Sunday, December 24, 2006
Ten Years Ago Today (er, a few days late)
This feature kind of fell by the wayside, didn't it? On Sunday, I dug out my Italy journal one more time and came across this account of visiting Neuschwanstein with Melinda. As I poked around in the journal some more, I discovered that the day of my leaving Florence ten years ago corresponded with the day of my leaving the Bay area this year. Kind of a cool parallel. Anyway, here's my journal entry from Dec. 17. I would illustrate with some hilarious pictures, but my scanner is in a box somewhere. (You can say the same about most of my belongings at this point.)
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Fussen, Germany ~ Bed & Breakfast ~ 11:23pm ~ Dec. 17th, 1996
Tonight is the last night Mel and I will have together! Tomorrow at this time, she will be on her way to Budapest, and I will be waiting in Munich for a train to Florence. It’s so strange--I still can’t really imagine that I’m leaving. I don’t want this to end. The past few days have been so good--Austria, Prague, here...! I don’t want to go back to lovely, smoggy, dirty LA! [Heh. Not too excited about that now, either!] Today was so wonderful. We got into Munich at 6:30 and hopped on a 6:50 train to Buchloe, then a regional train from there to Fussen. It was so beautiful, the sunrise, the trees covered in frost, the countryside and little houses in a blanket of snow! This area is just incredible. We are in the Bavarian Alps--they are just right there off in the distance, covered in snow!
We got into Fussen at 9am and began to walk to the youth hostel. We kept on walking...and walking...we passed this little place that said “Zimmer Frei”--rooms free--and so we thought we’d ask if it was the hostel or where the hostel was. Turns out that the hostel is closed for renovations until Dec. 27th. [Here you have a representative example of how well we planned in advance!] But, it was a nice bed & breakfast we stopped at, some people were just leaving and said it was very nice [lots of nice here]...so we’re staying here! It is awesome to see how things have worked out so well. (Apart from my losing things everywhere! But I’m not going to go into that!) [Heehee. I had managed to lose both my gloves and my camera case in Salzburg--possibly more items that I can’t remember now. I was very sad for the loss of those gloves!] We dropped off our luggage here and Mel took a shower, then it was off to the town to buy groceries and exchange money before catching the bus to Neuschwanstein. We got there and were so clueless as to where to go or what to do! The castle was way up the hill and we didn’t know how to get there!
We saw that a bunch of other people had gotten onto horse carriages which set out up the hill. So we went over there and got on the next one. We sat there and then noticed where the trail up the hill was...debated as to whether to take the horse carriage up and walk down or vice versa...I just wanted to stay where we were, but Mel wanted to hike...we went back and forth with our reasons and ended up getting out like indecisive fools (which I guess we are!) and heading over to the trail. We walked up to the castle through the trees and woods in the snow, catching glimpses of the castle through the tree branches. We got up there and managed to join up with a group from a military base--I think we got a better tour than we would have otherwise. The guy was so nice, went in and bought our tickets along with the rest of his group’s, let us tag along on their tour...it was [wait for it...] rad! We started at 12:15 and the other tour in English began at 12:30. They ended up passing us towards the end—we got to see more! After the castle tour, we hiked up to a bridge behind the castle. Or rather pulled ourselves up by the railing! The snow had not been cleared away and it was really packed down and slippery. But we made it to the bridge and looked out over the castle and the valley below, all covered in snow. It was so gorgeous I can’t even describe it. It was freezing cold but I’m so glad we came in the winter with the snow. It’s so beautiful! We crossed the bridge and tried to continue on, but the trail was covered in snow and we had no railing to even give us an indicator of where we were! We climbed around the hillside in the snow for a while, then headed back to the bridge. We stood there for the longest time, waiting for the sun to rise a little more and shine on the castle! It was so freezing--my hands and feet and face were numb! But the sun finally crept around and we took our pictures--many pictures!
On our hike back down to the castle, we had a rather interesting time. The snow was still very slippery and going downhill was much worse than going up! We slid down, clinging to the railing...I almost fell once, slipped, and grabbed the railing and kind of swung around under it...then a few yards later, slipped again and fell really hard on my butt! I landed on my hip and it hurt so bad! The ice was so hard! Mel was laughing at me until halfway down the next slope when she fell flat on her back! It was so hilarious--us sliding our way down the hill! [Could I use any more exclamation points?]
We got back to the castle, looked in the gift shop [the conclusion to any good activity], and then got on a horse carriage down to where we needed to catch the bus. That was cool, riding along past the trees and the snow, glancing back at the castle. We had 20 minutes or so before we needed to catch the bus, so after taking pictures with the carriage driver, we wandered down a street, walking over snow and looking at the alps in the distance behind little chalets and fields of pure white untouched snow.
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I can't believe I didn't narrate a couple of things here. On our way up the hill to the castle, we took a detour off the path to a less-travelled trail that looked like a shortcut. It was indeed a shortcut, but it required clambering over a more rugged, snow-covered and slippery route...after we struggled our way to the top, we found a sign marked “sommer-weg” = Summer way. Thanks for putting that at the top of the climb...
The other episode I left out: the stupid stuff we did while waiting on the bridge for the sun to come up. The Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland is modeled after Neuschwanstein. So, Melinda and I made all kinds of Prince Charming jokes and stood there singing “Someday My Prince Will Come”...we commented that perhaps we were actually waiting for a prince instead of for the sun to rise. There's a brand of cookies in Germany that have a prince on the wrapper, and we had been eating these cookies during our trip...I actually saved the cookie wrapper just so that I could use it on the corresponding page of my photo album. Again, I wish the scanner was out. The visuals are priceless, but you'll have to take my word for it at this point.
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Fussen, Germany ~ Bed & Breakfast ~ 11:23pm ~ Dec. 17th, 1996
Tonight is the last night Mel and I will have together! Tomorrow at this time, she will be on her way to Budapest, and I will be waiting in Munich for a train to Florence. It’s so strange--I still can’t really imagine that I’m leaving. I don’t want this to end. The past few days have been so good--Austria, Prague, here...! I don’t want to go back to lovely, smoggy, dirty LA! [Heh. Not too excited about that now, either!] Today was so wonderful. We got into Munich at 6:30 and hopped on a 6:50 train to Buchloe, then a regional train from there to Fussen. It was so beautiful, the sunrise, the trees covered in frost, the countryside and little houses in a blanket of snow! This area is just incredible. We are in the Bavarian Alps--they are just right there off in the distance, covered in snow!
We got into Fussen at 9am and began to walk to the youth hostel. We kept on walking...and walking...we passed this little place that said “Zimmer Frei”--rooms free--and so we thought we’d ask if it was the hostel or where the hostel was. Turns out that the hostel is closed for renovations until Dec. 27th. [Here you have a representative example of how well we planned in advance!] But, it was a nice bed & breakfast we stopped at, some people were just leaving and said it was very nice [lots of nice here]...so we’re staying here! It is awesome to see how things have worked out so well. (Apart from my losing things everywhere! But I’m not going to go into that!) [Heehee. I had managed to lose both my gloves and my camera case in Salzburg--possibly more items that I can’t remember now. I was very sad for the loss of those gloves!] We dropped off our luggage here and Mel took a shower, then it was off to the town to buy groceries and exchange money before catching the bus to Neuschwanstein. We got there and were so clueless as to where to go or what to do! The castle was way up the hill and we didn’t know how to get there!
We saw that a bunch of other people had gotten onto horse carriages which set out up the hill. So we went over there and got on the next one. We sat there and then noticed where the trail up the hill was...debated as to whether to take the horse carriage up and walk down or vice versa...I just wanted to stay where we were, but Mel wanted to hike...we went back and forth with our reasons and ended up getting out like indecisive fools (which I guess we are!) and heading over to the trail. We walked up to the castle through the trees and woods in the snow, catching glimpses of the castle through the tree branches. We got up there and managed to join up with a group from a military base--I think we got a better tour than we would have otherwise. The guy was so nice, went in and bought our tickets along with the rest of his group’s, let us tag along on their tour...it was [wait for it...] rad! We started at 12:15 and the other tour in English began at 12:30. They ended up passing us towards the end—we got to see more! After the castle tour, we hiked up to a bridge behind the castle. Or rather pulled ourselves up by the railing! The snow had not been cleared away and it was really packed down and slippery. But we made it to the bridge and looked out over the castle and the valley below, all covered in snow. It was so gorgeous I can’t even describe it. It was freezing cold but I’m so glad we came in the winter with the snow. It’s so beautiful! We crossed the bridge and tried to continue on, but the trail was covered in snow and we had no railing to even give us an indicator of where we were! We climbed around the hillside in the snow for a while, then headed back to the bridge. We stood there for the longest time, waiting for the sun to rise a little more and shine on the castle! It was so freezing--my hands and feet and face were numb! But the sun finally crept around and we took our pictures--many pictures!
On our hike back down to the castle, we had a rather interesting time. The snow was still very slippery and going downhill was much worse than going up! We slid down, clinging to the railing...I almost fell once, slipped, and grabbed the railing and kind of swung around under it...then a few yards later, slipped again and fell really hard on my butt! I landed on my hip and it hurt so bad! The ice was so hard! Mel was laughing at me until halfway down the next slope when she fell flat on her back! It was so hilarious--us sliding our way down the hill! [Could I use any more exclamation points?]
We got back to the castle, looked in the gift shop [the conclusion to any good activity], and then got on a horse carriage down to where we needed to catch the bus. That was cool, riding along past the trees and the snow, glancing back at the castle. We had 20 minutes or so before we needed to catch the bus, so after taking pictures with the carriage driver, we wandered down a street, walking over snow and looking at the alps in the distance behind little chalets and fields of pure white untouched snow.
--------
I can't believe I didn't narrate a couple of things here. On our way up the hill to the castle, we took a detour off the path to a less-travelled trail that looked like a shortcut. It was indeed a shortcut, but it required clambering over a more rugged, snow-covered and slippery route...after we struggled our way to the top, we found a sign marked “sommer-weg” = Summer way. Thanks for putting that at the top of the climb...
The other episode I left out: the stupid stuff we did while waiting on the bridge for the sun to come up. The Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland is modeled after Neuschwanstein. So, Melinda and I made all kinds of Prince Charming jokes and stood there singing “Someday My Prince Will Come”...we commented that perhaps we were actually waiting for a prince instead of for the sun to rise. There's a brand of cookies in Germany that have a prince on the wrapper, and we had been eating these cookies during our trip...I actually saved the cookie wrapper just so that I could use it on the corresponding page of my photo album. Again, I wish the scanner was out. The visuals are priceless, but you'll have to take my word for it at this point.
| posted by Barbara | 2:02 AM
| 
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Here we go again
Cinque Terre--Riomaggiore
October 18, 1996
We got up totally early this morning—well, 7am. [Heehee—I love my qualifier there, as I realized that 7:00 really wasn't THAT early.] We took a 7:51 train to Pisa, where we changed trains to go to La Spezia. In La Spezia we took another train to get to Riomaggiore--the 1st city in the Cinque Terre. It was so funny--we were in Pisa and had 5 minutes to get our connecting train. And over the speakers we hear--in Italian and English--that the train from Pisa to La Spezia requires a supplement. We're standing there with 5 minutes before the train leaves, the ticket office is a couple of platforms away...so we just got on the train! The ticket guy on the train was rad, [sigh.] though--he was telling us (in Italian) that we needed a supplement and this train was a rapido...but he was so nice! He was like "Just look next time and make sure. But this time--ok." [This is classic. We did this more times that I’d like to admit--playing the stupid Americans who didn't know they weren't supposed to take a rapido on the rail pass we had. But I have to admit that the conductors on the trains were much nicer about it than the ticket office personnel usually were when we went the prescribed route and got our passes validated ahead of time.]
Then we got to Riomaggiore and found the hostel. They had room and it's not too bad at all! [Our universally-pessimistic edition of the Rough Guide to Italy didn’t speak well of the place.] Then we wandered around a little...found that the path to the next city was closed because of a mud slide--=(! So we took the train to the next city--Manarola. We wandered down by the sea and just sat there for so long. It is so beautiful! The ocean is this awesome blue/green color--it doesn't even look real. And the waves are all crashing up on the rocks at the bottom of the cliffs--the spray and the foam are just pure white. And the sun was out, blue sky, totally beautiful day. From Manarola, we found the path to the next city--Corniglia. Oh! [I forgot something...] But first, we wandered around Manarola. Just up and around all these little streets and steps here and there. We sat next to a little church and looked out over the hills above the sea. It was so cute--all these little houses in pink and yellow--gingerbread houses, they looked like! And they're all just built on the hillside, wedged in there, stacked against each other.
We went on from there and hiked over to Corniglia. It ended up that we took the wrong trail, but it led down to these steps that went out to some rocks overlooking the sea. We sat there and ate our bread and cheese, a banana, and some cookies. We could see back to the city we'd just left and on ahead to Corniglia. There were all these dark clouds over Corniglia, but we were sitting in the sun. Then the clouds began to move, and Corniglia was in the sun, but we got rained on! It wasn't too bad until the wind picked up--then we were getting wet both from the rain and the spray from the waves, and practically getting blown off the cliff by this freezing cold wind! So we walked back up to the trail and on to the next village. It was so beautiful along the way--walking on this path along the sea, watching the sun glimmering on the water.
I think it was in Corniglia, but I'm not sure--no, it was in Manarola. [Getting ahead of myself again...] We went exploring up this little road and decided to walk up these stairs in the hillside. Turns out there's this whole series of steps leading up to and around a vineyard. We're climbing up these tiny stone steps and hiking around and under the grapevines...it was incredible! Then Melinda tried to find a different way down the hillside...she and Michelle ended up jumping across this ravine! I was too chicken to do it so I ended up sliding down the hill on my butt, trying to get down another way! [I totally remember this. I was so afraid I would jump and miss the other side. And it was total peer pressure, too--everyone else is doing it!! But I guess I passed the test of "if all of your friends were jumping off a cliff..."]
And then we went on to Corniglia. [I had to acknowledge the digression...] I guess most of our adventures today were in Manarola! Corniglia was really nice, too, though. We wandered some and then found a place to sit and watch the sunset. I have been so surrounded by nature and God's creation today! The sunset was really pretty. The sun behind a few clouds, casting a pink glow over the sky and pink glimmers on the water...slowly sinking down and then disappearing over the horizon. We sat there for a long time, just thinking and watching the sky and ocean. I watched the sun set over the Mediterranean Sea today! This is incredible to be here.
[Narration of the next day's hiking]
On our way to find the trail to Vernazza, we ran into our waiter from last night! We hiked with him and ran into some others along the way who were staying in the same youth hostel as us. So we all hiked together: Michael, the Scottish guy who was our waiter, 2 Australian guys, and two Canadian girls. It was really neat to talk with them about places they've been and where they want to go...nice to meet people that are fellow travelers. The hike was so incredible. The views out over the hills and the ocean were so beautiful. It was so cool, the trail led up through the hills, past all these little vineyards, there were a few people here and there, working in their vineyard. And there were olive groves as well...with little old men picking up the olives. They would all greet us and say "Buon giorno!" as we passed.
[later in the day, hiking from Vernazza to Monterosso]
We ran into Caroline and Elizabeth halfway there--they were on their way to Vernazza. We stood and talked to them a little--we met them here at the hostel last night. Anyway, as we were talking, Elizabeth somehow stepped backwards or slipped or lost her balance or something--she fully fell off the trail, down a couple of yards into this vineyard! We were all freaking out, she's lying there and can't get up because she's lying sort of downhill...this Italian guy finally jumped down there to help her up...we pulled him up to the trail, then we all pulled Elizabeth back up! She was ok, just a lot of scratches everywhere. I think if she had put her hands back to stop her fall, or if she hadn't been wearing a backpack, she really might have broken something. But just the way it happened...it was so funny to look back on it, but not at all at the time. I just have this image in my head of her falling with this terrified look on her face!
[amusing train station episode from the journey back]
I opened my backpack to get some water, and as I pulled out the water bottle, my apple went flying, rolled across the platform, and then down onto the train tracks. But I didn't want to just leave it. I figured I could wash it off! So I bent down to get it (from beneath the train we'd just gotten off of)--and my backpack slips, hits me on the head, and then slides off onto the platform. We were all laughing so hard--I felt like such a fool! But I washed off the apple, cut off the smashed part, and it was really good! [Never one to waste anything, Barbara reaches under a train to retrieve an apple...and is proud of it.]
October 18, 1996
We got up totally early this morning—well, 7am. [Heehee—I love my qualifier there, as I realized that 7:00 really wasn't THAT early.] We took a 7:51 train to Pisa, where we changed trains to go to La Spezia. In La Spezia we took another train to get to Riomaggiore--the 1st city in the Cinque Terre. It was so funny--we were in Pisa and had 5 minutes to get our connecting train. And over the speakers we hear--in Italian and English--that the train from Pisa to La Spezia requires a supplement. We're standing there with 5 minutes before the train leaves, the ticket office is a couple of platforms away...so we just got on the train! The ticket guy on the train was rad, [sigh.] though--he was telling us (in Italian) that we needed a supplement and this train was a rapido...but he was so nice! He was like "Just look next time and make sure. But this time--ok." [This is classic. We did this more times that I’d like to admit--playing the stupid Americans who didn't know they weren't supposed to take a rapido on the rail pass we had. But I have to admit that the conductors on the trains were much nicer about it than the ticket office personnel usually were when we went the prescribed route and got our passes validated ahead of time.]
Then we got to Riomaggiore and found the hostel. They had room and it's not too bad at all! [Our universally-pessimistic edition of the Rough Guide to Italy didn’t speak well of the place.] Then we wandered around a little...found that the path to the next city was closed because of a mud slide--=(! So we took the train to the next city--Manarola. We wandered down by the sea and just sat there for so long. It is so beautiful! The ocean is this awesome blue/green color--it doesn't even look real. And the waves are all crashing up on the rocks at the bottom of the cliffs--the spray and the foam are just pure white. And the sun was out, blue sky, totally beautiful day. From Manarola, we found the path to the next city--Corniglia. Oh! [I forgot something...] But first, we wandered around Manarola. Just up and around all these little streets and steps here and there. We sat next to a little church and looked out over the hills above the sea. It was so cute--all these little houses in pink and yellow--gingerbread houses, they looked like! And they're all just built on the hillside, wedged in there, stacked against each other.
We went on from there and hiked over to Corniglia. It ended up that we took the wrong trail, but it led down to these steps that went out to some rocks overlooking the sea. We sat there and ate our bread and cheese, a banana, and some cookies. We could see back to the city we'd just left and on ahead to Corniglia. There were all these dark clouds over Corniglia, but we were sitting in the sun. Then the clouds began to move, and Corniglia was in the sun, but we got rained on! It wasn't too bad until the wind picked up--then we were getting wet both from the rain and the spray from the waves, and practically getting blown off the cliff by this freezing cold wind! So we walked back up to the trail and on to the next village. It was so beautiful along the way--walking on this path along the sea, watching the sun glimmering on the water.
I think it was in Corniglia, but I'm not sure--no, it was in Manarola. [Getting ahead of myself again...] We went exploring up this little road and decided to walk up these stairs in the hillside. Turns out there's this whole series of steps leading up to and around a vineyard. We're climbing up these tiny stone steps and hiking around and under the grapevines...it was incredible! Then Melinda tried to find a different way down the hillside...she and Michelle ended up jumping across this ravine! I was too chicken to do it so I ended up sliding down the hill on my butt, trying to get down another way! [I totally remember this. I was so afraid I would jump and miss the other side. And it was total peer pressure, too--everyone else is doing it!! But I guess I passed the test of "if all of your friends were jumping off a cliff..."] And then we went on to Corniglia. [I had to acknowledge the digression...] I guess most of our adventures today were in Manarola! Corniglia was really nice, too, though. We wandered some and then found a place to sit and watch the sunset. I have been so surrounded by nature and God's creation today! The sunset was really pretty. The sun behind a few clouds, casting a pink glow over the sky and pink glimmers on the water...slowly sinking down and then disappearing over the horizon. We sat there for a long time, just thinking and watching the sky and ocean. I watched the sun set over the Mediterranean Sea today! This is incredible to be here.
[Narration of the next day's hiking]
On our way to find the trail to Vernazza, we ran into our waiter from last night! We hiked with him and ran into some others along the way who were staying in the same youth hostel as us. So we all hiked together: Michael, the Scottish guy who was our waiter, 2 Australian guys, and two Canadian girls. It was really neat to talk with them about places they've been and where they want to go...nice to meet people that are fellow travelers. The hike was so incredible. The views out over the hills and the ocean were so beautiful. It was so cool, the trail led up through the hills, past all these little vineyards, there were a few people here and there, working in their vineyard. And there were olive groves as well...with little old men picking up the olives. They would all greet us and say "Buon giorno!" as we passed.[later in the day, hiking from Vernazza to Monterosso]
We ran into Caroline and Elizabeth halfway there--they were on their way to Vernazza. We stood and talked to them a little--we met them here at the hostel last night. Anyway, as we were talking, Elizabeth somehow stepped backwards or slipped or lost her balance or something--she fully fell off the trail, down a couple of yards into this vineyard! We were all freaking out, she's lying there and can't get up because she's lying sort of downhill...this Italian guy finally jumped down there to help her up...we pulled him up to the trail, then we all pulled Elizabeth back up! She was ok, just a lot of scratches everywhere. I think if she had put her hands back to stop her fall, or if she hadn't been wearing a backpack, she really might have broken something. But just the way it happened...it was so funny to look back on it, but not at all at the time. I just have this image in my head of her falling with this terrified look on her face!
[amusing train station episode from the journey back]
I opened my backpack to get some water, and as I pulled out the water bottle, my apple went flying, rolled across the platform, and then down onto the train tracks. But I didn't want to just leave it. I figured I could wash it off! So I bent down to get it (from beneath the train we'd just gotten off of)--and my backpack slips, hits me on the head, and then slides off onto the platform. We were all laughing so hard--I felt like such a fool! But I washed off the apple, cut off the smashed part, and it was really good! [Never one to waste anything, Barbara reaches under a train to retrieve an apple...and is proud of it.]
| posted by Barbara | 2:23 AM
|
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Ten years ago...
I got out the Italy journal last night and was reading through some of it--I'm sure you're all interested to know that 10 years ago today I was in Milan. One of the enduring references from that trip is a compulsion to say "Milan is...Milano" every time someone mentions Milan. (I really did have to restrain myself last night while talking to a roommate about how Milan is not in the south of Italy. I know! I've been there! And, Milan is....Milano!)
Small explanation: there were maps of the city in various languages available at the tourist office. The front of each map helpfully translated the city name from German, Chinese, Spanish, etc. into Italian. So the English map said "Milan is Milano" on the front. I was endlessly amused by this, and Melinda and I went around the entire weekend, quoting this phrase to each other in condescending tones. "Milan is........Milano."
My journal entries from Milan aren't terribly exciting (except that they all have "Milan is...Milano" written across the top, next to the date), so here are some other excerpts for you. The first one is very meta. It's funny to me to look back on this, because even now I have a similar reaction to a lot of my writing in this journal. But there are glimpses here and there of some pretty cool things I was thinking about and working through in my journal, like my reflections on the Basilica in Assisi. But I gloss over that here:
This was a theme I returned to a lot in these journals--about how my writing is sub-par. (And yes, Barbara, perhaps if you had refrained from using the word "rad" so frequently, this would sound a tad more intelligent. But hey, I was 18.) This is something I still struggle with--being a bit self-conscious about talking about meaningful things. Perhaps this is one of the reasons I'm so good at being flippant and sarcastic.
This next one describes one of my favorite afternoons in Florence, going off and exploring the city by myself. I have such vivid memories of this rainstorm and the view of Florence from Piazza Michelangelo.
Small explanation: there were maps of the city in various languages available at the tourist office. The front of each map helpfully translated the city name from German, Chinese, Spanish, etc. into Italian. So the English map said "Milan is Milano" on the front. I was endlessly amused by this, and Melinda and I went around the entire weekend, quoting this phrase to each other in condescending tones. "Milan is........Milano."
My journal entries from Milan aren't terribly exciting (except that they all have "Milan is...Milano" written across the top, next to the date), so here are some other excerpts for you. The first one is very meta. It's funny to me to look back on this, because even now I have a similar reaction to a lot of my writing in this journal. But there are glimpses here and there of some pretty cool things I was thinking about and working through in my journal, like my reflections on the Basilica in Assisi. But I gloss over that here:
Florence, Sept. 25th, 1996
I am so frustrated with my writing lately…just looking through my journal...I've written so much--and what have I accomplished?! Melinda is laughing at me because I keep saying I'm shallow and write nothing meaningful. I guess I'm not a shallow person (I hope not!) but it just seems to come across that way as I write. I guess it just goes back to the whole thing of how it's hard for me to talk about what means the most. It's not that I have no depth, I just have a hard time talking about it and an even harder time writing about it, I guess because it's more permanent to write it down!
This was a theme I returned to a lot in these journals--about how my writing is sub-par. (And yes, Barbara, perhaps if you had refrained from using the word "rad" so frequently, this would sound a tad more intelligent. But hey, I was 18.) This is something I still struggle with--being a bit self-conscious about talking about meaningful things. Perhaps this is one of the reasons I'm so good at being flippant and sarcastic.
This next one describes one of my favorite afternoons in Florence, going off and exploring the city by myself. I have such vivid memories of this rainstorm and the view of Florence from Piazza Michelangelo.
Florence, Sept. 22ndI can't wait to be back in Florence, to climb up to Piazza Michelangelo and look out over the tile roofs again. Rain is predicted for the time I'll be in Florence next week. Hmm.
This afternoon, Melinda went out running and I stayed here for a while, studying. Around 2 or 2:30 I went up to Piazza Michelangelo. A bunch of people from our group were there, but I didn't find them. That was cool, though--I was really enjoying just being by myself, looking at the awesome view of the city!
It was so strange, though...as I left the apartment, it was raining a little, but not that much. So I went on ahead and started walking up there. It started raining harder as I walked, but not too bad. Then once I got there, (the view was so rad!!) it started getting harder and harder and finally just poured. I had been just standing and marveling at the view...the city shrouded in the mists of the clouds and rain...the Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio rising above the rooftops...but when the rain started to drip through my umbrella, I ran for cover! It let up before too long, and this awesome, full-on rainbow came out over one side of the city. Not just the half of an arch like you normally see, but the full arc, with the grey/blue clouds behind it.
| posted by Barbara | 6:21 PM
|
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Ten Years Ago Today
(Yeah, I messed with the date on this post so it matches the title.)
Here’s the first of these. I had a bit of time when I got home from work today, thought I’d pull out the Italy journal, and then realized the date—Melinda’s birthday! After giving her a birthday phone call, I settled down and typed this up. This recounts one of our study abroad group’s day trips. The trip to Assisi happened to fall on Melinda’s 21st birthday.
I love this entry. In fact, I think I’ve posted bits of it before, because it sounds recently familiar, but here it is in its entirety. Snarky or explanatory comments, a la Sheila's Diary Friday, are in brackets/italics. I apologize now for my frequent use of the word “rad.”
------------------------------
Sept. 20th, 1996
Today was so rad! [count: 1] Melinda really had an awesome birthday...I’m jealous! Just kidding. It was so neat, though...even though we had to get up early and all. Assisi was so beautiful! It was just the total quaint, pretty town. Melinda, Felipe and I [the three of us had all been in choir together at FC] spent the morning just wandering around the town, going into some churches, etc. [Because that’s what you do in Italian towns—you visit churches.] But I think what I liked best was all the narrow little stone streets—stairways going up or down, all the doors with ivy or grapevines or morning glories overhanging, and all kinds of plants and flowers on the porches and along the railings...it just looked so European [ha!] and so pretty.
After wandering around, looking for some Roman ruins (which we completely missed because they were so unimpressive), we went just outside the city walls and sat on this hillside off the side of the road and ate our lunch. It was so rad [count: 2], just sitting there, looking out over the valley and the Umbrian hills…I think that was my favorite part of the day. [I am very disappointed that I did not recount here the story of how our butts got damp from the grass, and Melinda commented “Oh, damp.” There. I have now recounted it.]
After lunch, we went back to the Basilica di San Francesco and met the group for a tour of the church. Mel and I had to go to the bathroom so bad and we ran to find one close…which we did find, but it was a pay one and the pay thing was jammed, so you couldn’t even get in the door! Heather showed us and this crowd of old Australian tourists how she and Gina had wiggled their way in through the revolving door exit…it was so hilarious! These Australians were climbing through…this one old lady, and her husband was fully coaching her as to which way to go—“Now put your bum through, that’s right…squiggle in there…” It was so crazy…I really wish I’d taken a picture!
Anyway…the church was awesome. It was interesting, though—because it was so ornate, frescoes everywhere, his [St. Francis’] tomb was a total shrine…and his whole life was dedicated to renouncing all of that. Poverty, chastity and obedience were the three things that were fundamental to the whole Franciscan order.
The frescoes, though…wow! Downstairs, we saw Cimabue’s frescoes, Giotto’s frescoes, Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti…all of the artists Jen [one of my roommates] and I were trying to sort out last night! And then upstairs were more Giotto frescoes, a whole series on the life of St. Francis. [It makes me so sad to read this. The frescoes I so loved were for the most part destroyed in an earthquake a few years later. They’re just gone. Powerful works of art, and they just don’t exist anymore.] And the guide we had was really good, she totally explained each panel. That’s so rad [count: 3] because then I knew what each one was about and what I was looking at, rather than just seeing—yeah, those are a series of frescoes on the life of St. Francis by Giotto. [I’m so profound.]
Midway through the tour, we stopped at the gift shop, and Mel and I were debating whether to get a book on the church or not. It was really nice—color photographs of each panel of frescoes, etc. And in English! But it was 30,000 lire [Oh, I miss the lire! I loved that exchange rate…15,000 lire was like $20 or something like that. It was so extravagant. I’m so sad it’s the Euro now.]…I thought that it would be perfect for all of us at the apartment to get for her for her birthday, but I couldn’t figure out how to get her to put it down and get Wynne [another roommate] to buy it without Mel catching on. Finally, Wynne and I told her we’d seen it for cheaper down the street [such liars!], and so I talked her into putting it back and looking elsewhere. Wynne went through a whole charade trying to get the book…there was one copy left and this other lady picked it up…AAAH! But she did get it [Wynne, not the book-swiping lady, just to clarify] and we all signed it and gave it to Melinda tonight at dinner.
That was cool, too…on the bus on the way home, I was talking to Melinda about what she wanted to do tonight—others were saying oh, we’re going out dancing, you have to come, it’s your birthday…and Melinda was saying she’d probably go. Well…I’m really not a dancing, nightclubbing type (really?!) [Ha! I love my self-mockery here.] but I wanted to go cause it was Mel’s birthday. But I didn’t really want to go! Anyway, we got back here and Jen & Lenay, I think, had invited Tom [one of our professors] over to dinner and everybody kinda helped fix. [Dinner, that is.] We put up the Happy Birthday banner we made for Jen’s birthday [another roommate birthday a few weeks prior] and made placemats for everyone. We had our candles in the wine bottles out and Jen wrapped Mel’s book all cool with pasta bowties and a flower…it was just such a nice evening. Laid back, just a leisurely dinner, Jars of Clay playing in the background [such sophistication], good food and conversation! And Mel said tonight—it was just really perfect [argh—Barbara, there are not degrees to “perfect”, it can’t be “really perfect.”], what she wanted. Not to have to conform to others’ expectations or whatever, but just have a nice evening here.
Today was kinda strange for me as well—just talking to Melinda now, about the Basilica and how rad [count: 4] that was—total contrast to a lot of the rest we saw today. I really was hit with the total Catholicism, saint reverence, ornate shrine, etc. this morning in the church with the font where St. Francis and St. Clare were baptized. That Madonna with the electric light halo…man. I really need to get these thoughts and feelings into a poem. Just the question of why? What is the thought behind this? Is it the complete reverence and exaltation of this person or is it looking at God as too holy to approach and the saint as an intermediary, or is it just a ritual? Kneel down, make the sign of the cross in front of this statue with the light-up, plug-in halo? That really reminded me of that Gary Soto poem we looked at in the spring in poetry—the “glow-in-the-night Christ.” How do I reconcile this religion with my relationship and my experience of God? All of this is just so foreign to me—the icons, the ritual, the shrines and the saints. Psalm 25, totally. [I’m not sure what I’m talking about here, as Psalm 25 doesn’t seem relevant. I might have been referring to vs. 4-5: “Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” A prayer for understanding, perhaps?]
But the Basilica today—those frescoes were there for a purpose and that was awesome to me. To see the way they portrayed the life of Christ, the life of St. Francis so simply. In order for the people to see and understand. Art which is not self-serving, not overstated, not there to call attention to itself, but art which points to something greater beyond itself. It has a purpose.
“As critics scorn the thoughts and works of mortal man/My eyes are drawn to You in awe once again”
Here’s the first of these. I had a bit of time when I got home from work today, thought I’d pull out the Italy journal, and then realized the date—Melinda’s birthday! After giving her a birthday phone call, I settled down and typed this up. This recounts one of our study abroad group’s day trips. The trip to Assisi happened to fall on Melinda’s 21st birthday.
I love this entry. In fact, I think I’ve posted bits of it before, because it sounds recently familiar, but here it is in its entirety. Snarky or explanatory comments, a la Sheila's Diary Friday, are in brackets/italics. I apologize now for my frequent use of the word “rad.”
------------------------------
Sept. 20th, 1996
Today was so rad! [count: 1] Melinda really had an awesome birthday...I’m jealous! Just kidding. It was so neat, though...even though we had to get up early and all. Assisi was so beautiful! It was just the total quaint, pretty town. Melinda, Felipe and I [the three of us had all been in choir together at FC] spent the morning just wandering around the town, going into some churches, etc. [Because that’s what you do in Italian towns—you visit churches.] But I think what I liked best was all the narrow little stone streets—stairways going up or down, all the doors with ivy or grapevines or morning glories overhanging, and all kinds of plants and flowers on the porches and along the railings...it just looked so European [ha!] and so pretty.
After wandering around, looking for some Roman ruins (which we completely missed because they were so unimpressive), we went just outside the city walls and sat on this hillside off the side of the road and ate our lunch. It was so rad [count: 2], just sitting there, looking out over the valley and the Umbrian hills…I think that was my favorite part of the day. [I am very disappointed that I did not recount here the story of how our butts got damp from the grass, and Melinda commented “Oh, damp.” There. I have now recounted it.]
After lunch, we went back to the Basilica di San Francesco and met the group for a tour of the church. Mel and I had to go to the bathroom so bad and we ran to find one close…which we did find, but it was a pay one and the pay thing was jammed, so you couldn’t even get in the door! Heather showed us and this crowd of old Australian tourists how she and Gina had wiggled their way in through the revolving door exit…it was so hilarious! These Australians were climbing through…this one old lady, and her husband was fully coaching her as to which way to go—“Now put your bum through, that’s right…squiggle in there…” It was so crazy…I really wish I’d taken a picture!
Anyway…the church was awesome. It was interesting, though—because it was so ornate, frescoes everywhere, his [St. Francis’] tomb was a total shrine…and his whole life was dedicated to renouncing all of that. Poverty, chastity and obedience were the three things that were fundamental to the whole Franciscan order.
The frescoes, though…wow! Downstairs, we saw Cimabue’s frescoes, Giotto’s frescoes, Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti…all of the artists Jen [one of my roommates] and I were trying to sort out last night! And then upstairs were more Giotto frescoes, a whole series on the life of St. Francis. [It makes me so sad to read this. The frescoes I so loved were for the most part destroyed in an earthquake a few years later. They’re just gone. Powerful works of art, and they just don’t exist anymore.] And the guide we had was really good, she totally explained each panel. That’s so rad [count: 3] because then I knew what each one was about and what I was looking at, rather than just seeing—yeah, those are a series of frescoes on the life of St. Francis by Giotto. [I’m so profound.]
Midway through the tour, we stopped at the gift shop, and Mel and I were debating whether to get a book on the church or not. It was really nice—color photographs of each panel of frescoes, etc. And in English! But it was 30,000 lire [Oh, I miss the lire! I loved that exchange rate…15,000 lire was like $20 or something like that. It was so extravagant. I’m so sad it’s the Euro now.]…I thought that it would be perfect for all of us at the apartment to get for her for her birthday, but I couldn’t figure out how to get her to put it down and get Wynne [another roommate] to buy it without Mel catching on. Finally, Wynne and I told her we’d seen it for cheaper down the street [such liars!], and so I talked her into putting it back and looking elsewhere. Wynne went through a whole charade trying to get the book…there was one copy left and this other lady picked it up…AAAH! But she did get it [Wynne, not the book-swiping lady, just to clarify] and we all signed it and gave it to Melinda tonight at dinner.
That was cool, too…on the bus on the way home, I was talking to Melinda about what she wanted to do tonight—others were saying oh, we’re going out dancing, you have to come, it’s your birthday…and Melinda was saying she’d probably go. Well…I’m really not a dancing, nightclubbing type (really?!) [Ha! I love my self-mockery here.] but I wanted to go cause it was Mel’s birthday. But I didn’t really want to go! Anyway, we got back here and Jen & Lenay, I think, had invited Tom [one of our professors] over to dinner and everybody kinda helped fix. [Dinner, that is.] We put up the Happy Birthday banner we made for Jen’s birthday [another roommate birthday a few weeks prior] and made placemats for everyone. We had our candles in the wine bottles out and Jen wrapped Mel’s book all cool with pasta bowties and a flower…it was just such a nice evening. Laid back, just a leisurely dinner, Jars of Clay playing in the background [such sophistication], good food and conversation! And Mel said tonight—it was just really perfect [argh—Barbara, there are not degrees to “perfect”, it can’t be “really perfect.”], what she wanted. Not to have to conform to others’ expectations or whatever, but just have a nice evening here.
Today was kinda strange for me as well—just talking to Melinda now, about the Basilica and how rad [count: 4] that was—total contrast to a lot of the rest we saw today. I really was hit with the total Catholicism, saint reverence, ornate shrine, etc. this morning in the church with the font where St. Francis and St. Clare were baptized. That Madonna with the electric light halo…man. I really need to get these thoughts and feelings into a poem. Just the question of why? What is the thought behind this? Is it the complete reverence and exaltation of this person or is it looking at God as too holy to approach and the saint as an intermediary, or is it just a ritual? Kneel down, make the sign of the cross in front of this statue with the light-up, plug-in halo? That really reminded me of that Gary Soto poem we looked at in the spring in poetry—the “glow-in-the-night Christ.” How do I reconcile this religion with my relationship and my experience of God? All of this is just so foreign to me—the icons, the ritual, the shrines and the saints. Psalm 25, totally. [I’m not sure what I’m talking about here, as Psalm 25 doesn’t seem relevant. I might have been referring to vs. 4-5: “Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” A prayer for understanding, perhaps?]
But the Basilica today—those frescoes were there for a purpose and that was awesome to me. To see the way they portrayed the life of Christ, the life of St. Francis so simply. In order for the people to see and understand. Art which is not self-serving, not overstated, not there to call attention to itself, but art which points to something greater beyond itself. It has a purpose.
“As critics scorn the thoughts and works of mortal man/My eyes are drawn to You in awe once again”
| posted by Barbara | 4:25 AM
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