Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!

Travel Tuesdays

This is for my three friends who are all jetting off to Italy this week . . .

I know that you'll be enjoying plenty of this (but ONLY prior to noon!)

Be sure to pop on over to Sandi's blog to see what else is happening on Travel Tuesdays!

Photo Hunt - Scoop

This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'scoop'.

Thank you Sandi for making this one manageable after last week's challenge!!!

Italian gelato is amazing so whenever I plan a trip to Italy part of the planning involves researching the best gelato . . .

This is from the start of our trip last fall - scoops of chocolate gelato from Gay Odin - the best chocolate shop in Naples.

YUM

My LAST scoops from our trip in the fall - the famous GROM in Torino.

With four weeks in Italy coming up this year I had better start my research NOW.

Photo Hunt - Texture

This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'texture'.

I love the textures on these old buildings . . .

Travel Tuesdays - Venice, Bologna, and Rome

The plans for our Christmas trip to Italy came together over the weekend. Paul declared that he'd like to go to both Venice and Bologna (I think he is jealous of my 2nd trip to Bologna without him this summer). I think we'll be in Italy for close to 3 weeks with 3 days in venice, 2 in bologna, and then 17 days in Rome with Palma and Brad.

What fun!

 

Be sure to pop on over to Sandi's blog to see what else is happening on Travel Tuesdays!

Photo Hunt - Fresh

This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'fresh'. There are a TON of pictures that I could post but I decided to use some fresh pictures from our last trip to Italy. I have Italy on the mind since I just booked another trip yesterday.

Happy days!

Baba, fresh from the oven, in Naples.

A freshly made pizza in Naples - yes, it was every good as it looks!

A freshly opened bottle of wine at the B and B in Pienza. We opened lots of bottles of wine on this trip. One has to love a country where good wine is every bit as inexpensive as water.

A big plate of fresh pasta with wild boar ragu at La Porta in the tine village of Monticchiello.

Fresh artichokes at the market in Acqui Terme.

Freshly made breakfast served by our friend Diana, owner of the most wonderful B and B we have every stayed in.

Fresh produce for sale at Eataly in Torino.

Our Italian Pottery Arrives From Positano

So after all of the crap with UPS yesterday I was wondering if I'd come home to a nice case of pottery from Italy or if I'd need another rant at UPS.

Happily UPS came through and there was a great big box from Positano. It seemed bigger than was necessary for the two pieces that Paul and I had ordered.

It turns out that our two pieces were in there as well as the two pieces that mom had ordered.

Everything was very well packed.

The first piece was a wall plaque that I had made. While we were at the pottery shop they had a number of fine plaques for the various professions that someone could mount on the wall of their office. I decided I needed a teacher. This was a problem since that had professor but not teacher.

Happily they agreed to make one for me.

I'm really happy with how it turned out!

The other piece that we ordered was a large pedestal bowl. I saw one like this high on a shelf of the shop and decided I couldn't life without it. I'm not sure what we're going to do with it but we're very happy with it!

We really liked the colours and detail in the pattern.

Travel Tuesdays - Rome

It's time for Travel Tuesdays. please feel free to play along - all you need to do is to post one of your travel pics (and who doesn't have a gazillion of those) and then pop on over to Sandi's blog to join her Linky.

Last week I mentioned that the stars have aligned and it looks as if we'll be able to travel somewhere next Christmas - something we've never been able to do.

Now the challenge is - where to go!

One possibility is Rome . . .

Photo Hunt - Circular

This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'circular'. I confess to being at a disadvantage. I'm at the office today (BAH) and my PC died on Tuesday so all I have a pictures on various flash drives . . .

Happily I found this picture of a lovely bowl unearthed from Pompeii which we saw at the National Museum of Archeology in Naples . . .

Happy huntin' y'all!

Photo Hunt - Bling

This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'bling'. I must confess to not having a wealth of bling shots. I did recall a visit to Lucca a few years ago where I took a picture of some bling belonging to an alleged 1200 year old wooden crucifix.

This crucifix has a fascinating istory . . .

The Holy Face of Lucca (Volto Santo di Lucca) is a venerated wooden crucifix, located in the free-standing octagonal Carrara marble chapel (the tempietto or "little temple"), which was built in 1484 by Matteo Civitali, the sculptor-architect of Lucca, to contain it. The tempietto stands in the right-hand nave of the cathedral of San Martino in Lucca, Italy. Medieval legends stated that it had been sculpted by that Nicodemus who assisted Joseph of Arimathea in depositing Christ in the tomb and specifically dated its arrival in Lucca to AD 742.

According to medieval legend, Nicodemus did all the carving work but the face, which he hesitated to complete for fear of not doing it justice. He fell asleep, and upon awaking found the face beautifully carved - the miraculous work of an angel. The Crucifix of the Holy Face was buried in a cave for safekeeping, where it remained for centuries.

It was rediscovered by Bishop Gualfredo, who was on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land when its location was revealed to him in a dream. To allow God to decide where the Crucifix should be kept, the bishop set it adrift on an unmanned boat in the Mediterranean Sea. The Volto Santo arrived on the shores of northern Italy, where the Bishop of Lucca, also prompted by a dream, put it into a wagon with no driver to determine its final location. The two oxen pulling the wagon stopped of their own accord at Lucca in 782.

The Volto Santo was placed in the Church of San Frediano, but the next morning, it was found to have been miraculously transferred to San Martino. For this reason, the legend explains, San Martino was designated the cathedral of Lucca (an honor previously held by Santi Giovanni e Reparata).

Every September 13-14 and May 3, the Luccans celebrate the Volto Santo with a solemn procession from San Frediano to the Duomo. The statue is no longer carried through the streets on these occasions, but it is dressed in rich medieval vestments inside its shrine. These include a golden crown, a golden breastplate with a jeweled cross necklace, a golden belt with small sculptures in Gothic niches, a half-robe of black velvet embroidered in gold thread, and gold-embroidered scarves draped over the wrists.

Travel Tuesdays - Bologna

It's time for another edition of Sandi's blog 'event' - Travel Tuesdays. It's easy to play (I like THAT!) all you need to do is to post one of your travel pics (and who doesn't have a gazillion of those) and then pop on over to Sandi's blogto join her Linky.

I'm thinking about summer today. Yes, I am.

Even though I'm currently off on Christmas vacation I foolishly tried to ease myself back into work by going into the office today.

ICK

That is why I am thinking about the summer and the trip I'll take to Italy. I'll be travelling with a group of teachers - they'll be learning more about early years education and I'll be making sure they have a brilliant time.

One of the places we'll be visiting is Bologna so I thought I'd post some of the pictures I took on my last visit to one of Italy's most fascinating and under appreciated cities.

July can't come soon enough!!!!!