England

 

Well, this is my last full day in England. My few days here have gone so quickly. I have mixed feelings. In many ways I am looking forward to getting back home to Oregon. After being on the road for almost three weeks, I am missing my own bed and my dog. However, I have felt very comfortable being back in England. It almost feels as though I have never been away and that the years that I have lived in Oregon are part of another parallel life. This feeling was especially strong while we were visiting good friends up in Yorkshire. They hadn’t changed much, the house and countryside looked the same (all beautiful), and the only difference was that they are now empty nesters, their kids at university or out in the world. We spent last weekend with them and it was like stepping back in time. We had a lovely weekend. On the Saturday we visited York, a beautiful old city. I couldn’t persuade my kids to go into the huge cathedral there – they had enough of those in Italy. After seeing the sights, we went to Betty’s, a traditional English teashop for afternoon tea. In the evening we had that traditional English food, the Indian curry, and very nice it was too. On Sunday, after a lazy start to the day and a very English breakfast of eggs, bacon and sausage followed by toast and marmalade, we went to the Peak district, an area of outstanding beauty, for a bracing walk on the moors. It is very different from hiking in Oregon – no trees and there were plenty of sheep around. A quick visit to a 13^th century pub for a pint on the way home rounded out the day – lovely.

The last few days have been spent catching up with friends in and around Cambridge. It’s been lovely to see everyone. The village we lived in, Foxton, hasn’t changed at all. Andy and Claire managed to connect with some friends. I think that was the one thing that kept reminding me that time has passed since we were last here – the kids are all grown up. Some of them have changed so much that I would probably pass them in the street without a second glance. A friend in Foxton organized a gathering in the local pub so I had a chance to catch up with quite a few friends. Thanks Glenda.

On Tuesday we caught the train to London and visited the Imperial Museum. We all wanted to see the Holocaust exhibition. I know, it was a gruesome way to end our sightseeing but the kids were too young when we went to the museum while we lived here. The exhibition is so extensive that we had little time to see anything else other than a model of a First World War trench. You can enter the trench and walk along the duckboards as the sounds of war reverberate around you. Oh, and they have recreated the odors of the trench so you can smell the stench that the soldiers had to live amongst. Nice (not).

Even the weather has done its best to remind me of life in England. It has been blustery and wet. I notice it is hot and sunny in Oregon – looking forward to some of that.

Last Day in Florence

 
Because Florence is the birthplace of the Renaissance, it seems fitting that we should spend our last day in Italy visiting one of the famous art galleries. Having only one full day in Florence, we decided that we didn’t have the time needed to really appreciate the artwork in the Uffizi and so that museum would have to wait for a second trip. Instead, we chose The Galleria del’Accademia, a smaller but popular museum housing the original Michelangelo’s sculpture of David.

This vacation in Italy has transformed my feelings about sculpture. I have never been that interested in it before but I think that is because I have never really given statues the attention they deserve. While we were in Rome we visited the Borghese Gallery where, among others, the statues of David, Apollo and Daphne and Pluto and Proserpina by Bernini are displayed. How Bernini managed to convey such emotion and how he managed to make the cold, hard marble look like warm, supple flesh is beyond me. I could have spent the entire visit to the Borghese Gallery just looking at these works. What was interesting in the Galleria del’Accademia, in Florence, was that you get a chance to see how Michelangelo actually created his sculptures from the block of marble. Four sculptures, called the prisoners, are still partially enclosed in their marble blocks.

We also found time to visit a new small museum dedicated to the inventions of Leonardo Di Vinci. The museum has created models of all his inventions from wood. It was really impressive especially when you remember he was also a great artist. All I can say is that he must have had great time management skills to fit everything in.

It doesn’t really feel as though we have done justice to Florence.  We are here for too short a time and the city is heaving with tourists. It feels busier than Rome, although that may be because the most popular tourist sites are compacted into a smaller area. We will have to return…

And now for England.

And so to Florence….

 After a week in the Tuscan countryside where we alternated lazy days playing cards and sitting by the pool with trips to Siena, San Gimignano and Pisa, we plunged back into the mayhem that seems to be the hallmark of Italian cities. In Rome we did not have a car, but we drove into Florence. Things went well to start with. We quickly (or as quick as you can, given the hairpin bends and narrowness of the country roads in Tuscany) found our way into south Florence but the fun and games started as we got into the old part of the city. The streets rapidly narrowed and out sat-nav system seemed to get itself into knots, sending us this way and that, often down streets that are so narrow that you wonder how you are ever going to get down them. Down one of the streets two ladies were helping an elderly women walk down the road. As we approached they all shuffled over to one side but I don’t think the old woman was physically able to step up off the road onto the sidewalk. I held my breath as we crawled past, missing them by a matter of inches. Somehow we found our hotel, more by luck than anything else.

Our hotel is great. It right in the center of Florence, about five minutes walk from the Cathedral. We have a suite, which consists of two big rooms. It feels a little like being in our own personal art gallery as the ceilings are painted with beautiful frescoes. The weather has cooled down a bit, so although the sun is strong, it is not as hot as it was in Rome, thank goodness. After a walk to the Piazza della Signoria and the Ponte Vecchio we found a lovely restaurant near the hotel where we had a leisurely dinner complete with complimentary sparkling wine.