SERENDIPITY.  Denis received a call on his cell phone from an old friend who extended to us an invitation for lunch. We were to go to a private home in Padova en route back to Vicenza but we were finished at the castles much earlier. 

“And there upon he drew a dial from his poke and looking on it with lack-lustre eye says very wisely, 'It is ten o'clock:  Thus we may see', quoth he, 'how the world wags:  'Tis but an hour ago since it was nine and after one hour more 'twill be eleven;  And so from hour to hour we ripe and ripe,  And then from hour to hour we rot and rot.” 

(Sorry - wrong Shakespeare play but my favorite piece to recite.)

We had some spare time and were simply driving on a street in back of a wonderful villa and... the gate was open.  We parked and went in, chatted with the caretaker and we were allowed to wander at will. It was so lovely.  Thank you gods of chance.  Once again you have opened the doors and gates to earthly heavens.

At Denis's friend's home there were more delights.  I would love to post several photos of this beautiful property but there simply isn't space.  I was in Joy Joy with the fellows cooking together, sharing wonderful wine, telling stories and engaging in conversation and (ha) tasting grappa.  I was glad that I was not the one driving back to Vicenza. Those raisins after steeping for along time in alcohol can give you a sweet "relaxed" feeling especially after a delicious lunch.  (We had sauteed dandelion greens among other flavorful delicacies.)

Later in the afternoon two other couchsurfers arrived for only one night.  The young women were friends living in Ireland yet one was an Italian from the north and the other from Misiones, Argentina.  It was so much fun to speak in castellano again and laugh all together.  We bundled ourselves up and Denis guided us through the old city so that we could see it at night.  The Basilica was breathtaking.  In the morning I applied my carnival mask make up, said goodbye to the girls and headed off to Venice for the day blessed with the last day of FULL SUN.  

Venice was PACKED with people.  It was incredible.  I had been warned that it would not be the time for taking photos of the city because there would be way too many people there.  The warnings held true so although I was tempted to walk the side streets to capture scenes of the buildings and canals my wiser practical side of my brain said, "NO - there will be so many costumes and fantastic masks.  Save the camera battery.  Follow the crowd to Piazza San Marco and shoot!"  OK!  Maybe it wasn't the more practical part of my mind.  Maybe it was the ancient one that has commanded my shutter finger and photographic eye.  I let the crowd suck me in and we went in mass through the small side streets in procession to the square.  It was stupendous.  I am a great lover of costuming formerly having three sewing machines, a dress dummy and bolts and bags of fabric.  I used to spend joyous hours, even days creating in the spare studio room of my house.  All those things are now gone as I am a nomad muse with few things but the spirit inside me will never fade.  I always thought that in a past life I lived in the Renaissance and wore garb of detail and great splendor.  Or perhaps I was a designer in those days creating whimsy and beauty.  All I know is that costuming makes me very, very happy and I surely was in great joy on Sunday.  And yes, I ran out of camera battery just as the sun was getting low in the sky and my fingers were too cold to continue.  (I lost a GUANTO.  Actually I didn't lose it.  I know where it is but I have yet to retrieve it from the house in Padova.)

Photographing carnival was such a treat.  I decided to concentrate on THE FACES.  To share the images better I have created a video slide show of my favorite shots.  I have uploaded it to youtube so all can enjoy the magic of Carnavale.  Feel free to share it.  I have also created a video for Vicenza and Verona also uploaded to youtube to share.  I hope you enjoy the images.  The Verona video I am going to go back into the post I did last week and put the link there, just page down from the main blog page or access the post from the side bar to the right.

Is life good?  Oh yes, even with the sleet and snow and cold.  The snow shall melt and clear away.  Tomorrow I move to Padova (half way between here and Venice) to stay with Julia, a couchsurfer born in Poland.  Carnival will be over (actually due to the weather and the flooding the last day was canceled anyway) and I will be able to go back into old the city to photograph without masses of people blocking my shots.

Well ok.... time for lunch.  It smells delicious.  Ah my senses!  Until next time.  Ciao.

Oh and here is a montage of photos of Vicenza - one of the most loveliest cities in northern Italy.  Enjoy!

DAMNED TO ETERNAL HELL

I don't even know where to begin and it has only been two days since my last post.  That sounds reminiscent of my childhood, "Bless me father for I have sinned.  It has been two days since my last confession."  Oh if eating wonderful home cooking and drinking in exquisite art and architecture is a sin then I will surely be damned to eternal hell.

I am in awe in Vicenza, even now in the winter when colorful blooms and burgeoning vines have yet to spill over the balcony flower pots. Yes, even when the blustery wind curls around a corner and bites you right in the nose.  Why?  Because the beauty of the building that the wind just whipped around can steal your breath away. The architectural mix of the city is simply magical.  Palladian homes and municipal structures sit side by side Venetian Gothic designs some on the same narrow cobbled streets.  And then there is the Olympic Theater... I sat inside it today facing the stage from the highest level of seating and I wept, just wept.  SIGH.

But let me pull myself back from being "whelmed" before I float off and into some thought of a magnificent painted ceiling of heaven or "something".  Let me get us up to date. I left Verona and came by train to Vicenza on Tuesday afternoon.  My host Denis was at the station waiting for me and brought me home to settle in and relax over coffee.  Good coffee.  Moka brewed coffee.  Nice.  He offered me his couch for a week or so so that I could see not only Vicenza but also Venice.  Venice is a fairly easy train ride from here but not an easy place to find a host.  It's better to make the commute.

Wednesday morning Denis treated me to a fantastic guided tour of the old city.  He knows so much history and tells the tales with such flare.  I only wish that I knew when a story was about to begin so that I could switch over to video and record the lesson.  After we stopped for lunch at home and then I was whisked off to the countryside to view more sights including two Palladian villas.  This for me was so special because I would never have seen those places without a local host.  Hail Chef Denis!  Blessed are the COOKSURFERS and guides for they shall inherit a lot of sincere thank you's!

Having that guided tour yesterday morning truly helped me today.  I didn't get lost. I walked into town on my own, purchased a museum pass and checked out the open air market.  "WHY WHY WHY,"  I asked myself, "didn't I come with an EMPTY backpack to Italy?"  The clothes at the market were fabulous, fashionable and inexpensive.  Cashmere, angorra, wraps, sweaters, dresses,  scarves, etc. with design and style.  I bought a fuzzy WARM hat.  In the selection process I dropped my gloves, then my sunglasses, then my glasses, then my gloves again.  Each time a different impeccably dressed mature woman touched my arm and said in Italian, "Signora, you dropped your (fill in the blank) ________. The women of Vicenza are gracious, elegant, and attentive and they simply loved my choice of headwear.  The hat goes with my new heavy sweater and furry legwarmers. Browsing the markets today I looked as if I should be in a ski resort an not in the city of Vicenza but hey, I am warmer than before and that is good.  Cold and I don't agree.

Later in the day today after lunch I visited several museums and the interior of the Teatro Olimpico, the place where I wept.  Photos do not do it justice. Photos don't do any of this beauty justice. You must come to Vicenza.  You must come and be in 3D.  If it is not on your bucket list then put it on and don't wait long to take it out of the bucket.

I am a bit tired and am cutting this short and going to sleep.  I have been walking a lot (YEY).  I need to because Denis is an amazing cook,

And... The Italian word of the day is GUANTO = GLOVE.  Perhaps I should get some little clasps and clip them to my sweater sleeves.  I would hate to lose them.  I need them.  And it seems like I will continue to need them.  Denis just came out to tell me that this next week is supposed to be the coldest of the entire winter.  Laughing he added "You might be here two weeks instead."   BRRRRRR