Ruminating.

You can see that I have quite a blog list of blogs that I follow....pretty much on a daily basis.  Often, I wonder whether I have a blog to write or a blog to have easy access to my blogs I check in on....all in one convenient spot.  Some days it is a little bit of column A and a little bit of column B.  Today,   I  read something in  C. Jane Kendrick's post that resonated with me.

"I want my desires to take up less space in my reality."

I have a wonderful life, a wonderful husband, a wonderful dog and I don't know that I stop to view it as wonderful as it all is...as often as I really should.    I am a confirmed  daydreamer.  I won't ever stop this activity, it is part of my nature, who I am.  Plus, I enjoy it.  But the risk in daydreaming is that it can lead to a sense of unrest;  there is an unspoken ambition....correction: a potential ambitiousness.   The implication  is that you will discover a kernel of what you want and then make it happen.    And then you will be done/happy/complete???

But there is the rub, no?  Daydreaming often does not become reality.  Isn't that sort of the definition of daydreaming?  All the What If's, the dream of what your life could be like?  There are many things that I have daydreamed about  that have come to fruition: joining the Peace Corps, travel in general, iplanetude.com,  becoming a teacher, losing weight,  the list is  one that I am proud of----I have made some of my dreams a reality.

I think it is human nature to have desires, to want.  One of my umbrella wants has been and most likely will always be to travel.  It isn't about seeking something that I am missing in my life.  At one time, it probably was---more than I would like to admit.  Seeking a life, seeking drama, seeking adventure.  But the one constant in my attraction to go other places, whether it is across the ocean or across the state, is  a curiosity.  I just want to see  how it is somewhere else.  Just because. With maybe a dash or sprinkling of Raccoon Babyness in as well. 

The side effect of this curiosity is a good one for me.    It becomes a confirmation that I do love my life and it is a life that I have chosen and created because it is what fits for me. I can daydream about what my life might be like in a new location if that were the life I were to choose. I can try it on for daydream size.  In the daydream, the life is perfect.  There are no problems, or bills to pay, or dogs that get sick or language barriers or dissatisfaction or arguments.  That is not reality. 

Ultimately, I choose the life I have. Travel creates an appreciation for what is in front of me....directly in front of me.  Not in in front of me, far off, just out of reach.  

There will always be desires  in front of me, just out of reach.  And I don't think that is a bad thing.    I just needed to be reminded  that what I have  directly in front of me and who I am  is what I have chosen.  I missed my boys while I was gone.  When I traveled as a younger woman, I didn't have that base, that HOME. It feels good to be HOME.  This is my reality and it was a timely reminder in her post today.  I can't let my desires for travel crowd out the fantastic-ness that is right in front of me.  The daydream of travel can't hold a candle to my reality that I have chosen.  It may not fit for someone else, but it fits just perfect for me.

Home.

I am glad to be home.  Glad to be with my boys.  Content to have a place I belong to and can return to.....content to have my wanderlust sated.

Vaticano and the heat that belongs in August, not June.

Arrived in Rome mid afternoon and drift around to various sites: Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps.....ah, Roma.

Piazza Navona is always a favorite. My first visit was Palm Sunday and we stayed in Mauro's sister's apartment for the weekend. Down one of the small alleyways leading from the piazza....no more than a half block from the piazza. I had no idea what a great location the apartment was in or that I have no hope of ever being in that central of a location for a home base again.

It was Carnivale time as well, and kids were dressed up in costumes to celebrate. It is similar to Halloween here, but less horror based and more whimsical.

The next day on this trip was packed with activity and HEAT. 40 degrees centigrade.  We saw the Vatican, the Sistine chapel, the Colosseum, and the Roman Forum....and five hours of free time while others in the group chose to go to the catacombs. Underground. Underground and away from the sun and heat.

I ended up using my umbrella to shade myself; I was surprised and quite pleased to find that it made a huge difference. A dry heat is so different from a humid heat that is common in Minnesota. Shade provides no relief, you just swelter. But under my umbrella, the heat was surprisingly bearable.

Umbria, you are my new fave.

What I picture Italian countryside when I picture it.

What I picture small Italian towns to look like when I picture them.

What I dream about when I dream about Italy.

Assisi

Sunday evening passigiata. One thing I has always loved about Italy is the Sunday ritual of walking around to meet and greet the friends....I am guessing these guys hang out every day---not just Sunday----and they have for many years. At least.....that is the story in my head.

I miss my boys, but Aschila, laying there in front, gave me a puppy fix. She is 10 and gives really sweet hand kisses.

Assisi was was wonderful visit...medieval town with narrower passages built up on the hill. Again, it wasn't really what I expected. I don't know what I expected but I liked it even more than than I anticipated.

Maybe it has something to do with how much I love Italy in general; I already have a background, underlying love of almost everything. So when I see somewhere or something new and I like it, it gives me a little jazz.

Or maybe it is reconfirming with each novel experience, that I do really love this country quite a bit. I know I won't, and don't, like everything about Italy, but it is a good feeling to not be disappointed by something that holds such a special place in my heart.

Venice...the place of people.

No place like it on earth....not even the Venetian in Las Vegas. Which is why everyone and their sister seemed to be there the day we were there.

So crowded. Venice at Carnivale right before Lent....my first hand experience with the power of a crowd of people. We were there and I was 75-ish pounds heavier. The surge of the crowd picked me up off my feet and moved me from my place where I had been standing to a spot that was maybe three or four feet away. I was powerless to do anything about it.

I can't imagine being short and not being able to see or get air as the bodies press against you---it is enough to make you agoraphobic.

It was like this on Saturday. All the cruise ships vomit forth their passengers, all the loud student groups like ours descend like locusts, all the backpackers lounging on the steps, and bridges and piazza.

We didn't have time to break away from the crowds that infest the route from the train station, over the Rialto bridge to Piazza San Marco. The kids had gondola rides scheduled and I had a half hour to cop a squat on the step of a small chapel to wait for them and call my baby back home. Away from crowds, sitting in the sun, by the canal and quietly watch the gondolas drift by......Venice is a magical place...but sometimes you have find you own Venice to enjoy in your own way.

Verona.

Ah Verona......a sleepy little town famous for the roman arena that is better described as a Mini Me version of the colosseum in Rome. Now it is used for opera performances and concerts.

Verona's other big deal is the balcony of Juliet----from Romeo and Juliet. The kids really didn't appreciate the small town quality, they had to entertain themselves during free time rather than be awed and stimulated. Plus, it was stinking hot--unusually so for that region and time of the year.

For me, I remember going to visit a nanny named Meg that worked for some relation of the family that I or Marta worked for....the exact connection has long been forgotten. She lived in a beautiful home that was converted from a monastery. It was gorgeous and historic and modern at the same time. But I can see why that whole scene wouldn't really play well with teenagers of 2012.

Having said that, there were some students in whom I can seen myself at their ages. Walking along the streets older than their baby country in terms of time and history, taking it all in....and for all outward appearances, seemingly bored. Like they might be composing a tweet about some cute guy they saw or thinking about how hot it was and when their next gelato feeding would be.

And then they would ask a question that would explain what wheels had been turning. They had not been brain tweeting, but rather contemplating time and history and wondering how many people had walked the same streets they were walking or what it might have looked like in Shakespeare's time when he was writing Romeo and Juliet and was he actually here....

Their thoughts, questions, observations, and comments help me see the trip through the eyes of newness and wonder, but also through what I have already experienced.

So......we went and got gelato. It WAS hot and we WERE in Italy after all.

Underestimation.

I had always heard that Pisa was kind of nothing special...it is just the tower and then that is it.

Pisa. I apologize; I underestimated you. The tower that leans, yes....It is there. And, yes, it leans. But there was some kind of fab mojo going on.....great weather, good kids to chaperone, no problems to deal with, a wonderful tour guide named Lettizia, and then the baptistery.

The Baptistry. We got there for the acoustic demonstration. We had our tour and happened to be in the Baptistry at 5:30 when they closed the doors and one of the security/door keepers came and stood at the center by the baptismal font and started toning....not really singing, just more of tuning up or singing tones on the scale. I am sure there is some sort of terminology for it but I am not a singer is I don't know it.

The echo and the acoustics on the room were like nothing I had ever heard before; it was like she was singing in a chorus with herself. It was her voice, but she would change notes....tones, really because there were no words or anything....so that it was a call and response with herself. Really quite splendid and those of you that know me will not be surprised by this next statement. I got teary as it was just such cool experience. I get like like when I feel overwhelmed by something. And in this case I was just so overwhelmed with the unexpected uniqueness if the experience.

I realize that they do thus everyday at 5:30, but for going into it with low expectations and just getting wowed.....this is why I love travel.

Delightful.

Here....qui.

We are here with this as the piazza we face in our hotel. Florence was sunny and the kids are all amped up adrenaline and no sleep. Good night's sleep tonight should put the world right.





























The beverage and snack in the sun in the Piazza Palazzo Vecchio didn't hurt.