It’s a rainy day in New Jersey–the perfect time to indulge in Part Three of this summer’s trip to Italy. To me, travel is composed of three equally enjoyable segments. Part One is the planning stage. Part Two is the actual travel, and Part Three occurs when your mind leaves your body as you relive those travel highs.
Our villa was a few miles from Lucca, a short (but harrowing) drive to the city gates. It was close enough so that we could see Lucca’s towers from the patio outside my room. The photo at the top of this post (if the”featured image” application works, that is) was taken from that very patio. But just in case it doesn’t, here’s the photo again.
There are city walls, and then there are CITY WALLS. Lucca’s are the latter. We are talking big, serious structures.
One day, we rented a “bicycle built for four” and tooled around the entire periphery.
traveling in style
And yes, those ARE trees growing on top of the wall.
Back seat driver’s view
That photo doesn’t give you an idea of how big the walls are, or how high up that bike path is–so here are a couple more shots to put it into perspective.
One of Lucca’s gatesRestaurant and bar on Lucca’s wall
In fact, the wall is big enough for a restaurant and bar (the site of my birthday prosecco celebration), and a sculpture garden.
The July birthday girls, after several glasses of that bubbly stuff
Lucca also has an old Roman amphitheater within its walls.
No, I didn’t hang from a helicopter to take that aerial view. That is a photo of a poster in the Lucca Tourist office.
Inside the amphitheater
The Italians, being masters of recycling, built houses out of amphitheater walls. Originally, poorer people lived in those structures, but now it is a very trendy locale, with great little cafes and shops.
That’s all for today–but that’s not all there is to Lucca!
If you are thinking that I’d be tired of Italian hilltop towns by now, you’d be dead wrong. I love them! I love the walls, the winding streets, the little outdoor cafes, the cobblestones.
The prior post contains photos of the walls of Magliano, way in the distance, as seen from our Fattoria. Some of the more intrepid bikers actually rode into town during the heat of day, when all wise Italians were eating or snoozin’ and this American was cooling her easy–not moderate–biker body in the pool. They discovered there was not much to do in medieval Italian towns between 2 PM and 4 PM, other than sweat profusely and drink copious amounts of water.
My Best Biking Buddy Beth, and the rest of us wimps didn’t miss out though, because one night, we rode the van into Magliano for dinner.
A spectacular view of the countryside from one of the city gates
If a city has a wall, and said wall can be climbed, you’d best be believin’ I’m on it! My timing was perfect. I hustled to the top of the wall in time to capture the gorgeous sunset.
View from the city wallThe defender’s view
While peering through the slit, I found it easy to conjure up a brave knight of yesteryear. Can’t you just envision him on the wall, looking out into the countryside, ready to defend God, king and castle, while he rosined up his bow (or was that what the fiddler did)? Or maybe the Maglianese warriors dumped boiling oil on any invaders that attempted to storm the castle. If so, I sure hope it wasn’t the extra virgin stuff. Especially not after it had been cold pressed. (Hey, we learned all about that stuff on our tour of the olive farm).
Also while on the wall, girl scout songs kept running through my head, “the golden sun sinks in the west—something, something– calling girl scouts to rest… Day is done, gone the sun, from the east, from the west, from the sky. All is well…”. And it WAS.
Between the songs and my visions of manly knighthood, it’s a wonder I had the time or the energy to take photos, but I dug deep and managed to fire off a few shots for the folks back home.
I couldn’t decide which sunset photo I liked better, so I’m posting both. You get to be the judge.
For those of you that have had enough of the sunsets, amber waves of hay, old castle walls, here’s a change of pace. They DO hang colorful laundry out their windows, now don’t they?
On to the next subject. Talk about luck… We managed to be in town for the Soccer semi-finals, a very festive and exciting occasion. Big Screen TVs were strategically located in outdoor bars throughout the town, and it sure felt like the entire population gathered to root for the home team.
watching the soccer semifinals
Despite being the underdog, Italy trounced Germany. Unfortunately, a few days later they lost to Spain, but at least for that one glorious night, victory was oh, so sweet. Especially for sweet Angelo, our guide. Viva Italia!!
On our last biking day, we rode to Capalbio, another beautiful hilltop town with the requisite wall, castle and church. But this town had something that the others didn’t…a statue of Beth.
Beth, demonstrating how she modeled for the statue.
I can’t resist posting one last walled Italian city shot, so here it is. I’ll spare you the ones of the countryside taken from the wall. They look a lot like the other countryside photos. Beloved by me, but most likely boring to others.
Capalbio
And now it is time to end the bike trip saga. What better way, than to show the lengths to which I will go to get just the right shot. Here’s what I was photographing:
The grounds of Fattoria di MaglianoIf I were good at panoramic shots, this would be on the right side of the photo above
And here’s what I had to do to make sure those wires didn’t appear in the photos. Thanks, Diane, for capturing my “good” side. See, Mike–I DO have one…
Although the bike trip has ended–Sally, Diane, Karen and I headed off for two more glorious weeks, sharing a villa in Italy, with yet another cast of characters.
If you are following this blog, you have probably guessed that this is not a day by day chronicle of the VBT bike trip. Our visit to Giglio Island occurred smack dab in the middle, and given how hot it had been, the timing was perfect. After all that pedaling along sunny roads, I was more than ready for some ocean breezes.
First stop, Porto Santo Stefano, where we had free time to wander thru the markets before boarding the ferry.
Meat Market in Santo Stefano
In addition to open-air meat, fish, cheese and flower markets, there were some clothing shops, where Becky made a purchase. She still hadn’t received her luggage–but somehow managed to always look great. And clean!!
Becky, wearing her favorite (and only) outfit.Porto Santo Stefano, as viewed from the ferry
On the boat, I was captivated by this charming Italian, who waved and said “ciao, ciao” to me. Finally, someone whose command of Italian equalled mine! (Yes, I DO have a thing for blue eyed males…)
enjoying the ride
Remember that Costa Cruise ship that sank off the coast of Italy? The captain abandoned his ship and passengers died? I hadn’t realized that it happened off the coast of Giglio Island.
Tourist attraction? The Costa Concordia
What was truly amazing was how close the ship was to shore when it sank.
Costa cruise ship in the background
The port was lovely, with all the usual shops, restaurants, gelato stands, pastel buildings and clean, clear water.
Giglio Porto
Fortunately we didn’t have to walk all the way up to Giglio Castello, which, like all good fortresses, was built at the highest point of island, to protect the citizenry from invaders.
The well, an important water source when the castle was under siege.One of the many winding paths within the castle
The staircases were built on the outside of the houses to save space within. Can you imagine an exterior staircase in northern New England? Try climbing stairs like these during a blizzard!
Ipads and iPhones were everywhere. I caught sight of this castle resident using hers. Maybe reception is better near the window?
modern technology in ancient castle
After our tour of the castle, it was time for lunch on Campese Beach. Ordinarily, VBT offers an optional hike along the Faraglione cliffs, but with the temperature hovering over 100 degrees, all agreed hiking under the Tuscan sun would not be a pleasant alternative. Some of the group hit the beach. Others (that would be me) found yet another great gelato stand and indulged, while enjoying the scenery.
Finally, we headed to our next lodging, Fattoria di Magliano, another beautiful agritourismo location, with incredible food and wine, a million dollar view, and a wonderful pool. Such luxury!
Fattoria di Magliano
Magliano, as seen from the Fattoria
This was the perfect opportunity to see what my Lumix zoom could do. I probably should have manually adjusted the focus. Oh well. You get the idea.
Next post–the grand finale–our visits to Magliano and Capalbio
There’s something about towers that I find irresistible. And Orvieto’s was no exception, so Diane and I decided late in the day was the perfect time to climb it. Seen from this angle, it didn’t look all that high.
Inside had a bit of a different feel to it.
The view was well worth every one of those 250 steps.
I would have had to hang off the side to get a better shot of the front of the Duomo, but this gives you an idea of the size of that building.
We knew Torre del Moro was a clock tower, but we were not prepared for how loud the bell sounded when it is only a few feet away. By the way, it doesn’t only BOINNNNG on the hour. That sucker was sounding off every 15 minutes. We didn’t linger more than a half an hour–two ear drum piercing tolls were enough for us!
And now for some random memories of Orvieto:
Sally and I found a little wine shop that gave us a private wine tasting. After trying three local reds and four whites, we decided that this label was our favorite. Although, after all that wine, she could have poured us rat pee and we would have thought it was quite refreshing. (we don’t taste and spit…we are far too ladylike for that. Besides, why waste good wine?)
A favorite wine of ours
We managed to catch a couple of weddings on Saturday, and my favorite shot was this one. Bad news, little girls. If you think the sandals are uncomfortable, wait till you graduate to big girl shoes–platform stilettos.
Sister, let’s get these shoes off. My doggies are KILLING me!
Wild boar is considered quite the delicacy here in Tuscany. And yes, I DID try cingale, twice. Even after I saw this guy’s head outside of the restaurant.
Cingale, anyone?
Saturday night a group from Michigan State performed a trumpet concerto in one of the squares, so we sat in a little cafe, drank wine and enjoyed the music. Sally figured that since she lives in Florida and they were from Michigan, these guys were practically neighbors she should introduce herself, so she did.
Trumpet concert
The courtyard of Hotel Duomo was our favorite gathering spot for our evening wine, cheese and fruit party.
Courtyard outside our hotel.Susan, relaxing in the courtyard
Everywhere we looked we saw something beautiful.
Typical door in Orvieto
The city expanded beyond its walls and at the base of the hill.
Orvieto’s museums are small and are clustered around the Duomo. Friday afternoon was the perfect time to wander through all four. We quickly learned that weekdays are relatively quiet in Orvieto, but that changes on Saturday. Seems that even hilltop towns also have their weekend warriors.
The C. Faina museum is a three story palace facing the Duomo. In addition to the Etruscan vases and a stone coffin, it has a room chock full of ancient coins, with the modern convenience of trays that move when you press a button. If my cute boy had been by my side, I know he absolutely would have spent a fair amount of time in this room.
Ancient coin collection at Museo C. Faina
I have been more than slightly spoiled by NYC museums, so have already seen similar artifacts. What fascinated ME was the actual building itself. I wish I were more skilled at holding the camera correctly so that I could have better captured this ceiling. (I know Photoshop can work wonders but, as we say here in Italy “Io sono pigro”. Or that’s I would say if I knew how to speak Italian). But enough about my shortcomings, back to the museum tour.
One of many beautiful ceilings in C. Faina
Next stop, the Palazzi Papali which has been recycled into an archaeological museum. The nuns never mentioned that the popes owned quite a bit of real estate outside of the Vatican. Or if the dear sisters did, it was on one of the many days that I wasn’t listening, so finding Papal Palaces scattered throughout Europe has been a revelation to me.
This museum contained all the usual jewelry and vases, plus everything you needed to conduct your standard rape, pillage and plunder. But once again, I was completely entranced by the building. While I sat in a corner of the room, in the chair reserved for the guard who was out on the patio flirting with a sweet young thing, I was thinking deep thoughts. Let me share a couple of them:
“Man, I’m sure glad I was born in the 20th century”!
“Some of my friends have better houses than your standard 15th century Pope.”
Ancient coin collection at C. Fana
THe Duomo Museum only had frescoes, either copies or originals, I guess they had to be one or the other since most museums don’t intentionally display fakes, but I really didn’t care one way or the other. 10 minutes later I was out the door.
The Emilio Greco Museum was my very favorite. His ability to make a few ink marks on paper into something beautiful kept me mesmerized for quite some time.
The museum was only one room. The beautiful sculptures we plopped amid a whole lot of stuff: a piano, chairs, a spiral staircase. Still, the drawings and sculptures made you forget the cluttered space around them.
Emilio Greco Museum
Emilio also designed the Duomo’s huge green doors. Let me tell you, those doors have a whole lot of entwined bodies on them.
And since we are now back at the Duomo, here’s the story about how a little hilltop town got such a grand cathedral.
Back in the late 1400’s, one of the priests couldn’t quite wrap his head around the host literally being the body of Christ, until one day, while saying Mass, the host started to bleed. Fortunately, they didn’t have paper towels back then, so he quickly grabbed a linen cloth to tidy up. As mentioned earlier, popes were frequent visitors, and the Vicar of Rome just happened to be in town that weekend. He quickly decided that the cloth was “church worthy” and that a new cathedral would be ideal as a display case. And so the bloody cloth remains, up to this very day, in the little side chapel on the left of the main altar. No photos are allowed, but if the truth be told, I really wasn’t able to see the cloth anyway. I just had faith that it was there.
On to the next topic: Dinners in Orvieto are a magnificent thing, and the one we had at Restaurante Ancora was particularly grand. Diane and I discovered it while stumbling around town, looking for a bathroom. It looked interesting and Trip Advisor enlightened us further as to the merits of this particular establishment. We wisely allowed Carlo, the owner, to choose for us and it was fabulous. Delicious pizza bread, an amazing eggplant appetizer, a lasagna, a ravioli, veal with a delicious sauce, vegetables and dessert, plus wine–all for less than 35 Euros per person. Wow. What a way to end the evening.
I had never heard of Orvieto prior to my VBT trip. What a charming little town! Founded by the Etruscans, it sits atop a pile of volcanic rock. It is a very walkable town, with enough to see and do to keep us all quite happy and occupied for several days.
Orvieto-one mile long and a half a mile wide
The VBT pre-trip package included a guided walking tour. Manuela explained that Orvieto’s three main squares corresponded to the three important functions: religion, commerce and government. We are standing in the “commerce” square. Deserted on a Friday morning, but bustling on Saturday, which is market day.
Manuela in the Piazza del Popolo
Sally and I had wandered the streets the day we arrived, but what a difference it made having our guide. (Or maybe being jet lagged had something to do with it.)
The market was a major disappointment, more like a low-end flea market. For example, they sold what my Grandma called “house” dresses. I thought that style died with her, decades ago.
Fortunately the little streets were lined with delightful shops loaded with crafts, ceramics, unique clothing, wine, cheese. You too can own one of these tee shirts if you have 125 Euros you don’t know what to do with!
The Government square wasn’t all that interesting, except for the tower that dates back to the 1000’s.
We said goodbye to Manuela after our visit to Orvieto’s main attraction, the Duomo.
The Duomo, as seen from one of the side streets
It was surprising to see such a grand church in a rather small town. There is quite a story behind it. Any guesses? I’ll tell all in the next post.
Star of David pattern on pavement in front of DuomoSide view of DuomoDetail from Duomo facade. Are these the damned?
By now, you’ve probably seen quite enough of the church, so off we go to the next attraction, Orvieto’s underground tour, the perfect place to hang out during the hottest part of the day. The Uniticket brochure describes Orvieto as the city of a thousand caves. That is likely true, however most of the caves are below people’s houses, and are not open to the public. They make the ideal wine cellar, staying at a uniform temperature.
The tour consisted of a couple of caves that have been linked together by some rather narrow passages. I am more than slightly claustrophobic, so when I saw the tiny, winding staircases carved in the rock, I had to take a deep breath and remind myself that I had passed through a birth canal once, I could do it again.
The caves functioned as bomb shelters during World War II, and in ancient times they were used as pigeon houses (pigeons were considered food in this area), for olive oil pressing and for storage. Because the volcanic rock is relatively soft, the Etruscans were able to dig down to the water table, so the caves were the source of their water. And no, I have no idea who the cute little girl was; she just made the photo more interesting.
The pigeon housing in the caves.
The “other” caves, Pozzo Della Cava were discovered in the 1500’s when Pope Clement VII
decided to hang out in Orvieto while Rome was being sacked. He determined the city needed a reliable source of water so it could withstand sieges, so he had the Etruscan well enlarged, and in the process, the workers uncovered burial chambers and artifacts.
The Etruscan well, in Pozzo Della CavaEtruscan artifacts
More to see, but it will have to wait till the next post.
I’ll never be rich (at least not in monetary terms) or famous, but for the next two weeks, I’ll be living as if I were.
Our villa in Lucca is exquisite. Because of bed type and bathroom preferences among the other villa mates, I ended up with this fantastic room. I’m so glad Sandy is joining me here on July 4th, to share this amazing experience with me. Get ready, everyone–once little sister arrives, the blog will likely become much more exciting (or maybe not, so it can keep its PG rating.)
Half of our roomThe rest of our room
Check out that terrace, right outside our room.
The terrace on the 2nd floorThe view from the terraceOur bathroom
I’m quite proud of myself. I actually figured out how to use the shower on my own. Usually Mike does all the hard stuff. This shower has knobs galore to control overhead, side and hand sprays. The door reminds me of Star Trek, except it has a seat, so you can be comfy while being beamed up?
Ours is the only shared bathroom, (with the “twin bed” room) but there is also a bathroom on the first floor. The three other bedrooms (two on the third floor) have their own, equally magnificent bathrooms. So, five bedrooms in total, and five baths.
The kitchen
There is also a large, shady terrace on the first floor.
Terrace dining roomLiving room, as seen from dining roomThird floor living roomThe pool, viewed from the second floorThe pool, yet again
I don’t know whether it was yesterday’s back to back yoga sessions or the glasses of red wine, maybe both, but all of the normal air travel irritants fazed me not one bit. I would just “breathe into it, take another sip” and contemplate how mellow I was feeling as I floated across the Atlantic Ocean. Maybe I’m finally getting the hang of this traveling thing.
It took us a while to reach our hotel today and a bit longer to get into our rooms. I was definitely “runnin’ on empty” by the time I collapsed onto my bed for a one hour nap.
My room is lovely, on the first floor, which, by the way, us Yankees would consider the 2nd floor. It’s in an old building with all of the conveniences: air conditioning, little refrigerator, or as I like to think of it “wine cooler”, a bidet, located within spitting distance of the cathedral (the hotel, not the bidet–although technically, i suppose it is both). Not that I would ever spit. But if I did, I could probably score a bull’s eye.
W
Okay. It is official. My connection with the Internet is a lot like my high school dating experiences–on, again, off again. So, I will quickly get some photos up before the Internet breaks up with me.
The Duomo
No, that was not the interior of the Duomo. You can’t take pictures inside. Well, you aren’t supposed to, but i noticed some tourists boldly ignoring the rules. Didn’t they see that fresco of Jesus passing judgement? Didn’t they see what happens to the rule breakers? I did. And let me tell you, I wasn’t taking any chances.
The second photo is actually the staircase in one of Orvieto’s little shops. If I had 120 euros that I didn’t know what do do with, I would definitely have bought one of their Miss Piggy tee shirts. I may return, just to take a photo of one of those suckers–they are quite unique! Something to anticipate in future posts.
I wandered around town by myself, then later with Sally, while we waited for our fellow companions to awaken and for the restaurants to start serving dinner. 7:30 is the earliest, and is an accommodation to those of us from across the pond. Italians dine later.
This is such a lovely little town, full of interesting alleys, with shops, restaurants, wine stores, museums. Sally and I ducked into a wine store and had our own private tasting. We determined that white was the way to go, after tasting three reds, en chose our favorite from among four whites. Time to weave our way back to join the others for a fantastic dinner and a good night’s sleep.
Being still in the learning phase of blogging, I was surprised and grateful to get an email from my newly acquired blogging buddy Marion, informing me that she had nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award. At the time, I was getting ready for my cross-country road trip, so was way behind on my electronic media: the blogs I follow, Facebook etc. I was honored, delighted, pleased, flattered–but clueless, in that I thought there was another step after nomination. What, was I confusing this with the academy awards, thinking there was an election process? Hey, I already admitted to being clueless.
I have since had the time to recover from the last trip, catch up, and read Marion’s nominating post. Thank you, sweet Marion, for the kind words. Although a little late, I now know what I am supposed to do.
1. Add the picture of the award to this post .
2. Thank the award-giver and link back to them in your post. (See above–click on the blue “Marion”)
3. Share 7 things about yourself.
I love, love, love traveling–going to new places, learning about the culture, the geography, the history, the people, the food, the wine (oh yes, the wine…)
I have no sense of direction, which makes traveling with me even more of an adventure, especially when I am driving–or navigating–either is sometimes harrowing. Probability would suggest that, when presented with a left and a right, 50% of the time, I’d choose the right option. Probability theory, in my case, would be dead wrong.
the best thing I have ever done in my life is give birth to my son. He continues to delight us on a regular basis. (Considering he didn’t sleep through the night till he was 18 months old, he damn well should! Kid, you still owe us. )
Even after 36 years, I still think my husband is the most interesting man I know. (Cute too, and very patient, at least most of the time. Work on that, will ya, cute boy? )
If my sisters (including mi hermana preferida) and my cousins weren’t related to me, I’d choose them as friends. They are all very different, and all very wonderful, in unique and special ways. Marion is correct. Initially my blog was created so that my family could be a part of my travels. I didn’t think any one else would be interested, so I’m delighted that others are following and commenting.
I’m passionate about reading–and am convinced the greatest gift you can give any child is instilling in them a love for books. I’ll admit, however, that now that I’ve become a member of the blog-o-sphere, I’m spending more time reading blogs, which has somewhat reduced my book time.
I have a very casual relationship with calendars. Now that I’m retired and no longer have Microsoft office reminding me of the date and time, I’ve gotten even less in tune with the days of the week. (These days, it always feels like Saturday!)
4. Pass the award along to your 15 favorite bloggers.
One of the nice things about this step is I was able to discover several bloggers from Marion’s list that I am now enjoying (Senile Denial, sharansblog.) I won’t repeat her list, but will share other bloggers that I find interesting, inspiring, fun.
Photography
I love looking at beautiful photos. I have accepted the fact that I will never be as good as any of the following photographers, but even if I can pick up one tenth of their techniques and skill, I will greatly improve my picture-taking abilities.
Mazzarella Photo Chris takes awe-inspiring photos of wildlife. His narrative about the various shots is always interesting.
Jeffrey’s most recent photos of eagles on his Photo Nature Blog are truly incredible. How did he manage to get those shots?
David, a fellow retiree, can make the ordinary look special.
I don’t know anything about this young blogger, other than I really like her compositions.
Travel
I hope to get to Asia some day. in the meantime, I can visit and dream by clicking on Ken Pham’s blog.
Retirement
As Marion indicated,there are loads of blogs on retirement that are actually financial advisor sites, but finding blogs about retiree life is a bit harder. Here are two (in addition to Marion’s list) that I discovered.
Bob is a prolific blogger, plus his site is a great source for other retirement bloggers. It was through his site that I found Barb‘s blog. I love her positive attitude, insights and creativity.
Inspiration
I “met” Michelle through Global Volunteers. She had served on St. Lucia’s “Team One” and was kind enough to spend time on the phone with me prior to my joining “Team Two”. She will be returning to St. Lucia in November (would that be Team Five?), so I can look forward to joining her vicariously via her blog “A Well Lived Day”.
In 2008, I discovered the wonderful book “Your Money or Your Life by Joe Domingues and Vicki Robin. It changed the way I thought about money, financial security and retirement. Definitely a book worth reading, especially during these challenging economic times. Vicki is now blogging about sustainability, farming, food, Brazil, community issues.
Although Eva could fit under the photography heading, I’m putting her under “inspiring” for her work with Alzheimer’s patients. I particularly love the photos of her son.
Young Women in a Category All Their Own
Elena’s photos are gorgeous (both the ones she takes and the photos taken of her), her adventures are exciting and her writing is beautiful. I love her spirit of adventure!
Crazy train to Tinky Town is another one that is hard to categorize. It is funny, has great photos, is a travel blog–yet another young woman with a wonderful spirit of adventure! 5. Contact the chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.
I assume the way that is done is to comment on their blog, so off I go to finish the job.
Okay, so you may have figured out that I am moving faster than my blog. In fact, I arrived home on Wednesday, June 6th, at midnight. While on the road, I was having internet issue, it is true. What is also true is that I was having so bloody much fun, I didn’t have a lot of time or energy to mess with my iPad. Blogging on the road just isn’t easy–so I must say that I’m totally impressed by my fellow bloggers that do it so well. (Marion, you know who I’m talking about.)
Guess who got a window seat for the ride home? Of course, I had a window seat on the way there too. The view was spectacular for most of the Albuquerque to Denver flight. I won’t bore you with the many other photos that I took of the terrain. I found it fascinating, but realize that not everyone else would be as easily entertained as I am.
It kept getting better and better. I scored an upgrade for the Denver to Newark segment. Oh, I’m so going to miss my “elite” status when it goes away next year. Without all those business trips to get me points, I’ll be back in steerage with the rest of the regular folks. (On balance, I’d say it’s the better deal–free time vs elite status–no contest.)
First class also was a window seat, but I was quite busy during this segment. Ruby slippers didn’t get me home, but some ruby colored liquid sure made that yellow brick road roll along more smoothly. (Can you tell The Wizard of Oz is an all time favorite of mine?) It was just as well, because we were heading into darkness. Sure did look pretty with all the lights, though. By the time I took this shot of Newark at night, the photo wasn’t the only thing that was fuzzy and out of focus!
For anyone wondering what happened between the road trip and the plane trip, the rest of the blog is for you.
Once we hit Albuquerque, our road trip was finished. The one hour drive to Santa Fe was nothing after the 2,000+ miles we had logged during the prior 8 days.
Our last “on the road” breakfast at the Nativo Hotel was truly memorable because brought me back to my post college days. Back then, I was working for Harper & Row, covering parts of the Midwest as a “college traveler”, which meant I spent my days talking to professors about textbooks. In the late 70’s there weren’t many women in sales, especially in jobs requiring overnight travel, so I was frequently the only woman eating breakfast in a crowded hotel restaurant. How weird that it was happening again, almost 35 years later, but with a few major differences. Back then, the men were in the 30-50 age range, wearing business suits, and felt it was their right (and duty) to stare at any unaccompanied female, which, I can assure you, felt quite uncomfortable. One of the greatest advantages to getting older is that no one ogles me any more, so that wasn’t the difference. It was the men’s ages and attire . They looked like escapees from the nearest nursing home. Except few nursing homes have a 30 to 1 male to female ratio. More the other way around. This place was a little old lady’s dream…sort of.
Here’s the reality. The night before I happened to catch a couple of the guys out of their civvies, in their full regalia, waist ropes, cowls and all.
Yup, we had managed to stumble into a hotel hosting a conference for Friars (or were they brothers? I forget the correct terminology.) It sure made for a quiet, peaceful stay!
But I digressed. Back to the trip. We couldn’t get into Greg’s apartment until 4PM, so we decided to make the most of our time in Albuquerque, by visiting the Botanical Garden and Aquarium.
I just couldn’t get enough of those blooming cacti. (I just knew two years of Latin would be put to use one of these days ).
I wish the bee had been more cooperative, but she refused to pose for me. Just when I thought she was perfectly framed, she moved faster than my shutter finger. Oh well. I was surprised to find so many water lilies in a desert botanical garden.
If I could only choose one, which shot would be preferable-the close up or wider angle? I’m trying to be more discriminating in my shots, so would appreciate opinions — and I know there are lots of great photographers among my fellow bloggers. I’ve seen the magic you create. Plus I never tried out poll daddy before and am curious to see how it works.
The garden was not without wildlife. These fish were almost domesticated, gathering at the pond’s edge when they sensed a human was nearby. They came close to leaping out of the water to get food, and their size attested to their success.
More wildlife. Mom was close by, but I cropped her out.
As the late, great Harry Truman once said “If you can’t take the heat, get out of the garden and visit the aquarium”, or something to that effect. So we did.
I wasn’t sure my Panasonic Lumix would be able to capture the jellyfish, given the low light, but hey, with digital, it doesn’t cost anything to give it a try. So I did.
I loved the colors of this creature.
It ain’t snorkeling, but it almost as thrilling, wandering among the tanks of tropical fish.
For the next couple of days, Greg and I hung out together, enjoying Santa Fe and his really cool apartment until I met up with my dear friend, Shirley. How lucky that Greg got an internship in New Mexico, close to one of my favorite people to visit. Not only did I experience 10 memorable days with my son, but I also got a mini vacation with a great pal. Her husband was out-of-town, so staying at her gorgeous home was like having a girl’s weekend at a five-star resort, with a very talented and creative activity director. Two of the visit’s highlights were the Petroglyph National Monument and Ojo Caliente Spa.
The park ranger suggested that we experience the more difficult trail. She said “you girls will have no problem making that climb.” I don’t know what tickled us more–her confidence in our athletic abilities (that assessment proved to be accurate), or calling us “girls” (which clearly was not).
There are hundreds of these in the hills surrounding Albuquerque. Here are a couple that I particularly liked.
The view alone was worth the climb.
Can you stand another poll? What do you think–which shot is better?
“Us girl’s”, successfully recruited a fellow hiker to take our photo. I think he was more skilled with a camera than my Oklahoma friend, Charles, don’t you?
Next day was the Ojo Caliente Spa. Who knew that sitting in a pool of arsenic was supposed to be good for your digestion? If that particular pool doesn’t grab you, not to worry. You can also go to the iron pool, the mud bath pool, the soda pool or a few others that we didn’t sample.
The surroundings were lovely, the treatments were heavenly. I could quite easily become addicted to the spa life. Only my lack of funds (plus other priorities) keeps me from a life of facials, mud baths and massages. But it sure was a great finale for an amazing trip.
A couple more photos of New Mexico, taken from a moving car. Why don’t all highways look like this? Let’s hear it for the artists that make all our lives more beautiful!
Only 11 days till the next adventure–bike trip in Italy. Thanks for visiting, and please come along for the ride through Tuscany!
Destination NOW 