A Mother's Gift- A Month in Italy- Part 14

Tuscana Romance

North of Siena

Our little red fiat...

We rented this stone barn apartment (lower floor) nestled in an olive grove in the countryside.  

The owner lives on the top floor.

We ate our breakfasts and lunches on the piazza.

At dusk the Narnia lanterns began to glow.

The air smelled of sage, the view was divine.

Monteriggioni, a beautiful castle only five minutes from our apartment.

We bought this chef's hat for Josh from this sweet lady who ran a shop in the castle.

The view from the Monteriggioni castle walls.

Each day we took a trip to outlying medieval cities and towns.

Siena

Seems Siena and Monteriggioni were often warring with Florence.

Siena Cathedral

By September we had missed the height of the fields of sunflowers , but they were ever depicted in the wares of the city shops. 

 Gelato in Siena's main plaza.

Florence- Firenze 

Filling my water bottle at a fountain in Florence plaza.

Don took an illegal picture of the real David inside the Uffizi Gallery. 

A replica of David outside the Academia 

We searched ALL OVER Florence for this Gelato shop, Vivolis!

Don had eaten here MANY years ago when he had toured Europe with Westmont College.

A classic- the Ponte Vecchio 

Walking across the Ponte Vecchio!

We saw many churches in many cities and towns.

I can't begin to post all my photos, but my favorite day was when we drove to Cortona. 

On the way we stopped at this local winery.

Don was in heaven.  

We tasted and chatted with the sweet young gal who hosted us.

We bought 2 bottles to take home for our Christmas meal.

Our tradition is to make homemade pasta on Christmas Eve Day, then make delicious sauces and enjoy on Christmas Day. 

Cortona, a medieval village on a hill.

We were excited to visit the place Joy had spent a fews months going to art school and working.

From anywhere in the town, the view was spectacular looking down on the fertile valley below.

We were able to find Daniele, a friend of Joy's who ran the Enoteca.  

Joy worked for he and his family.

They included her family dinners and celebrations. 

They served us a delicious meal with wine from the winery we had just visited!

Then we went in search of the monastery where the art school was located.

And we found it!

Along with the infamous Gino, the groundskeeper.

He gave us an illegal tour of the school.  

We walked right to the room Joy had lived in 3 years ago. 

Exploring more of Cortona, we found this church and as we entered, we heard monks chanting just behind the wall to the right.  I studied the skull and skeleton fresco paintings on the walls.  The chanting was beautiful.  I had never seen or heard anything like it before.

One of our days in Tuscana, our last Saturday, we stayed in, reading, eating, napping.  The owner picked figs from her trees and  brought them to us.

Sadly, our trip came to an end.

  But we squeezed in one last medieval town on our drive to the airport, San Gimignano.

We flew home on separate flights.  

I arrived home refreshed, my soul renewed, my heart singing and my confidence soaring...

Ciao Belle! 

Thank you, mom. 

A Mother's Gift- A Month in Italy- Part 13

Venezia with my husband!

Early in the morning, Andrea and I took a taxi back to the Venice airport.
I was excited knowing I was going to meet my husband in the cafe there.
We had only texted each other for the last 13 days.
I had told him where to meet me.

And there he was!
A BIG-LONG-HUG and KISS!

We took the bus to Plaza Roma, then took a water bus into Venezia.
From there with luggage in tow, we followed the directions to the flat, where we rented a room for two night.
The flat was deep in the back alleys, but near Plaza San Marco.
We walked right to it!

Then we walked and explored the city for two days!

What an amazing city!

Lot's of tourists coming in on ships.

The smell is a mixture of water, fish and garbage, but not overpowering.

It's easy to get lost.

The architecture is an architects dream!

Art is everywhere...

and so are boats.

The shops are fun and unique.
Opera is big.

Lovers have declared their love for each other and sealed it with a lock on the bridges.

There's so much going on everywhere you look.
 It was great riding the water buses all over the city.

I could have taken hundreds of pictures of just doors.

On the second day we purchased tickets to the la Biennale  (The Biannual)

A world art show which happens every two years.

Some exhibitions were FREE and set up around the city.
This young artist broke my heart as I looked the eyes of her self portraits and read her bio.

The art was spectacular!

This was an enormous panel of cloth depicting the apocalypse
by
Artur Zmijewski, 1966, Warsaw, Poland.

I really liked this artist:
Anna Zemankova from the Czech Republic

She married a military man, raised four children, endured WWII and the communist party only to begin suffering from depression in the 1950's when she hit menopause.

Her oldest son, an artist, gave her paints and brushes hoping to help her.
She immediately loved drawing and painting.
She would wake up at 4 am and begin feverishly painting as if in a trance.

"I'm growing flowers here that are not grown anywhere else."

Even the cafe was a work of art.

The American Pavilion: Sarah Sze, Triple Point
Click on this link to watch a video of her showing and explaining her work

http://www.labiennale.org/en/mediacenter/video/55-b44.html

Each of the pieces in the British Pavilion were political statements.
This piece was commenting on one of the princes who allegedly shot and killed an endangered bird species.

At the end we drank British tea.

A french artist filled a open space with stools!

 We walked to this cafe each morning for our cappuccino and pastry.
It was nice eating with the locals and not tourists.

Just across the plaza was an ancient catholic church.
We enjoyed watching the locals enter in their Sunday best, Sunday morning.

After two days, we rode the water buses back to Plaza Roma, caught the bus back to the airport and picked up our little red fiat for the next part of our adventure!

A Mother's Gift- A Month in Italy- Part 12

Refugio Pramperet to trail's end a small town,

 Forno di Zoldo, with taxi transfer to Cortina.

Some elevation gain

Elevation loss 3,500 feet

Total miles: 7.5

We hiked down, down, down...

If you look closely, you will see a tree branch reached out and snagged Roberta's water bottle clear out of her backpack as she was trekking along! 

A cute stone barn we passed on they way down.

It was fun hiking down towards Forna di Zoldo, which grew larger and larger as we drew nearer.

We arrived around 11am.  

We were to meet our taxi at the church.

Since we had time, we sat at an outside cafe drinking cappuccinos. 

Both Mark and Laura easily got car sick, so they both sat up front during our hour and a half drive down the winding mountain roads.

When we arrived back at Hotel Victoria, I took a LONG glorious soak in my tub.  

Then I dressed and went shopping, one last time, at the Coopertiva.  

I purchased stationary so that I could write a thank you note to each of my hiking mates.

I also bought two big Tobacco maps showing our entire route.

I took one last picture of this sweet little market in Cortina d'Ampezzo!

That night, we met for drinks in the hotel bar.  Andrea marked our route on my maps and I had each person autograph them.

We walked to a local restaurant where we celebrated our journey.

The food and wine were spectacular.  

Andrea had a small gift for each of us and I gave everyone my little note of gratitude. 

As we clinked our classes, reminisced on our adventures and vowed to keep in touch, my heart sang with joy! 

A journey well done.

To be continued...

A Mother's Gift- A Month in Italy- Part 11

Rifugio Bruto Cartestiato to Rifugio Pramperet

Elevation gain 2,300 feet
Elevation loss 2,207 feet
Total miles: 10.2

I didn't take many pictures on our way to Pramperet.
I think I was tired.
All my photos were taken with my IPhone.

On the last section to the refuge, the weather turned.
It began to hail and thunder.
It was exciting.

During our entire trek, we kept hearing threats of a bad storm, but it never came to pass.
My mother was smiling down on us.

When the hail hit, we all donned our rain gear.
It lasted maybe 20 minutes.
 
I took this picture of Mark, who didn't really bring rain gear, but was made to purchase this bright blue poncho in Cortina.
 His wife and Andrea, our leader, had insisted upon it!
And yes, he came in handy.

Refugio Pramperet was very rustic and remote.
This was the main sitting, dining area.

Our bunk-rooms were in a separate building than the dining area.
They had no heat.
We hung our wet gear to dry.

Just before dinner a rainbow appeared.

Upon entering the main area,  I was shocked to see two university students working on their laptops while their music filled the room!
Turns out Cinque Torri was the only hut without wifi.

The students had been living there for months, writing their dissertations for their Phds.
One was British and the other Spanish.
They helped the owner in the kitchen and dining room in exchange for their room and board.

Chatting with the British student, I discovered he was majoring in Urban Ecology and would be arguing his dissertation in Venice in about 2 weeks.

Dinner at Pramperet was just as interesting as other huts.
Here we sat at long picnic like tables and benches while the men proudly served us delicious food as elegantly as any expensive restaurant would.
Extremely proud of their cuisine, they asked us over and over how we liked our meal.
Divine except for the canned peas!

We shared the dining room with the local laborers who had spent the day tearing down an outbuilding.
We shared the far end of our table with four German men.
They had been hiking this route every year for years, originally meeting as young fathers at their children's school.
Now, their children were grown and gone, but as grandfathers, they kept up the tradition.

One of these men was a stage actor from Munich.
He had also been the voice of one of the actors in Hangover 2.

Sleeping in a lower bunk by the window on my last night of the trek, I made sure to have two thick wool blankets pulled over me, and I felt sad my journey was almost over.

But I also knew more adventure was ahead...

A Mother's Gift- A Month in Italy- Part 10

Judy

Back at Refugio Cinque Torri, we ran into Tully, her husband Rob and their hiking companion, Judy.  Friends of Andrea, Tully used to guide for Andrea (Distant Journeys), 

and Judy had worked with her for many years in Outward Bound.

Judy was in her fifties, I'd guess.  

She was friendly, but kind of pushy.

Andrea was not too fond of her, but loved Tully and Rob.

It was common for Tully, Rob and Judy to travel and trek together.

Judy loved to take lots of photos on her little camera and it was not unusual for her to be about an hour behind Tully and Rob on the trail.

It was Judy who talked me into taking a shower at Tissi.  

I was cold and hovering around the wood stove when she insisted I take a hot shower.  

I had been debating with myself, whether or not to shower as I knew I'd have wet hair for the evening.  

No hair dryers in my backpack!

After listening to Judy and talking to Roberta, who had assured me her shower was HOT and lovely, I gave in. 

The water was tepid.

Ugh!

That night after dinner, I watched as Judy played with the 4 year old little blonde haired girl who lived with her mother at Tissi.

Judy got down on the floor on her hands and knees and pretended to be a bear chasing her.

Claudia, I think her name was, would squeal and run away.  

Then slowly sneak back for more.

It was sweet.

I found out later, Judy was an "on-call" nanny on the east coast where she lived. 

At Cinque Torri, she had proudly showed us some of her photos.

"I saw a love bug today!" she exclaimed.

Curious, we of course asked to see the picture.

It was a close up of a cute little beetle, not unlike a lady bug, only this one was black with a perfectly shaped lime-green heart on it's back!

When we awoke to snow on Tissi, Judy was just as excited as the rest of us, running outside to take numerous photos.

She and Tully and Rob were not ready to leave Tissi when we were. 

They were going farther on than us that day, planning to stay at a hut about an hour past our hut, Cartestiato.

From there, they were taking a different trail than we were.

As I headed out of Tissi and down the trail, Judy peaked her head out of the window.  

Joy filled her face as she shouted her good-bye to us.

I stopped and snapped a picture.

Time seemed to stop...

I remember pausing, taking it all in.

Then I waved and shouted my good-bye to Judy.

I remember thinking, "Just love her, April.  And accept her for who she is."

When we arrived at Cartestiato, Rob came in briefly for a cappuccino.  

Judy and Tully were waiting outside.

All three of them were tired and  anxious to get to their refuge for the night.

The next day we hiked to Rifugio Pramperet, which I will write about on my next post, 

Part 11.

Unbeknownst to us, on the day we left Pramperet, Judy, who was on a steep trail about an hour behind Tully and Rob, fell to her death.

She died instantly of head injuries.

The two brothers, hiking from Munich to Venice found her.

One stayed with her body while the other ran back to the refuge to alert authorities.

Her body was airlifted off of the mountain, while someone hiked on to the next hut to tell Tully and Rob of Judy's death.

They had been waiting there for her arrival.

I didn't know what had transpired until after I arrived home from Italy.  

Andrea called to let me know.

She had just attended Judy's funeral.

Life is precious.

Love others even if they are a little pushy. 

Soak up every moment.

I didn't really know Judy, but I will never forget her.