Posts Tagged ‘michelangelo’

Parts is Parts

Friday, September 26th, 2014

Each piece of the puzzle is sheer perfection! And the results will take your breath away.

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Florence with Ernie

Friday, September 26th, 2014

Yesterday (the 23rd,Sept.) our travels would have seen Sandi and Ernie Jenson jump on board. Tragically, Ernie’s life ended with a horrible traffic accident a few weeks shy of a trip of a lifetime. It’s difficult to stroll around Florence without them; to raises glasses of vino de la cassa, consume pizza as only italy can make, and indulge in gelato in exquisite. flavors. They both would have loved the feel of the leather goods, and held their breath seeing “David” in all his glory, and been spell bound at the sight of the Duomo right in front of our classic hotel.

I know I will reflect for the next several days what it would have been like, as I know Sandi is watching her calendar and seeing these days go by at home.

Today we went to the more humble Santa Croce church where many illustrious Italians were entombed; Michelangelo, Marconi, Dante are but a few.

Steve and I sat in a pew and silently held Ernie and Sandi in our hearts. Ernie was an engineer-type with a keen mind and thoughtful observations so we said a prrayer and lit a candle in front of the sepulcher of Galileo. I think Ernie would have liked that.

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The State Hermitage Museum

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

Wow, talk about an amazing experience at the Hermitage here in St.Petersburg.  We spent most of the day on three floors of the palace of Peter the Great viewing famous art.

We were nose to nose with Rembrandts, da Vinci’s, Michelangelo, Rubens, Picasso, Matisse etc. We even managed to lose Donna, so talk about exciting!!

As Time Goes By

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

It has been rather busy since returning to San Diego; a Pfizer convention, guests for 8 days,Steve’s dad needing him on the Fourth and him not being home, etc,  so it has just been the last couple of days that we have been unpacking, and sorting our souvenirs and small gifts.  And our memories.  They are not so easy to put back on the shelf.  Do we want to?  What do I miss the most?

What I miss is rediscovering my husband in so many little ways. In Montalcino we got to play “house”.  Shop, cook, wash dishes, and delight in the discoveries we made each day. Read books, watch movies on the computer between toastincinqueterra1us in bed on “movie night.”  No distractions, settled in, drinking wine, making new friends, being of small service, and sharing the immense sense of marvel.  Boy did we fight too! 

Trying not to fall into old patterns and roles, still hurting from failures, and sometimes thinking the only thing we had in common was the kids. Choosing to love, remembering how to love, loving from the head when the heart forgot how. Vowing to change and be different, and making progress . OK, too deep.

I loved having company come.  How honored I was to have someone come so far to share this.  And we were only too eager to share what we had found.  

Cooking Italian style, lots of Jug wine and cheese on a terrace with a million dollar view. Scarves, market day, Duomo’s, Easter week, 8 of Maggio, church bells, finding the small treasures of a small town, great ravioli, poppy fields,  crunchy underwear, shutters thrown open to greet each new day! 

And how humbled I felt that some dear people would read my frequent ranting on my travel blog and let me share this all with them from afar. Thank you.

pietaI was blown away by the faith  of Christians through the many centuries who went on crusades, spent lifetimes building Abbey’s, Cathedrals, walled-cities, who dedicated their lives to sculpting masterpiece, painting ceilings, writing music that glorified God. Sure ,there was greed and self-interest, but you could tell there were hearts who swelled with the love of their Lord to dedicate their lives to doing what they thought was His will. That faith really reached through the centuries and grabbed my heart. 

I confess my “walk” with the Lord has been a little distant of late, maybe less intimate, because of the enormity of expressions of others that make my meager efforts to serve seem so meager.  Why would the God that inspires the Pieta, want to listen to my jibber jabber ( but He does, so i’m working on this).

But WAKE UP Italy and the rest of Europe!  How sad to see the catherals locked and shut down.  Meager attendance, Easter habits, faith as an old persons’ panacea.  They are not smarter because they have put their faith on a shelf.  They are missing the Glory, the faith-dimension that is the only thing that makes this world make any sense. 

Thank you Jesus, for Father Piernino, Giovani, Miranda, Juonpaulo, the monks of St. Antimo and those who still burn brightly. We pray for revival.

So much for the rawness of 3a.m. self-examinations.

Firenze

Monday, April 20th, 2009
All aboard!!

All aboard!!

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We conquered train travel by rolling down the hill from our apartment to the Buonconvento Station and catching a 2 hour train directly to Florence!

It was a little intimidating for at first, but along with the Jensons, we caught the train so that we could get closer to town and got ourselves to the Duomo. We found it amazing on the outside, but a real bore on the inside.

Steve and I continue to pray inside each church we visit, for a European revival of faith. Inside each church we also light a candle for my little church back home. All of the churches still have their altars banked with Easter flowers and it is very pretty!

We had made a reservation at the Uffiziand we were there at our appointed hour of 13:15 (they use a twenty-four hour clock everywhere). I think we managed to see what we wanted to see: “Birth of Venus” by Botticelli and a painting by pontevecchiojewlryLeonardo di Vinci. The copy of the statue of “David” by Michelangelo in the public square was good enough, rather than face more lines to see the original.

We headed to the Ponte Vecchio (“old bridge”) which is covered with jewelry stores! We consumed more gelato, tried cannoli, and had a waffle sandwich (fudge sauce, gelato and whipped cream) that was to die for. Hey, rolex replica Italy isn’t only about wine and pasta! We got back to the train, and shared a copy of USA Today while we bounced back home after an amazing day.