A Visit to Italy

Europe

4-12-17

Visit with Anna and Claudio. Urbino is in the background.

Urbino church paintings.

San Vitale, Ravenna

Garibaldi biking in Ravenna.

Latin palindrome graffiti.

Madonna and child

Prayer wheels in Pennabilli honoring a visit from the Dalai Lama.

Theodric, King of the Ostrogoths, enjoys biking in Ravenna.

Urbino

Pennabilli countryside, the backdrop to the Mona Lisa painting.

Dante’s tomb

Urbino church painting.

Ornate door in Urbino.

Floor mosaic Ravenna.

Mosaics in Ravenna.

Sweet salt from Cervian seawater pans. This salt is reputed to have medicinal properties.

Historic salt storage building in Cervia.

Seafood pasta

Emilia-Romagna countryside

Beach at Cervia.

A Tonino Guerra poem; the first time he recognized being happy after release from a German internment camp was when he saw a butterfly and didn’t want to eat it.

Doors in Italy

Uncategorized

4-12-17

More lovely doors! These are from Italy.

A Walk in the Dutch Countryside

Europe

4-10-17

Took several walks yesterday in the area around IJsselstein.

Holland

Europe

4-7-17

Today my cousin Kit and I went to the Keukenhof; an amazing spring flower garden.

The last time I was in Holland I was 18. It’s so good to have the chance to be here again.

England

Uncategorized

4-2-17

Vitoria-Gasteiz, Capital of Spanish Basque Country

Spain

4-2-17

In Vitoria-Gasteiz since yesterday. The city was founded over 900 years ago and the old town has an ancient feel.

Here’s a video of traditional dancing:

Open the door and build gardens (per Google translate).

Countryside

Art museum

There was a fair recreating the time of the Peninsular War against the French.

More great graffiti.

Writer Ignacio Aldecoa. Bookstores and monuments to writers and poets are all over Spain. People read!

Adorable tiny dogs in jackets abound; “los mascotas”.

Old city wall

Traditional bread

Wall art

Window display

Spring

Traditional dancers

We took a tour of the under-renovation cathedral.

More!

Old town

Garden at the base of the Cathedral.

The Basque freedom organization, ETA, has disbanded but political prisoners are still held all over Spain. There is an effort to have them moved to prisons closer to families and to get proper medical care.

Main square

San Sebastián

Uncategorized

3-31-17

We’ve been in Donastia (San Sebastian), for the past couple of days. It has a Belle Époque feel; walking along the beach promenade I could picture women with parasols and men wearing straw hats.

I had some truly delicious slow cooked pork pintxos (small dishes) at La Cuchera de San Telmo.

All signs are in Spanish and Basque and it does sound very different from anything else I’ve ever heard. Our hotel receptionist was patient enough to teach me a few phrases: