Journal Entry: June 27, 7:00 a.m. Jet black crow in the Stewartia tree, and other morning birds singing. The Olympic range makes a ragged, still-snowy horizon to the west. My surroundings are verdant and nearly luminous. It’s a cool, fresh morning… and I’m home. It’s easier this time to leave behind dear Italy, for whom [...]

Friday, June 24 Just after midnight last night I checked into a cheap motel along the highway in Atlanta. I had been traveling and in airports for close to 24 hours and I was tired. The muggy, southern air was heavy and close. I had a discount voucher from the airline for one hotel, but while standing out on [...]

What a way to begin and end a journey… Embedded in the platform at the Cadorna station, leading in and out of Milano, is a slab of stone engraved with this phrase: “Every step I have taken in my life has led me here, now.” That’s something to ponder thoughtfully…  

As a cyclist, I must be ALWAYS vigilant! This particular stop sign on the way to the bikes-only path, both amuses and frightens me. Stop? What stop? And this ain’t no “California Rolling Stop!” This is hardly a hesitation, a pause. A stop sign is a guideline. If there’s an accident and YOU had the [...]

I just had to. I’ve been here in Italy for almost 2 months and my apartment here in Milano is just 3 doors away from the best pastry shop in the city, Pasticceria Spezia Milano. I hadn’t been in yet for my favorite: Babá, a sponge cake filled with sweetened ricotta cheese and chocolate bits. [...]

A couple of days ago I went to Venice for the day just because I could. In a few days it’ll no longer be so simple to do. My fourth or fifth time there, this visit was entirely different. I wasn’t on a mission, I wasn’t in a mad dash to fill the memory card [...]

Visitors to the show were required to sign a release form. They might become quite disturbed (read: freak out!) when walking through the pitch-black tunnel titled “Dirty Corner”. Milan is hosting the work of internationally-renowned artist, Anish Kapoor, at the city’s newly opened “La Fabbrica del Vapore” – The Steam Factory – and also at [...]

“I think I’ll go to Venice for the day…” It’s so outlandish to say that, and it’s not often that I CAN just go to Venice for the day, that I’m going to! I bought train tickets for tomorrow and will leave in the morning, wander around, have a nice meal or two at the [...]

Such dear, dear people. I feel so welcomed by Agnese, Ninni, their son Erik and Ninni’s sister Bea. They greeted me so warmly and then said goodbye with hints of visiting Seattle this year! It was three years ago that I had “Warm Octopus with Potatoes and Olives” for the first time at the Carlotta [...]

The next time you eat sausage, thick pork chop, sauerkraut, polenta, hot mustard and horseradish, think northeastern Italy. Delicious and nothing like what Americans think of as “Italian Food”. Rovereto is not far from both Austria and Switzerland and the influence is clear in the food. Certainly, the buildings have more painted, decorative facings, but [...]

It began with a Campari bottle. A classic design they’ve used for decades. Hmm. Curious. I googled it and found that the bottle was designed by Italian artist and designer, Fortunato Depero, in 1932. I also found out that he was the initiator of the Italian Futurist Art movement and that there’s a museum exhibiting [...]

I bought some train tickets! Yesterday I traveled from Milano to Sirmione, an historic town at the end of a finger-of-a-peninsula that juts into the south end of Lago Di Garda – Lake Garda. I explored the town in the pouring rain, umbrella in one hand, camera in the other hand, soaking wet shoes on my [...]

What started all this exploration of Italy? A nudging query from a friend. An internet search. And far too many reminders that life is much too short. Too many friends and family members have “had their numbers come up”. They’ve gotten “that news”. It’s a gulper and has rattled me each time. They say you [...]