I DREAMED OF ITALY

What is it like to fulfill a dream?  It is invigorating, emotional, stimulating and fulfilling to say the very least. 

 

My dream of visiting Italy had been on my bucket list for over 15 years.  You can imagine when I saw Italy for the first time in the early morning sunrise from the airplane as we crossed over land to arrive in Venice, how teary eyed I was.  To finally get something that you always hoped and dreamed about was such an emotional ride for me.  I was so glad I had along my best friend and lover, my husband George, to share this dream with me.

What can I say about Italy that you haven’t already seen in pictures or heard about from friends or saw on some movie screen or PBS TV special.  Didn’t want to bore anyone with the same ole…same ole. That has been my dilemma about what to write about Italy.

So, I am going to share with you my most intimate, emotional and favorite things I experienced in Italy. 

 

First one is the most emotional:

It has to be Venice…..ahhh…VENICE!  It was the first stop on our trip and I can tell you it fulfilled every emotion I had.  It was beautiful, scenic, historic, glamorous, and the words go on and on.  My favorite emotion about this city was the feeling of love.  I loved this city without cars, bicycles, or motor scooters.  It made the city very quiet and intimate in my interactions of walking down the many small alleyways and over the many scenic canals.

  This city is trying so hard to stay afloat, literally; so I have to love their valiant efforts. It is sinking and our tour guide said that the main piazza was flooded 50 times this last winter and spring of 2014.  The normal had been about 10 times. 

Saint Mark's Piazza & church

I loved all the famous handmade masks for carnival season in almost every shop, all the gondolas that are so unique to just this city and the famous Moreno glass.

Then there were the canals with all the special secret alleyways and streets connecting them.  Loved that I could eat all the pastries and pizza I wanted because I walked so much.  Love this city and it will always have a special place in my memories and heart from now on.

Most intimate:

It had to be Florence.  As I walked through the Uffizi Gallery and the Academia Museum to see all the great artwork by all the famous painters I was able to get up close and intimate with each painting or sculpture.  These were things that I only saw in books and now I got to see the brushstrokes and chisel marks.  I so appreciated all the people through the years that have preserved these great masterpieces so I could one day enjoy them.  My favorite painting surprised me because I was unfamiliar with it.  Everyone goes there to see the Botticelli painting ‘Birth of Venus’.

 

But mine was a painting by Botticelli named ‘Allegory of Spring La Primavera’. I stood there as long as I could just gazing and taking in this magnificent painting that is so huge! 

 

This painting is to be read from right to left. In this master piece Zehyr (the Roman god with wings) is catching a nymph, Chloris, who he wishes to marry. When they marry, Chloris becomes Flora (goddess of flowers) and flowers spill out of her mouth. In the middle is Venus (goddess of love and beauty) with her son, Cupid, above her, shooting an arrow at Chasity (one of the three Graces). The 3 Graces are Chasity, Love and Pleasure. In the picture they are dancing. Chasity, the brunett in the middle, is gazing at Mercury, who is pushing the clouds away with a wand. Mercury is god of weather. Your eyes are drawn to Venus. She looks a lot like Virgin Mary.

 Pleasant surprise to a fabulous day but I ended with the naked man that I had been waiting to see all my life, Michelangelo’s David. 

But, I also enjoyed immensely the unfinished sculptures by him that were on display also.  I loved the intimate feeling of seeing a leg or arm emerge out of the stone with the chisel marks still on it….like it was being birthed from the marble.

 

Last….but not least….favorite things:

While we were in busy, noisy, energetic and historical Rome we loved the feeling of just being in a city that was the center of the world at one time in history. 

  Visiting the famous Coliseum and Forum gave me a feeling of really how old the city was. What a magnificent city it was in her heyday. 

Of course, the modern Roman's desired form of transportation

 Now we can ride on a subway to reach our destination and shop in stores like Versace, Louis Vuitton, Georgio Armani, Gucci, Hermes, etc, (no we didn’t shop in those stores!) and eat to our hearts content on every corner (yes we did), which gets me to my favorite things…..food and wine.  Yes, in that country we ate and drank our way across with such a smile on our faces and expanding waistlines be damned.

Just had to add this guy....what a fun guy with an accordion!

Everything we had there was delicious and well worth the Euros we paid for it.  I do believe that their pasta is so much better than US ones. That is why the only thing I brought back from Italy besides a tee-shirt and small motor scotter replica (one of my favorite things also) was a suitcase full of pasta and biscotti.  If I could have gotten frozen gelato in there I would have…..another favorite of mine.  My goal was to have gelato everyday and I think I did that except for one day.

Of course, I cannot forget Tuscany countryside as my favorite place I would love to live.  Unless George or I win the lotto that is never going to happen but a girl can dream.  Every movie, song, painting doesn’t do the green hillsides dotted with oil trees, vineyards and cedar trees justice when you see it in person.  Give me a villa in Tuscany and I think I could live like the ‘rich and famous’ even in a simple cottage.

So, there it is folks, Italy in a small nutshell.  My blog doesn’t do it justice and maybe I will continue to write about different things we saw and did there, but for now…I’m complete!  My wish for all of you is that you can also attain a dream and then I’d love to read or hear about it.  Dreams do come true!

Ciao, Peggy (plus George & Coco)

Italy pictures

Famous original Ponte Vecchio Bridge over the Arno river in Florence (only one that wasn't bombed in WWII)

Rape of the Sabine Women by Giambologna (1579) made out of one block of marble - he wanted to one up Michelangelo's David

Famous church in Orievto (the Pope's summer getaway church)

The ancient Rome Forum in Rome

One happy couple in the gondola in Venice - I actually cried on it...was so in awe that I finally made it to Italy
and got to ride in a gondola!

The Duomo Church in Florence - where Michelangelo is buried

One happy tourist on her first day in Venice...right off the plane.

Tuscany landscape....I want to move there!!!

The Coliseum in all it's ancient glory

I finally get to see the naked man, David....but geese George...a penis on my head?

Kennedy Space Center, Florida

“Houston we have a problem” or “One giant step for mankind…” or “We have lift-off…” these quotes are reminders from the USA space race.

Well you don't need to be a space junkie to enjoy NASA's Kennedy Space Center. This is the only spot in the United States from which humans were launched into space. The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is the United States launch site and has been used for every NASA human space flight since December 1968. Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on Florida’s coast.  

  

Manned flights are now on hiatus but KSC is still in full operation. It continues to manage and run unmanned rocket launch facilities for the U.S. government's civilian space program. The operation staff has been reduced, as new and old contractors continue to prepare for new advancements into other space programs. Its Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) is the fourth largest building in the world by volume, and was the largest when completed in 1965. It too sets empty waiting for the new rockets and equipment for the Mars journey.

Standing in the center of the vehicle assembly building we were dwarfed by its mammoth height. This is where rockets, capsules or shuttles were last assembled before being driven to the LC39 launch site on the enormous crawler. The crawler moves at less than 5 mph with hundreds of tons of precious cargo. Large pictures show the launching to outer space for the US space program.

Smoke bellows and engines growl as these enormous rockets lift their cargo out of the bounds of earth.

Starting December 1968, the launch operations were conducted from Pads A and B at Launch Complex 39. Both pads are on the ocean, 3 miles east of the VAB. From 1969–1972, LC-39 was the departure point for the six Apollo manned Moon landing missions. They used the Saturn V the largest and most powerful operational launch vehicle in history. It was used from 1981–2011 for the Space Shuttle launches.  

We traveled to the LC-39 press viewing site 5 miles from the lunching site where, the press, astronaut wives and company presidents viewed these liftoffs. 

  

It was an emotional moment as they opened the doors from the waiting room into the Space Shuttle Exhibit. 

This national treasure, the Space Shuttle Atlantis was ready to embark on an exciting adventure once again.  

  

The angled display of the Shuttle made it look as if you were standing in front of this soaring ship.







                                                                           
I felt that we were following right along with the crew upon inspecting the open cargo bay. 

    
From the shuttle’s tail we observed it soaring by on mankind’s epic journey into space. Catching our breath we walked on to see the collection of space memorabilia from rocks to spacesuits in the museum. 

With many dynamic changes made in the spacesuits quality and comfort are the new standards . Neal Armstrong’s moon suit hangs in the Smithson Museum in Washington DC but several others hang here representing the glory of other moon walks.

Everyone wants in the space program even Snoopy, Charlie Brown’s famous dog.  Peggy couldn’t resist stopping to say hello.








As we left the parking lot after a full day of sightseeing (space programs) we viewed the sunset over the Florida coastline knowing there was yet more to come.

Happy Feet Great Travels

George (with Peggy & Coco)

Charleston, South Carolina

When George and I crossed over Rhett Butler Blvd just outside of Charleston we knew we were in the ‘deep south’.  Fried food of every shape, color and taste, humanity of every color and nationality surrounding us, ‘ya’all have a nice day’…was the greeting of the day, seagulls, plantations everywhere, horse and carriage rides, confederate army memorabilia and enough charm to win over this yankee girl!  I was so excited to get here because Charleston has been on my ‘bucket list’ forever. 

Outside view of French Marketplace

Birthday boy in front of stones from Giant Causeway in Ireland....been there done that!

Our first day of tourist things was on Halloween Day, which just so happens to be my wonderful husband’s birthday, so he got to pick wherever he wanted to go that day.  He picked going to the Patriot’s Point Naval & Maritime Museum.  https://www.patriotspoint.org/explore  It was the perfect day, no clouds, sunny, 80 degrees and a warm breeze off the ocean.  First we toured the USS Yorktown battleship. All I can say about it was it was BIG and it was in WWII and didn’t get to retire until 1986.  We walked, climbed, walked, and walked and then climbed through more doorways all over that immense ship. 

Next it was off to the USS Clamagore submarine that was also dry docked there.  Walking through a submarine tour is tight, smelly, dark and I knew I could NEVER be in a submarine longer than 10 minutes…and I’m not even claustrophobic.

Inside view of submarine

Last, but not least, was the USS Laffey Destroyer.  I breezed through that ship because I just lost interest in ships at that point.  I saw too much military, stairs, navy, testosterone, etc. etc. for my liking.  After that exciting day of touring I took him out to an Irish Pub for dinner.  He was one happy camper…my birthday boy mission was accomplished!

The next day while we were in downtown Charleston going through all the stores, streets, etc. we walked our little legs off.  So much to see and do downtown that we decided to call it a day and come again another day. 

French Marketplace

Courthouse

 

  

The next day we took a carriage ride to see and hear all about Charleston. 

One of the fun things we saw while in the French Quarter was all these trucks, etc.  The tour guide said they were filming a TV series here.  Noticed on one of the trucks there was a sign that said CBS, asked him if he knew what series and he said he didn’t know…bummer.  Towards evening we took a walk in the French Quarter of the downtown area to see all the historic homes.  

 










 We learned why these homes were built with the side of the house facing the street with the house’s width facing the other home in front.  It was because when these were built in  the 1800's there was little land to put them on and the homes were taxed by the dimensions of the front facing the street.  Clever I may say, to build homes sideways as to not pay taxes.  Most plantation owners had a home in town to enjoy the breeze off the ocean during the summer months. 

I just had to go to a plantation while there, so we decided to go to the Middleton Plantation.  https://www.middletonplace.org/

The house was all brick and not like you imagine in the ‘Gone with the Wind’ movie. 

The gardens were what made this plantation famous.  He had over 100 slaves build a terrace that went from the front of the house down to the water’s edge, ponds, rose gardens, reflection pond, private lawn areas and the list just went on and on.  

He wanted this garden to be the best in all the 13 colonies.  I was thrilled to see my first swamp pond.  It even had its own alligator (didn’t get to see him though).  This plantation grew rice for their crop of choice.  Didn’t know how hard it was to grow rice…I’ll really appreciate eating it from now on. 

Terraced lawn that goes down to the rice field

Many hours of wading in knee deep water that had snakes and crocodiles was a present danger while working.

Adam and Eve would have loved these 'fig leaves'!

They even had a slave house and a list of all the slaves that worked on the plantation with a short history of the slaves’ lives.  Very different than what I have experienced in the west. 

Slave quarters

Our last day here we drove to Isle of Palm Beach.  All these summer cottages lining the beach were fabulous.  Of course, most were built with the garage on the bottom floor so that when hurricanes come and flood the bottom floor the living quarters are hopefully dry.  We walked on the long beach and picked up seashells and just enjoyed sand between our toes.

Don't you just love tee shirt shops

One of the things advertised in the tourist brochures was Moon Pies.  They had a general store that sold them with other memorabilia of the famous Moon Pies.  Since I have never had one, I proceeded to purchase three.  After eating one I quickly discovered that my high expectations were quickly crushed.  Not what I expected… round vanilla cookie with a marshmallow filling with chocolate coating on the outside.  George had his and felt the same.  I guess it’s a local thing from childhood that makes it special down here.  FYI: won’t be buying any in the near future.

Did I love Charleston…yes…would highly recommend it!  Would I like to live there…not so much. I can happily check off another city from my bucket list.

Would definitely come back for the southern food!!!

Happy Travels Ya’all,                                                                                                                           

Peggy (plus George and Coco)