It all seems like a dream now, Florence. I only just got earthed yesterday, as I spent a couple of days in a pure daze after returning. The heightened views, the bumpy green rolling mountainous Tuscan hills, warm green olive groves, ancient architecture, towering grand towers and domes, the flowing old river, the history in the elegant, narrow streets, and gorgeous gardens... it was all so sublime. Whenever I was in a museum, I thought of my friend Ingrid, her love of collections/archives, and it made me appreciate the whole experience even more. I took photos galore of museums that I simply passed in the street and libraries too - the buildings alone were stunning, and it made me sad that often in the UK, libraries and archives are not housed and valued with the same permanence and care and reverance. The libraries I came across included: a converted ancient church, and a grand, classical, mediterrannean stone creation, with palm trees and great stone statues with trumpets to fanfare the very place. The above photo is of the Borgello sculpture museum, which was incredible. And, of course, we went to Uffizi. I amazed myself by firstly not only successfully boarding a plane and staying on it for two hours without giving in to all-consuming panic (!!!), but also scaling the ever so narrow, tiny confines of the winding stone steps of the Campanile. The sign said 414 steps to the top, and I wasn't sure I could go ahead with it, but forced myself. It's not so much vertigo, just the confined space and the experience of climbing wide steps with such sharp turns (people coming down the stairs as you go up), and going up up up not able to turn back or retreat at all. Luckily, there are several stages where you can pause to look at the view, which made it more feasible. Many photos were taken of the stunning views, and I really enjoyed it once I was up there. We were blessed with such good, sunny weather. It was even balmy at times! It was exactly what I had been craving in our harsh UK winter (and spring). I felt so healthy, relaxed, happy, carefree. The many gorgeous gardens with so much going on inside (ponds with statues, carefully crafted islands with walkways, and other adornments, ancient coffee-houses, flora, churches, terraces, arbours, terracotta, museums, mazes, walls, and so on) were such a panacea. I was in my element here. Since my beau prefers city holidays, and I love my natural environs, gardens and green open spaces are important. I hadn't seen such elaborate, amazing gardens since Seville's tropicalia. I'm sure I'll 'zine about the holiday in much more depth and care soon. For now, I'll just end by saying how well we ate and drank and delighted in Italy. My second visit to the country, and I can't wait for future visits. I came home with souvenirs of the vegetable variety, because Italy is one of the best climates for food growing (and because other souvenirs are general. I brought home from a friendly little market stall, a bunch of tiny, sweet little red tomatoes on the vine, plus a pepper that was both yellow and green as it naturally would be (unlike the UK's extremely cultivated/possibly force-ripened/sprayed veg); a pepper that was so gargantuan I had to hold it with two hands! Ah, the bliss of the mediterrannean...
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AthemauraEnthusiastic about 'zines, libraries, gardening in the city, independent book shops/record shops/cafes, vegetarian and vegan, London in all its variety, local living/community. Archives
November 2014
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