Thursday, November 1
A cold and blustery day that turned sunny and windy
This was a quiet day spent in my cabin taking care of my sore throat, reading a mystery novel catching up with my blog journal. I decided to join the community here in sitting in silent mediation for 30 minutes in the newly cleaned Gompo. It was nice sitting quietly in a room full of people (at least 80); time passed quickly. We were led by an old Tibetan monk who is obviously very ill; he has throat cancer and only whispered the prayers. He lives here and is intended to teach part of the Master Course next year but everyone is wondering whether he’ll make it past December.
Friday, November 2
Brilliantly sunny, windy and turning hot in the afternoon
Today, after a cappuccino and brioche at the little cafe here, Karen and I decided to walk to the little hill town of Castellina Maritima. It was a beautiful walk with magnificent views of the countryside, farmland and the Mediterranean shimmering in the distance. We explored the pretty little town, trying to imagine what it would be like to live in one of the red tile-roofed, bougainvillea-covered stone houses with chickens, cats and dogs in the yard. Decent size properties were being sold for about €200,000. Our lunch at the osteria in town, consisting of crostini with a variety of amazing toppings, white house wine, soup, and tagliatelli with fungi (mushrooms & pasta) was amazingly delicious and we had no trouble retracing our steps back down to our little cabins for a nap. It took us 3 hrs to walk the 10K. Tonight I’ll treat Karen to a dinner at the local restaurant and order some Brunello wine - the best red in the west.
Tomorrow, my last day in Italy, I take the train to Rome.
11/02/2007
11/01/2007
October 28 - 31
Sunday, October 28 A warm and sunny day.
Clocks went back so we got up an hour too early for breakfast.
Another day spent doing very little except eating, reading, walking in the hillside, drinking coffee, checking my email, reading guidebooks and planning my trip to Lucca. This pace is easy to get used to. The Centre is so comfortable to be in; my meals are prepared; my room is beautiful (I’m staying in a cabin vacated by one of the students for the week); the birds sing and the very many stray cats and dogs that usually have each attached themselves to a particular human or another, join us for walks, or sit around and look beautiful. There is a diversity of interesting people here from all parts of the world. Some are learning the Tibetan language, like Karen, while others are studying Tibetan Buddhism - some taking a 6 year Masters Program that begins in January. Some are already monks and nuns who wear traditional maroon vestments and shave their heads; others are beginners trying to decide whether this path is for them. Joan, the head of the Programs at the Centre has been here for 17 years. She's from Montreal and went to McGill where she studied physiotherapy!
Stupas, decorated sculptures, prayer flags, and various Tibetan imagery fill the garden. The main building is a large villa that has its own turreted tower. It contains living quarters, a dining hall, offices, kitchen, servery, Internet room and a library and a gompo or prayer room. Other people live in little houses on the grounds and in a series of lovely wooden cabins on a hillside nearby.
In the afternoon a group of us went walking up through the wooded hillside. The group included a Buddhist monk from Florida named Tsering, two English, Karen and I. We were joined by two of the Centre’s adopted dogs, one a flea-bitten scruff of a thing with a face of Tramp (as in the Lady and the Tramp) and the other a deaf hunting hound with a noble snoopy-like nose.
That evening after dinner I packed my backpack with a change of clothes, some water and an umbrella and made ready to take off the next morning for Lucca
Monday, October 29 For my birthday I received a brilliantly sunny warm day to go to Lucca.
Heidi, one of the participants at the Centre, drove Karen & me in her little car down to the railway station at Rosignano to catch the noon train north. I crouched in the little space in the back of the car where her golden retriever usually sits and we bounced along through the sunny countryside chatting about our lives.
The train trip was uneventful but a bit uncomfortable. As the day was a warm one, the train car was hot and stuffy but no one seemed to feel the need to open a window. Some even wore hats, scarves and coats! We changed trains at Pisa and on the Lucca-bound train I made the point of opening our window and was thanked by a young student who then talked a bit with us as he tested his English. He gave us the name of the top ten spots to visit and wished me happy birthday just before we stepped onto the train platform.
Lucca is a beautiful town, founded in Roman times, conquered by the neighbouring town of Pisa in the middle ages and by Napoleon in the 19th century. The old city centre is surrounded by wide walls and battements built in the 16th & 17th century. The tops of these raised ramparts, the width of at least 4 lanes of traffic, are lined with huge old oak and chestnut trees, turning gold and brown in the fall. Between them, people jogged, walked and bicycled along the sun-dappled pathways. We walked for about half an hour along the wall toward the direction of our hotel near the east end of the city at Porta Elisa, (named after Napoleon’s sister) but when we got to the B&B a note said it was closed until 15:00h. Fortunately, all we had to carry around for the following two hours was a back pack and a shoulder bag so we reserved a place for dinner at a restaurant nearby and then proceeded to explore the town.
We had lunch in a trattoria with a lovely garden courtyard, discovered the old Roman amphitheatre (anfiteatro) that has been transformed in a beautiful oval courtyard surrounded by shops and cafés and then spent time in the beautiful old church of San Michele. Its complex Romanesque façade is decorated with rows of columns (each column made in a different shape, size and colour) and is topped with a proud statue of St Michael. Inside, we found sculptures by Andrea Della Robbia and a beautiful painting by Fra Lippo Lippi on the wall to the right of the altar. It is in excellent condition and well lit to reveal its richly painted colours. We spent the remaining daylight hour between 5 & 6, sipping wine in a café in the piazza, watching passers-by and the light slowly fade on the beautiful façade of the cathedral.
Our B&B (that we’d booked via the Internet) was on the second floor of an old building on Rome Street with a door knocker shaped like a dog’s head. We each had our own high-ceilinged room containing a big double bed with ornate wrought iron bedsteads, old armoires and art deco lighting; our separate bathroom across the hall came with big white towels and all the modern conveniences. Not bad for $50/night!
Karen treated me to a delicious birthday dinner in what appeared to be a very popular restaurant. When we arrived at 7:00 there was no one there except for middle aged a couple from Michigan. We were seated right next to them, which felt quite bizarre as we tried to ignore each other’s conversations. But the restaurant filled up completely within an hour and there was a happy buzz as the place came to life while we sipped our Pino Grigio. Then to bed. Happy birthday me; now I’m sixty three.
Tuesday, October 30 Rainy and windy but mild
We woke to the sound of rain splashing outside our windows but we packed our bags, left the keys in the rooms and ran across the street to a cafe to get our morning breakfast of coffee and croissants. Karen bought an umbrella from an African street vendor (as I had bought one in Rome) and we spent an absolutely fabulous morning and afternoon following our noses and exploring the narrow cobblestone streets of the town. We climbed the 14th century, 44 m high Guinigi tower which has trees growing on top within the turrets and from which we had a great view of the red-tiled roofs, bell towers and domes of the town below.
As we continued on our way, we found a little hole-in-the-wall art gallery with a window display of whimsical, somewhat surreal lithographs by an artist named Antonio Possenti. We entered, looked at more of this wonderful work and followed the sounds of music through a series of small galleries until we tracked down a young dark haired man sitting in a workshop/office amid paints, canvasses, telephones, computers, and books (mainly by Borges). We asked him whether the works on display were for sale. They were - and at a reasonable price so we each bought one and chatted with him further. Upon a great deal of prompting, we found out he was Possenti’s son and that he too was an artist and, as we could see from a painting in progress, was working in a similar refined surreal manner.
It was a lovely encounter but then as we were congratulating ourselves on this discovery, we made another. Not 50 feet from that gallery we walked into a wood carver/ furniture restorer’s shop. The walls were completely covered with the decorative elements of ancient carved wooden objects, most of which were covered in gold leaf. There were parts of furniture, frames, or altarpieces that he uses or copies to restore or make new works. He enthusiastically told us about his work, that his father did this before him and his son is continuing in the trade. Entranced, we bought a few little decorative pieces to take home with us and asked him directions to a good local trattoria. He sent us to Gigi’s which served great soup, pasta and cheap wine. The place filled up with local workers in no time flat and we were obviously the only tourists.
After lunch we attempted to visit the local contemporary art gallery that had an exhibition of the work by Michael Snow! Unfortunately, it was closed for lunch so we decided to call it a day and take the next train back to Rosignano. When we arrived at the train station, some other Centre occupants were also there so we shared a taxi home where I checked the Internet at the Centre and enjoyed reading all my birthday emails from afar. All is well except for my cat Smudge who seems to be peeing all over my apartment; something to deal with as soon as I get home. It was nice to come back to my room here and unpack my purchases. My lithograph is now on display on a shelf over my bed.
Wednesday, October 31 Very very wild and windy
Feeling the signs of an incipient cold (sore throat) I spent most of the day indoors reading and writing this journal. In the morning I did spend an hour helping clean the Gompa - the assembly and prayer room which has religious images decorating the walls, ceiling and the floor. The community was giving it a good fall cleaning in time for an upcoming series of rituals that will be happening here over the next few days. It was odd to find myself crawling all over the normally sacred altar and polishing the glass that protected a case filled with exquisitely painted sculptures of monks and lamas. After lunch, the rest my day was spent listening to the wind outside, writing and reading in my cabin. Nice.
Clocks went back so we got up an hour too early for breakfast.
Another day spent doing very little except eating, reading, walking in the hillside, drinking coffee, checking my email, reading guidebooks and planning my trip to Lucca. This pace is easy to get used to. The Centre is so comfortable to be in; my meals are prepared; my room is beautiful (I’m staying in a cabin vacated by one of the students for the week); the birds sing and the very many stray cats and dogs that usually have each attached themselves to a particular human or another, join us for walks, or sit around and look beautiful. There is a diversity of interesting people here from all parts of the world. Some are learning the Tibetan language, like Karen, while others are studying Tibetan Buddhism - some taking a 6 year Masters Program that begins in January. Some are already monks and nuns who wear traditional maroon vestments and shave their heads; others are beginners trying to decide whether this path is for them. Joan, the head of the Programs at the Centre has been here for 17 years. She's from Montreal and went to McGill where she studied physiotherapy!
Stupas, decorated sculptures, prayer flags, and various Tibetan imagery fill the garden. The main building is a large villa that has its own turreted tower. It contains living quarters, a dining hall, offices, kitchen, servery, Internet room and a library and a gompo or prayer room. Other people live in little houses on the grounds and in a series of lovely wooden cabins on a hillside nearby.
In the afternoon a group of us went walking up through the wooded hillside. The group included a Buddhist monk from Florida named Tsering, two English, Karen and I. We were joined by two of the Centre’s adopted dogs, one a flea-bitten scruff of a thing with a face of Tramp (as in the Lady and the Tramp) and the other a deaf hunting hound with a noble snoopy-like nose.
That evening after dinner I packed my backpack with a change of clothes, some water and an umbrella and made ready to take off the next morning for Lucca
Monday, October 29 For my birthday I received a brilliantly sunny warm day to go to Lucca.
Heidi, one of the participants at the Centre, drove Karen & me in her little car down to the railway station at Rosignano to catch the noon train north. I crouched in the little space in the back of the car where her golden retriever usually sits and we bounced along through the sunny countryside chatting about our lives.
The train trip was uneventful but a bit uncomfortable. As the day was a warm one, the train car was hot and stuffy but no one seemed to feel the need to open a window. Some even wore hats, scarves and coats! We changed trains at Pisa and on the Lucca-bound train I made the point of opening our window and was thanked by a young student who then talked a bit with us as he tested his English. He gave us the name of the top ten spots to visit and wished me happy birthday just before we stepped onto the train platform.
Lucca is a beautiful town, founded in Roman times, conquered by the neighbouring town of Pisa in the middle ages and by Napoleon in the 19th century. The old city centre is surrounded by wide walls and battements built in the 16th & 17th century. The tops of these raised ramparts, the width of at least 4 lanes of traffic, are lined with huge old oak and chestnut trees, turning gold and brown in the fall. Between them, people jogged, walked and bicycled along the sun-dappled pathways. We walked for about half an hour along the wall toward the direction of our hotel near the east end of the city at Porta Elisa, (named after Napoleon’s sister) but when we got to the B&B a note said it was closed until 15:00h. Fortunately, all we had to carry around for the following two hours was a back pack and a shoulder bag so we reserved a place for dinner at a restaurant nearby and then proceeded to explore the town.
We had lunch in a trattoria with a lovely garden courtyard, discovered the old Roman amphitheatre (anfiteatro) that has been transformed in a beautiful oval courtyard surrounded by shops and cafés and then spent time in the beautiful old church of San Michele. Its complex Romanesque façade is decorated with rows of columns (each column made in a different shape, size and colour) and is topped with a proud statue of St Michael. Inside, we found sculptures by Andrea Della Robbia and a beautiful painting by Fra Lippo Lippi on the wall to the right of the altar. It is in excellent condition and well lit to reveal its richly painted colours. We spent the remaining daylight hour between 5 & 6, sipping wine in a café in the piazza, watching passers-by and the light slowly fade on the beautiful façade of the cathedral.
Our B&B (that we’d booked via the Internet) was on the second floor of an old building on Rome Street with a door knocker shaped like a dog’s head. We each had our own high-ceilinged room containing a big double bed with ornate wrought iron bedsteads, old armoires and art deco lighting; our separate bathroom across the hall came with big white towels and all the modern conveniences. Not bad for $50/night!
Karen treated me to a delicious birthday dinner in what appeared to be a very popular restaurant. When we arrived at 7:00 there was no one there except for middle aged a couple from Michigan. We were seated right next to them, which felt quite bizarre as we tried to ignore each other’s conversations. But the restaurant filled up completely within an hour and there was a happy buzz as the place came to life while we sipped our Pino Grigio. Then to bed. Happy birthday me; now I’m sixty three.
Tuesday, October 30 Rainy and windy but mild
We woke to the sound of rain splashing outside our windows but we packed our bags, left the keys in the rooms and ran across the street to a cafe to get our morning breakfast of coffee and croissants. Karen bought an umbrella from an African street vendor (as I had bought one in Rome) and we spent an absolutely fabulous morning and afternoon following our noses and exploring the narrow cobblestone streets of the town. We climbed the 14th century, 44 m high Guinigi tower which has trees growing on top within the turrets and from which we had a great view of the red-tiled roofs, bell towers and domes of the town below.
As we continued on our way, we found a little hole-in-the-wall art gallery with a window display of whimsical, somewhat surreal lithographs by an artist named Antonio Possenti. We entered, looked at more of this wonderful work and followed the sounds of music through a series of small galleries until we tracked down a young dark haired man sitting in a workshop/office amid paints, canvasses, telephones, computers, and books (mainly by Borges). We asked him whether the works on display were for sale. They were - and at a reasonable price so we each bought one and chatted with him further. Upon a great deal of prompting, we found out he was Possenti’s son and that he too was an artist and, as we could see from a painting in progress, was working in a similar refined surreal manner.
It was a lovely encounter but then as we were congratulating ourselves on this discovery, we made another. Not 50 feet from that gallery we walked into a wood carver/ furniture restorer’s shop. The walls were completely covered with the decorative elements of ancient carved wooden objects, most of which were covered in gold leaf. There were parts of furniture, frames, or altarpieces that he uses or copies to restore or make new works. He enthusiastically told us about his work, that his father did this before him and his son is continuing in the trade. Entranced, we bought a few little decorative pieces to take home with us and asked him directions to a good local trattoria. He sent us to Gigi’s which served great soup, pasta and cheap wine. The place filled up with local workers in no time flat and we were obviously the only tourists.
After lunch we attempted to visit the local contemporary art gallery that had an exhibition of the work by Michael Snow! Unfortunately, it was closed for lunch so we decided to call it a day and take the next train back to Rosignano. When we arrived at the train station, some other Centre occupants were also there so we shared a taxi home where I checked the Internet at the Centre and enjoyed reading all my birthday emails from afar. All is well except for my cat Smudge who seems to be peeing all over my apartment; something to deal with as soon as I get home. It was nice to come back to my room here and unpack my purchases. My lithograph is now on display on a shelf over my bed.
Wednesday, October 31 Very very wild and windy
Feeling the signs of an incipient cold (sore throat) I spent most of the day indoors reading and writing this journal. In the morning I did spend an hour helping clean the Gompa - the assembly and prayer room which has religious images decorating the walls, ceiling and the floor. The community was giving it a good fall cleaning in time for an upcoming series of rituals that will be happening here over the next few days. It was odd to find myself crawling all over the normally sacred altar and polishing the glass that protected a case filled with exquisitely painted sculptures of monks and lamas. After lunch, the rest my day was spent listening to the wind outside, writing and reading in my cabin. Nice.
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