Blog Archives - A Cottage by the Sea

S. Damiano in the rain~

9/30/2013

I said goodbye to Florence yesterday and now I am saying goodbye to Assisi. We had a magical twenty-four hours in this little Umbrian hill town. You have walk the streets and look out at the vista to feel the magic. Best I can do is offer a few photographs. Suffice to say, I’m dreaming of returning.

     I love the energy in Assisi. Alive but peaceful. For one reason or another everyone is bustling up and down the steep streets and stairways because of St. Francis. To add to the energy, October 4th is St. Francis’ Feast Day, and yes, Pope Francis, the first pope to claim the name Francis, is coming to celebrate.

     Yesterday we walked beyond the city gates and down the hill to the Convent of S. Damiano, founded by St. Clare and where she lived for twenty-five years after the death of her soul mate St. Francis. S. Damiano is also where St. Francis heard the voice of God to ‘mend my church’ and where he wrote the Canticle of the Creatures.

       It was a lovely stroll as thunder clouds formed, and we felt the first drop of rain just as we reached the portico. It poured and thundered for a good hour as we wandered through the convent before sitting in the cloister waiting for it to clear. The monks and nuns offered us umbrellas. A lovely moment. When the rain abated, we headed up the hill, feeling the last drop just as we reached the Church of St. Clair.

You can't get a bad meal in Italy~

9/27/2013

After three weeks living here alone, and one week on vacation with my daughter, today is my last full day in Florence,. The entire time, to use that overworked word, has been perfect--a combination of solitude and community. Spending those mornings in the Oblate Library here has renewed my desire to get back to more serious writing. We live across the street from the library at home, so no excuse there.

What will I miss? As a start, I’ll miss the food.

Satisfying Siena~

9/26/2013

A day trip to Siena. Not particularly silent or simple, but very satisfying.

Love padlocks--an update~

9/24/2013

Back on September 9th I wrote about the hundreds of love padlocks attached to the fencing around the statue of Cellini, with the sign stating:

    “It is not allowed to hang locks to the railing.
     As it is ruled by the municipal police, Art 112
    Fine 1600 Euros to transgressors

      When my daughter and I wandered over the bridge on Tuesday morning we noticed that the fence was clear of locks. Sometime, probably during the wee hours, the keep-Florence-clean committee must have come along and cleared the fence. How did they do it? Most likely with a stash of keys. How long did it take? Without a doubt, all night.

     But the lovers are back. You just can’t keep them away. Already there are a couple of new locks waiting for others to join them. Even in the early morning security cars are waiting on the bridge, looking for pick pockets, protecting the jewelry stores from robberies, and guarding Cellini’s fence from those dangerous padlocks. Love is not a secure thing, I guess.

Magical moments in Florence~

9/23/2013

As I write, my daughter is flying into Rome and will begin making her way to Florence. She has just lost six hours of sleep, but no time for sleep once she steps into this magical city! I expect that her first magical moment will be when we turn the corner into Piazza Santa Maria Novella on our way to the apartment.

As soon as I post this, my challenge will be to maneuver my way to the train station to meet her. I know the way but I don’t know precisely when the officials will open the barricades to let the pedestrians cross the cyclist route. As it stands right now, my apartment is literally on the wrong side of the road.

My days of solitude in Florence are over. I am ‘very grateful’ for every museum, meal, church, walk and everything in between that I have experienced. And now, I am grateful for the upcoming days with Emily. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was here in Florence with my mom, and for that I am also grateful. She was the one who taught our family to start with gratitude.

Brunelleschi, my hero~

9/22/2013

(Written yesterday) Here I am again at the Oblate loggia at the library, again at the first table right in front of Brunelleschi’s dome. I can almost reach out and touch the red tiles and white buttresses that hold it together and give it strength and assurance that it will not fall apart or cave in. Maybe that’s why I return again and again. I’ve been coming here for the past few mornings to write for a few hours, sipping a cappuccino and munching a brioche as I down at the screen and up at the dome, just a kiss away. I can’t take my eyes off it, but why should I? Today is my last day writing under this architectural marvel, this historical structure and cultural harbinger of the Quattro Cento (15th century).

Of course I can find all of that information in guide books and historical treaties, but what about the personal alchemy between me and the Duomo? I feel Brunelleschi determination, perseverance, intellectual prowess, sense of beauty and resolute spirit, which is why I come here to write and why I dream to come back here again and again. Brunelleschi, my hero!

UCI cycling championship in Florence~

9/21/2013

“Taking place in Florence, Italy, the UCI Road World Championships will be held from September 22-29. The racing begins with the team time trial and culminates with the men's elite road race on the final Sunday.”

According to Cycling News, this is what I’ll be dealing with throughout the week. Not simple! At various (specified?) times each day barriers along the streets will be locked shut and pedestrians will be blocked from crossing.

And so it was today. I left the library and headed toward the Duomo, only to realize that I couldn’t get across the street and on toward my apartment. I waited and watched. Every once in a while a cyclist, followed by a sponsor’s car, would zip by. Whew! And then some staff member opened the flood gates and the crowds crossed over. Moses letting his people go.

Silence in the Bardini Gardens~

9/20/2013

I found another secret entry to the Boboli Gardens, this time through the Bardini Gardens. The two seemed to flows into the other, as I felt I was floating along with Langley and Siena in Dan Brown’s “Inferno”.

I don’t mind the tourist noise in Florence, but I must say, the silence today in the gardens was serene, sprinkled here and there by a water fountain, an occasional bird call, and Giotto’s campanile in the distance.

Surprises on the way to Piazzale Michelangelo~

9/18/2013

Solitary walks produce unexpected surprises. I’m not saying that companion walks don’t offer the same, but walking alone, my eyes and ears stay focused outward. Today was a day of animals, from ducks, to cats, to chickens, to butterflies, to lizards.

My first surprise was a squawking duck (goose?) on the wall along the Arno. He was talking up a storm, perhaps a little (or a lot) afraid that he had strayed from the riverbank where he lived with his buddies and didn’t know how to get home.

Next, along the path to the Piazzale Michelangelo, behind a fence and bushes two women were tending to cats in little ‘red cross’ boxes. Evidently I had come across, among other things, a shelter for stray cats.

A rooster and hen were also enjoying themselves in the same enclosure further up the path.

Not to be outdone, a butterfly felt quite at home with me on the path.

And finally, among the gravestones at San Miniato, a lizard was sunning himself.

Climbing Brunelleschi's Dome~

9/17/2013

Entrance to the climb

This morning I needed to remind myself that this blog is first and foremost about silence, solitude and simplicity. There are plenty of travel blog sif that’s what you’re looking for, but I have no interest or capacity to write one. To do so would interrupt my silence and solitude, and would definitely not be simple. I love posting slideshows of the places I visit, knowing full well that my readers can learn more right from the very computer that is inviting them to acottagebythesea.

My life is relatively simple here because, to speak of, I have no daily obligations to anyone. I wake up, decided what to do and do it. But simplicity is still up to me; I have to keep attentive to it. Without knowing it I can start making a complicated itinerary for my day instead of setting out and seeing where my feet take me. Sometimes, however, the simplest plan is one that is laid out for me. The Duomo ticket was good for twenty-four hours so I had to plan accordingly.

A few days ago I posted the photos of my climb up Giotto’s Campanile, but the most awesome climb is to the cupula of Brunelleschi’s dome (which was not a simple construction, I might add). Although others are climbing, I feel the solitude. And at the top, there is a reverent sotto voce silence.