I rode along the canal this evening. It’s shifted. The seasons are changing. The temperature may be a couple degrees cooler. It may all look a little different. But the biggest difference is in the scent of the ride. The silage is very rank and strong. There’s fruit somewhere that’s past ripe and oversweet. The [...]

I’m Home! Just returned from Ireland tonight and it FELT like coming home. For all the challenges and the treasures, the frustrations and delights, this is home for me at this moment, and it’s good to be back. There was limited internet access while I was in Ireland, thus my limited posts. Besides, I was [...]

At the far edge of Northern Ireland, jutting toward the north Athlantic along the Antrim Coast, the Giant’s Causeway is a heaven of columnar basalt. (As a rock fiend, I swooned.) The Causeway Head starts at a high point and sweeps down into the Atlantic tides, allowing stair-stepped exploration, yet daring visitors to test their [...]

This is what one comes to Ireland to experience: a pint of Guinness and some traditional music. It was after 10:00 on Wednesday night and we walked the half dozen blocks into the town of Carndonagh for “Trad Night” at the Persian Bar. There were 4 or 5 people in the pub and the place [...]

2:00 a.m. Just back from the pub, “The Persian Bar” in Carndonagh, Ireland, in Inishowen, the northernmost region of County Donegal, in the Republic of Ireland . THIS is why people come to Ireland and THIS is what they hope to find! Wednesday night at The Persian is “Trad Night”, the night of traditional music. [...]

The ubiquitous crow comes in a different color pattern here. These birds are often in the fields and grassy areas either along the canal or in the city parks. I was intrigued by their standard crow-shape with what is for me a non-standard, gray-brown collar and apron. It’s the Hooded Crow, Corvus cornix. Since these [...]

15 Agosto – Ferragosto. A major Italian holiday, the high, midpoint of the Italian exodus month, and “the day when Roman Catholics believe the Virgin Mary ascended into heaven”. Having heard about this being such a big-deal holiday, and knowing that I’d be in town, I made a special trip a few days ago to [...]

When they told me you could play football in the streets of Milan during the month of August, they weren’t joking! I had been asked the standard question, “where are you going for August?” Fortunately, I had already made plans for Ischia and Ireland during the month. The Italians are serious about their month-long vacations [...]

Ahh, my wonderful sister (yes, she really is), always mindful of the details, asked me to update my map to show where the island of Ischia is. You can now find it on my map page:  http://www.kunstdame.com/map/ Ischia is a little island two thirds of the way down the west coast of Italy, just off [...]

Ahhh. Just back from an hour and a half ride down the canal. I push it as hard as a can, fast and steady. It makes me feel so full of life! I’m grateful to have my two wheels to hop on and get my blood pumping. Ahhh. And having the canal just a block [...]

La Chiesa della Madonna del Soccorso – The Church of the Madonna of Help is located at the edge of a prominent cliff in Forio, at the west edge of the island of Ischia. I had seen it in the daytime from the window of the bus crowded with tourists, but was in no position [...]

Sant’Angelo is a little village on the south side of the island of Ischia. The island bus will drop you off at an upper parking lot and from there you must walk down the hill to the village, or take one of the golf cart taxis. The rabbit-warren-style “roads” are the width of one of [...]

Castello Aragonese – The Aragonese Castle of Ischia The castle dominates the skyline and view on the east side of the island of Ischia. Omnipresent as the background, it sits on its own islet, connected to the main island by a 15th century stone bridge. Its history is too complex to try to repeat in this [...]

Giardini Poseidon Terme – The Poseidon Gardens and Thermal Pools Poseidon sits at the western shore of the island of Ischia, just south of the town of Forio. They have over a dozen (I lost track) thermal hot spring-fed pools of varying temperatures. Beautiful gardens, paths, restaurants, a wine bar grotto and sandy, seaside beach. [...]

One would think that in a coastal town on an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea it’d be possible to find a good meal of seafood. I was on a mission to satisfy a craving for a plate of mixed, grilled, fresh fish. I found it, and it was perfection. It was 2:00 p.m. and I [...]

The command came by e-mail from my Italian instructor back home: “Non dimenticarti di mangiare il famoso ‘coniglio all’ischitana’ accompagnato di un buon vino dell’isola. Ischia e’ famosa anche per il suo vino. Divertiti!” Translation: “Don’t forget to eat the famous Ischian-style Rabbit, accompanied by a good wine from the island. Ischia is famous also for its [...]

9 Agosto – Journal Entry Sunday night. Back home in Milano. Silence & solitude. Ready to be here and it feels like it’s been ages! I guess that’s the sign of a good vacation. But I tired of the tourist crowds. I tired of the heat and sweat, although I made everything possible out of [...]

9 Agosto 2009 – Sunday. On the Northbound Train “The Full Italian Experience” Fellini would do a good job with this. Train ride home to Milano. (Yes, please!) Left Napoli just before 1:00. Arrived in Rome at about 2:00. Japanese passengers 1 seat away just got robbed, on board, of their wallets. (Gypsies got on [...]

The island of Ischia (“ees-kee-uh”) is a 45-minute boat ride off the coast from Napoli. A couple hundred passengers were seated auditorium-style in the boat as it bounced across the water westward. Clearly, several passengers had left their sea-legs behind and were having a hard time of the not-really-so-rough waters. We arrived at 3:15 with [...]

4 Agosto 2009 L’Isola d’Ischia, Italia Today:Milano-Napoli-Ischia, (with stops in Bologna, Firenze and Roma.) We arrived in Napoli by train from Milano at 2:05. We quickly got out of the crowded station into the fray of people, cabs and hawkers. We selected a cab, asked the price ahead of time and he hustled us toward [...]

It’s August in Milano. It’s hot and humid, and most people are part of the mass-exodus out of the city for the month. (The whole country takes the month off.) But some of us are left behind (or haven’t left yet). What’s the average relaxation passtime on a hot summer day? A day at the [...]