Tag: Italy 2011
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slow clap
in photographs of me in the canals my face eating the sunlight I smile because it’s amazing in my memory and even now that winter is heavy upon us I somehow forget wanting to push my fellow tourists into the green and simply get on with taking comfort from once, years ago now once being…
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Venice for a novel
There’s got to be a novel set within Venice, lurking inside my head. Even if you’re only there for a short time, the place strikes you with a sense of the unseen. When you can find a quiet moment, the suggestion of secrets seem to be everywhere, behind each closed door and at the end…
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Friday, 30th September, Florence
We slept late because of the Conrad trial, which shows the defense as bumbling and pointless, and the doctor as grossly negligent. The Accademia was not too far from the Duomo and once we gained entry, we moved into a hall of paintings and on to a nearby stairway which eventually led to a wide…
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From the Amalfi Cathedral
. After tea one night in the main square (the restaurant isn’t visible in this photo, but imagine it off to the left if you like) I realised we didn’t have a table number and I had to explain the order in very poor Italian, but it went well enough. I think I also…
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Thursday 22nd September, Rome
The Colosseum has steep steps (the downward slope once used to rush people out) and our guide moves a little fast for pictures or close examination, though we see a lot and our guide is knowledgeable. The brickwork is impressive too, the arches, thin bricks, mortar etc, it’s like a skeleton revealed after the centuries…
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Cappella Sistina
It’s sometimes reported that Michelangelo resented the four years he spent painting the 1000+ metres of the Sistine Chapel’s roof, sneaking away to work on other consignments while Pope Julius II stepped out to fight the French. But for any visitor, it was clearly a worthwhile endeavor. Trying to do it justice with words is…
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Gelati
A whole post on ice cream? Yep. You cannot travel to Italy and not sample – extensively – the gelati. We probably tried around twenty flavours in three weeks and now that it’s so long ago I can’t recall them all, but I do remember a few. Vividly. The ‘panna cotta’ for instance, was earth-shakingly…
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three pompeii haiku
. flecks of limestone dogs curl up by the pizzeria . Mt. Vesuvius recedes – shamefaced in the blue mist . cameras jostle for position Pompeii plaster cast .
ashley capes 