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I found a good cup of coffee on the square in front of the Duomo, sat there and caught up on my journal while I watched Milan wake up around me. The morning light danced past its arches onto the adjacent building. It was a breathtaking sight, absolutely gorgeous, a very unique structure. I spent some time queuing inside and then sat along the edges of the square. I discovered an excellent restaurant just not far from the Duomo and relaxed to a bottle of wine. …
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I woke early to the jingling and jangling of the vendors setting up the local market and was up and out in minutes following the caravan of wagons and carts down through the streets to the market. The strategy was the same, I looked for food and if I could obtain it for free, all the better. As long as we both got what we wanted out of the conversation, I could play the game. “You picked them all by hand did ya? Your fingers are too big. I think this one has been bruised. …
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We divided up the day between Rembrandt and Van Gough. Sadness is Van Gough’s greatness and without his blood and wed of failures, such masterpieces perhaps would have never been put to canvas. I can relate to the color and texture of his turmoil and find myself too at times walking around in a daze. In contract his colors were bright and unique. …
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Eventually the crowds gathered and like sheep we were herded onto the boat. I managed to weasel my way through the gridlock to the sunny side of the ship, found myself a deck chair and began to relax under the sun. There was a young lady who had the same idea and took the liberty to pull her chair up next to mine and start up a conversation. Honestly I was more interested in her bathing suit than the conversation. From here the view was spectacular. Thousands of white sails littered the horizon and the many islands looked as if God scattered them from his own hand. …
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Today’s plan was to wander around the city in an attempt to locate our choir from home. After another walk along the river, around the castle and up and down the many streets, I got the feeling we had taken the wrong approach to find our choir. I began thinking it a better approach to let them find me. That would at least reduce the walking. In the middle of the squares in-between the castle and the church sat a large chess set, with pieces about two and a half feet in height. …
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Sometimes when I take photographs I place more value on where I am standing than what I am looking at. In Rouen I stood where Monet stood. I preferred the light and shade of a subject, the dark spaces that define its character and capture the surroundings of the moment, revealing its alternations. That evening’s twilight was a symphony colored in grey and rose that I watched as I waited for the sun to set. …
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With the morning sun we said our good-byes and headed south back toward Trondheim. Jim turned into a broken record and kept repeating his exploits. When he finally he fell asleep, I soon followed. Somewhere in the middle of a dream the train came to a stop and a voice was broadcast over the intercom. Everybody around us quickly got up out of their seat and ran toward the doors. I didn’t need to understand Norwegian to know I should be doing the same. …
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We found ourselves a small room above a bar not far off the main square of Brugge, claimed ourselves bed, dropped off our stuff and hit the local canals for a little sightseeing. We roamed among the flower vendors, chocolate shops, lingered behind a cup of coffee and smoked a cigarette while standing on a humped-backed bridge. I enjoyed the mood of the weeping willows and gazed endlessly at the reflections painted by the water. …
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With a cup of coffee and a cigarette, I got an early start and headed toward Gavie to see its shores. All this talk about love and kissing had got me thinking about it as well. In regards to the young ladies that had entered my life that I have loved, I always acted as a gentleman and never took control until the door was open and I was invited in. I needed a green light. …
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We woke to another picturesque day and it wasn’t till we began driving the Ring of Kerry that we realized it was also a lucky day. We were heading clockwise, south to north and every possible tourist and circus was traveling in the other direction. This gave us the ability to stop and enjoy the scenery and not second guess our place in line or force us to let others dictate our pace. …
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Over these last few days, I don’t think there has been a single street or ally way we didn’t accustom ourselves to. Most pubs we stopped in for a pint, maybe even two. About midday I ended up lying out in the middle of Hyde Park, looking up through the trees, day dreaming under the blue sky. It was another gorgeous day. …
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The West Coast of Scotland was absolutely gorgeous and we still hadn’t seen any bad weather. Trekking along the coastal cliffs and the Island of Skye can only be described as a religious experience. This is God’s country. Gardens touched by the finger of God. A clouded island littered with crofts and memories of the day before Culloden. …
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I was out at first light and headed toward Bologna. While standing in the train station in front of an electronic schedule I noticed three young ladies behind me looking over my shoulder. They were three young Americans also looking for the train to Florence, so I introduced myself. Since the four of us had three hours to burn until our train departed, I accompanied one of the young ladies through the streets in search of a sweater. Her mother had purchased her father a sweater from Bologna years ago that he had always enjoyed. …
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With the crack of dawn we were up to conquer the monster. We had taken the first train into the heart of the Jungrau region, Grindelwald to the base of the Eiger. We surveyed the landscape against a local map and selected the West slope since it was opposite from …
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We discovered Lake Brienzersee early that next morning. My entire side was bruised and I had scab from elbow to waist, even through the pain the lake’s unique color of blue was almost hypnotizing. We docked at Glessbach to walk the falls. Fighting through the soreness of my abused legs was worth the effort. …
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