Well, we all know that ringing is in no way comparable to peeling. And so those bells weren’t peeling, of course, but rather they were pealing. Not only a qualitative difference but a quantitative one, too. My embarassing bad. And so, onward… Blisters!? I haven’t had blisters… for ever. Not good if we’re supposed to be […]
Monthly Archives: September 2015
Bells
Wed, 30 Sep 2015, 07:06 PM (-06:00)
In the middle of old Florence, we sat. For a while on a stone ledge outside Palazzo Medici Riccardi. We sat in the shade. With a gentle breeze blowing up the cobblestone street. And the bells of the cathedral began to ring. No. The bells did not ring. It is not ringing that cathedral bells […]
Looking Up to David
Tue, 29 Sep 2015, 07:46 PM (-06:00)
He stood there gazing into the distance. And we, well…
Now I Know
Sun, 27 Sep 2015, 04:51 PM (-06:00)
1. Leaving Rome Our train didn’t leave until the middle of the day, so we had time for one last stop: Galleria Doria Pamphilj. Nominally, our objective was the Velazquez portrait of Pope Innocent X. But the gallery captivated us in much the same way that the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C. captivates: it doesn’t […]
Roman statuary
Sun, 27 Sep 2015, 02:06 PM (-06:00)
Don’t stand there taking pictures. Enjoy the moment. But as he passed sculptures looking the wrong way or birds sitting on top or non-standard angles, he couldn’t stop himself.
Don’t Be Melodramatic
Sun, 27 Sep 2015, 09:35 AM (-06:00)
It will be interesting to see what the fallout of the Volkswagen finagling will be. One certainty, I’ll need to drive my Jetta wagon into the dirt, because I’ll never get anything for it when I sell it. Not after all of this. But frankly, I prefer to drive my cars into the dirt. And […]
Quite a Thing
Sat, 26 Sep 2015, 11:04 PM (-06:00)
“Ssssh! Ladies and gentlemen, quiet please.” Periodically in Italian and then in English, the guards would ask the gathered crowd to be quiet. It was a chapel, after all. It was one of the reasons we came. “I would like to see the Sistine Chapel,” I announced to Trudy a year ago. “They have a […]
Roman Geometry
Fri, 25 Sep 2015, 08:33 PM (-06:00)
She’s unsure about pictures like these. Skeptical. I see the roll of her eyes. Yet, I find the geometry … compelling.
Baby You’re the Best
Fri, 25 Sep 2015, 11:39 AM (-06:00)
Trudy, Boboli Gardens, Florence Nobody does it better Makes me feel sad for the rest Nobody does it half as good as you Baby, you’re the best. — Nobody Does It Better, Carly Simon
St. Paul’s
Thu, 24 Sep 2015, 09:41 PM (-06:00)
As per the schedule sketched out by the fair and industrious Trudy, we got to St. Paul’s in the morning. We stood beneath the gaze of Bernini’s statues on the balustrade of his colonnade. A long line of people already wound a quarter way around the square, and more were streaming in behind us. […]