Time Difference: -8 hours (from Brisbane)
Soundtrack: Clare Bowditch, Regurgitator, Daft Punk, Vanessa Mae
Currently Inspired by: "Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it" Salvador Dali
Words written: 89,502. No movement from last week.
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| Just like this one |
As much as I loved Florence I was kind of glad to see the
back of it. Two weeks in any city without
a job is a long time, and I got quite bored.
Initially when I booked the trip I had these visions of spending long summer
days in the Tuscan hills, getting lifts on motorbikes down winding dirt roads, walking
over soft green grass, all tanned in white floaty skirts and sandals, sitting
on a red and white chequered sheet drinking red wine and eating antipasto from a wicker basket in the dappled
sunshine while fat bumblebees hummed and sang in thick clover nearby. It was all very Disney. Every now and again Bradley Cooper or Joe Manganiello would be the ones giving me the lifts on the motorbikes, and then the fantasy would lose its PG rating. Also I imagined myself coming back from these
day trips inspired by the beauty of nature and writing feverishly late into the
night in order to finish my first draft, something I have, from the beginning,
intended to do by the end of my Italian adventure. So close. I'm so close and I just can't finish it!
I rarely entertain expectations about travel experiences, because
I learned the hard way, the first time, that they have a tendency to create
disappointment. However the aforementioned images latched onto my brain and clung
there tenaciously despite my best efforts to shake them off, so yes it was a
little bit disappointing not to experience the idyll I envisaged. For starters, I barely left the city, only
taking one day trip to Pisa which, no matter how cute, is just another
city. I don’t drink alcohol anymore so
there was no point visiting Montepulciano (where my old favourite red wine is from) and
circumstances got in the way of my going to Siena, so that was missed also. In addition the most picturesque parts of Tuscany are
apparently best accessed via car, and I had no intention of my first right hand drive
experience to be on winding roads full of insane Italian drivers!
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| Is a caption required? |
Pisa is really very sweet, and the leaning tower is an odd
and arresting piece of architecture to see in person. Determined not to take one of the overdone “pushing
it over” pictures, I strode smugly past the hordes of sweaty tourists getting
in each others' shots and shouting in exasperation “NO, Darrell, I said more to YOUR
left” and went straight into the nearby church and baptistery. I couldn’t bear the thought of going to another
museum on this particular day, so after some delicious lunch I went back to the
tower, looked at the ridiculously long line to climb to the top, shook my head
and took off back to Florence and the comfort of my little apartment, to which
I became quite attached during the trip. Click here to see my Pisa pics.
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| Amazing fountain in the Bargello |
As I mentioned earlier, Florence is full of tiny, winding
little streets that are packed with hidden gems, and it was during a walk in my
last couple of days that I stumbled across one of the best art galleries I
encountered while there, called the Bargello museum. I was actually attempting to shelter from the
rain and accidentally ran into its foyer.
When I finally looked around it was like “Hallo there!” and was so glad
I decided to go in. There were loads of
famous sculptures, including an earlier and much different David by
Michelangelo as well as a selection of Davids by other famous sculptors, all
looking a little bit more like the David that I have pictured in my mind (a
young boy, rather than a grown man).
There was a colourful and partially uncovered mural on the walls of an
ancient chapel, and a vast collection of porcelain, religious objects, household
items, personal trinkets and jewellery, some of which dated back to around 300
CE. It was quite extraordinary to be
able to look at a pair of earrings that someone wore 1700 years ago! I took one last handful of photos in Florence which I included in my second album from last week. If you have already looked both albums, just click here and go backwards from the last pic.
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| Foyer of American exhibit |
Another enjoyable exhibit I sort of happened across was one relating to American artists who had been inspired by European painters and by Tuscany in particular over the years. Tuscany has a long tradition of being a European destination of choice for American writers, painters, musicians, dilettantes and gadabouts who would rent hilly villas for a summer and sit around in white suits, drinking, smoking, gambling and being generally more hedonistic and controversial that they were able to be in the United States of their time. Obviously this whole inspirational aspect of Tuscany has some personal relevance to me, and I found it fascinating to see how Italy became the Muse of so many other artists.
Finally my time in Florence came to an end and I made my way
down to Rome, where I have not been for almost exactly nine years. It is very, very different to how I remember
it, probably because back then I had only ever been to New Zealand as a child and London for a day
or two, and that was it, and now I have a considerable amount more travel
experience under my belt. It doesn’t
seem as big and scary obviously, but also it doesn’t seem as crazy, smelly and
dirty as I remember it being. I’m
guessing that after three months in South East Asia and three weeks in Africa,
my sensibilities have adjusted to some degree.
I wonder how neat and boring and overly sanitised Australia is going to seem
when I get home? I’m afraid to know.
The men are bold here, and have no problem ogling you in frank
and outright appreciation no matter what kind of death stare or dismissive hand
gesture you give them, and boy, do I give them!
They have no shame whatsoever, and are really quite chauvinistic which
you can imagine I just LOVE, right. Those
of you on facebook might have seen my status update about the man in the park. For those who did not... I went for a long
walk through a beautiful city park and sat for a break and to have a proper
look at it before going back, and within a minute I was approached by an older
Italian man without a shirt on who asked me for a cigarette, and then a
drink. When I advised that I had
neither, he sat next to me and mimed giving a blow job and then pointed at
himself, looking at me hopefully. I
jumped up and let out a string of all the Italian invectives I knew and stormed off in a right huff. Upon later
reconstruction what I actually said to him was “fuck off Crazy Pig Stupid”, so not too bad I guess, he got the
point I’m sure. I mean, REALLY? Ugh.
Sometimes I loathe men, I really do.
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| Huge war memorial in Rome |
I can’t do too much here in Rome right now as my mummy arrives, initially
tonight (being Sunday night) but now actually more like tomorrow, as her Qantas
flight has been delayed due to avionics problems and she may have to stay
overnight in London. You know, I hear
these stories about Qantas, about bad service and delays, yet I must have flown
them fifty times and have never had anything but good service both
domestically and internationally. I mean
their domestic flights consistently run 15 minutes late, but I’ve experienced
that with every airline, and they almost always make up the time.
So, I’ve been here since Thursday because the plan was to
come a couple of days early and hang out with some friends I have here, whose
apartment I am staying in while they are on holidays, but they booked a cruise
and ended up having to leave before I arrived, so I’ve been sitting around for
the last couple of days twiddling my thumbs.
Unfortunately I haven’t been feeling my story which is annoying because
I probably had the time to complete my first draft. However I have been opening the document and
just sitting there staring at the cursor.
This is the problem with not being mentally stimulated!
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| Dali Exhibit Entrance |
I did go for a couple of metro rides and walks here just to
reacquaint myself with a few different areas and work out some kind of an
itinerary for mum and I, and in the process of these I visited a Salvador Dali
exhibit no far from the Coliseum, something I knew mum wouldn’t be interested
in. Everyone knows Dali’s melting clocks
and giraffes on fire, but I hadn’t before seen his other work, so close up and
with explanations, and I found it really fascinating and moving. I am now inspired to learn more about the man
because he was genuinely extraordinary and I think I have become a fan! It’s highly unusual for me to really love any
artist born after the 1600s, so it was quite the revelation and has opened up
door to the world of modern art for me, just the tiniest chink. Click here to see the few photos I have taken already in Rome.
Til Next We Speak
*LOVE*
N
I didn't know that about your taste in art, Nat!
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