Facing reality and fighting off depression with the power of love.
22 Thursday Sep 2011
Posted My family
in22 Thursday Sep 2011
Posted My family
in14 Wednesday Sep 2011
Posted Italy 2011
inWoke up 6am, my head was about to explode with a terrible headache. In the darkness of the room, I wasn’t sure if I was still in Italy?…Paris? or Palm Springs?…As I turned around and found my daughter Vicki sleeping next to my pillow, I remember it will be another day with my children here in Palm Springs till they both leaving for schools tomorrow.
Though I knew it would be impossible for me at that time to fall back to sleep, but since it was too early for me to get out of bed with the jet-lag start to kick in, so I just lay there and let my mind flying back to the recent past three weeks we had.
On the flight from Zürich to New york, I watched a movie called “Midnight in Paris”, it tells the story of an American writer traveling to Paris with his soon to be wife and her family. During his short stay there, the beauty of the century-old European cultures, particularly French’s literature, and the poetic rainy days in Paris captured his heart. At the end, he decides to part with his American woman and stays in Paris as the closing end showing him and a new friend he made at a street market, a simple young French girl in contrast with his gorgeous ex fiance’, walking side by side in the rain in Paris. It was a very poetic and sensational movie. Not just I like the music, the acting, the beautiful customs, the picturesque and romantic scenes of France, but the morality of the movie reminds me a lot of my emotion and the days we had in Italy.
Yes, it’s true that if you ever have a chance to be in Europe, no matter if it’s France, England, Spain (a friend of mine just came back from Madrid and he absolutely loves it!), or Italy…your heart will melt with the romantic rhythms of life here. You will be surprised how such a simplicity can make your day so loving and worth living for like riding on a bike with a friend to get some fresh breads for that evening’s menu: “Branzino con le Patate alforno” (Baked Seabass with potatoes) and stop by a local stand on the street to buy the morning newspapers. Then, pick some fresh tomatoes, basils, veggies from the garden and chat with a neighbor who happens to have a big local restaurant down the street.
It’s a never ending love’s affair of mine to stroll up and down and around the cities, the ancient villages, the green vine hills, the vast fields of rice, corn and sun flowers…and in between, stop by the bars along the way to catch some gelato, Crodino (a very popular biter sweet drink of the day) chatting with good friends and then shop for the dinners at local markets.
It takes very little here and not too much effort to be happy. Because, everyone here is surrounded with family(s) and friends. And I mean sometime too much of it!…It’s a very closed circle of family environment and well connecting friendships, no matter how busy each life evolves. I have seen sister with sister and their friends going out and dancing together at the weekend, friends supporting and helping friends to win at a local song contest event; Neighbors next doors coming over in the back yard for the afternoon cappuccino and snacks; family getting together at Sundays for the “Pranzo” (huge!) and telling each other the jokes, the stories of the week till the sun goes down…Yes, on the very tiny television set in their very little kitchens they watch the news reporting the economy recession, the up and down market, the wars, the revolutions, the world tragedies…But Europeans still live on with full passion for life and with forever advancing spirits, nevertheless, not too much demanding.
Yesterday, it took us a complete twenty four hours to come back home to Palm Springs from Malpensa, Italy (plus fourteen hours from Los Angeles to Rome)…a very long, long and exhausting journey. But because, each time we visit Italy, it always reminds us of the very short, simple and precious life that we all have. So, yes, we will do it again and again. And may be soon someday, we will make it to London, Madrid and of course, Paris, my dream town since I was a little girl in Vietnam.
12 Monday Sep 2011
Posted Italy 2011
in
It was a perfect Sunday for us yesterday. Waking up late with no rush to do any business and no appointment, just enjoyed a light breakfast with my morning cappuccino, then got ready for the ride of the day with Luciano and Antonella. Couple days ago, Andriana, Ruggero’s sister and her husband Giampiero, gave me a beautiful present. Even though I did study several information about this region Lombardy on the internet, but holding this valuable and beautiful book called ” Emozioni in Lombardia” (“Emotion in Lombardia) in Italian with English translation, it gives me a stronger desire to see all this landmarks with my own eyes. And yesterday, we did just that.
We started out first from the closest location next to us, Stradella, a very busy and prosperous town about half an hour away from Milano. Then, from there, through the main highway (called Strada in Italian) we proceeded South toward the green wine hills that covered the entire southern part of this Lombardy region.
Passing through many little towns which I can’t remember all the names, but the two most beautiful are Casteggio and Broni. By the time we reached Broni and Santa Maria Della Versa, it was just in time for the “festa dell’ Uva” (feast of the grapes) which holds at the end of every summer. Local residents came to downtown to celebrate the harvest and there was also a show of antique trucks and ancient machines which their ancestors used to work with hundred years ago to make wine. Of course there was also wine tasting, music and a fantastic antique street market which had me going crazy from booth to booth. I love antiques! It’s my passion.
I have so many pictures of this place but the internet is too slow here so I have to give up the pleasure of down-loading the pictures for you. After about an hour walking through only half way, we were hungry so we had to find a place to eat. It took just a turn around a corner to find this little restaurant, run by a mother and daughter called “Mama Angela”. I don’t want to repeat again and again on my blog, but there is no other way to say how good the food here! So, again I have to say Fantastic!!!
More walking after the meal, then Luciano stopped at a near by wine manufacture to buy some bottles for the evening. We found out here that this company has a helicopter service that take customers for a tour around their wine hills for the price of 30 euros a person ($50.00). We are not crazy for this kind of ride, so we passed. it was getting late and after a long day of walking and driving, we were all tired. So we headed home. I really had a wonderful Sunday!
11 Sunday Sep 2011
Posted Italy 2011
inIt’s our final weekend here in Italy. All the business-related connections plus some personal projects on our “must-do” list completed. So both of us felt relaxed and took time to enjoy the last days of our vacation. Needed not to look far, there are so many events around Pavia each weekend to choose from. Since Antonella involved in couple of them with her friends, we decided to go along with her for the days.
The first was a singing contest on Friday night in a small village next to us called Travaco Sicomario. After dinner, we arrived at the location just in time for our friend Roberta to perform her chosen song: “La voce dell silenzio”. This was the first time ever Ruggero and I participated in a public contest. If it’s not for Antonella and Roberta (whom I know through FB), we would not even know how a singing contest look like. Well, since everybody sang and spoke Italian which I am trying very hard to understand, I felt a little awkward. Fortunately, Roberta speaks some English plus Ruggero is very helpful everywhere we go when it comes to translating, so I did enjoy the songs and got along pretty well.
Though the lyrics of the songs were foreign to me, but the music and the performances were fantastic. The contest singers came from all ages, old, young, men, women, children…They had camera men and even the jury to count the votes. After all the last performance, which were about twenty of them, came the dance and the music from a DJ on stage. At this time Ruggero and I was tired, so we made excuse and went home. It was over midnight.
Saturday night was another night with the public. But this time, the location was just around the corner of the residence where we stay. We met lots of friends in person whom I knew previously on FB. It was nice to finally talking to them especially, some of them speak fluent English.
The party started first with burgers and barbecues. It was interesting to see two guys doing the barbecue with one arm holding a table lamp for some lighting as they work. There was not enough lighting as well as not many convenient tool around here, yet I saw everyone laughing and dancing all night. It was meant to be an American-country event, so of course, most of them dressed in cowboy outfits. Country music was played by a DJ and there was even a dancing teacher to teach everyone who interested to learn how to do the steps of the country dance.
I am not crazy about dancing even though I love to watch people dancing. So after spending sometime to take lots of pictures and to record some video to share the special memories with the friends we met, Ruggero and I (the only ones) left the party to go home and rest. It was midnight again and as we came to the parking lot, there it was! A beautiful full moon from the sky! The planet was the most beautiful thing I have seen of this weekend and the picture I got from it was the best of all.
06 Tuesday Sep 2011
Posted Italy 2011
inThe last two day alone, I made at least over 1000’s photographs. If you ever set your feet here in this part of the world, you don’t need to be a professional photographer to be famous (if you want to, I meant) The point is, the landscape here is like a post card itself. It’s so magnificent and beautiful that it is impossible not to pick up the camera and click.
I have to admit that we are so fortunate to have family members who have a residence here in Switzerland, otherwise, we probably would never be able to come here in the first place. Well, beside the cost of traveling as we all know, the next step is to pass through confusing streets, freeways (you have to pay all the freeways’ costs and border along the way. Luckily, with Antonella knowledge about Italian freeway and Luciano (Ruggero’s nephew) residence privilege, we did make it through the borders with just a little incident. It wasn’t too much drama. It just scared me a little bit when the Italian police car made a sudden stop right behind Antonella’s car and two police men jumped out toward me as we were waiting for Luciano arrival at a parking lot not too far from the border. It was serious at first, but after they examined our passports, everything was clear and in the end, they even agreed for me to take couple pictures with them for my blog.
After that, the rest of the day was a picture perfect: Family reunion around the dinning table with many stories to tell and so many memories to share.
The Marenzi lives in a very cozy, stone-made, hundred years old building in a little town called Origlio. After a big pranzo (brunch), Luciano and his wife Rafaela and the two beautiful daughters took us for a tour around their resident. Just for your knowledge, Switzerland is divided into three section: the Italians, the Frenches and the Germans. Needless to say, Luciano family lives on the Italian part. Everybody speaks Italian here and the entire village looks just like Italy (except, it’s a lot cleaner and more organized). Well, everybody knows when it comes to a perfect society, nobody can compete with Germany and Switzerland. Before, I just heard about it. But I saw with my own eyes now the reality, and it’s so true. I can’t find any trash and graffiti around here (and believe me, I intentionally looked for it everywhere we went)
Each part of this town has its own impressive landscape. In Origlio, I was mesmerized with the romantic little lake and the unique architectures that surrounds it.
Lugano however is a very modern and prosperous city. Apart from the city architecture which is a kind of it own, the world famous Lago di Lugano reminds me a lot of Lago di Como though. I think because of the Italian mentality here, it’s made and designed just like the other which located in the Northern part of Italy. They are both beautiful as well.
So, yes, Ruggero and I were here in Switzerland September 4th and 5th 2011. Thanks to Luciano and his warm welcoming and hospitality, we had such a spectacular memories and wonderful times together.
Thank you Luciano, Rafaela and our dear grand nieces, Francesca and Lucia. Arrivederci a tutti!
02 Friday Sep 2011
Posted Italy 2011
inIf you just know this country by movie and television, or just by only “a ten day trip rushing through from South to North”, then you see nothing. However, to eat at the same tables, to listen to the conversations at the local bars, to peruse slowly from one local street market to the next (each town has different scheduled day of the week) and to watch the expressions of how they talk to each other in different regions…then you really know Italians. And I tell you, they are all very unique from region to region. I have found out now that the Romans are very different from the Milanese and just by listening to the accents, Italians they know exactly where that person come from.
In the North here, the sky is less bluer than in Rome (which reminding me of Vancouver Washington, where we used to live). Yet the landscape here is a lot greener and cleaner. Lombardy region is famous for the Risotto. Every where you go, you will see fields after fields of rice and corn which stretch to the far away horizon. In fact, Luciano, the man of the house (Antonella’s boy friend) is working on his fields at this moment, preparing for the harvests which coming shortly, perhaps by the end of this month. Ruggero and I love to go watching him working with his friends and the local residents. It’s so beautiful to look at the golden fields glowing in the sun and dancing in the winds at sunsets.
First, we have to do some business so with Antonella and Luciano’s little car, we started the day by going to the offices in Pavia. If you are not Italian, it’s next to impossible to make a living here. For example, just to open a bank account here in Italy without an Italian document, there are immediately hundreds of rules and regulation. But as soon Ruggero said he was born and grew up here in Milano, the whole situation changed. “Why did not you said so in the first place???” The manager even exclaimed. Antonella made couple calls to a person whom she knows is in charge of the city hall and knows how to find Ruggero’s birth certificate and that’s it. That’s how Italians work their ways around here, connections and connections.
Well, happy with the achievement of the day, in the afternoon, we stopped at the super market to get some breads and food for the evening. Before coming home, Antonella took us to a local private park where only limited members (who work at the same company) can go in and enjoy the pool and the parties they organize at this location from time to time.
There was a bar and restaurant we saw in a mall which reminded us of America. It’s called “The wild West”. From this place I can see many Italians love the West culture and want to be a part of it. Max (his American name), the bartender at the bar was very nice to answer all our questions and we exchanged some information to connect in the future.
Finally, back home for dinner, a very delicious one indeed. After a long day wandering up and down, it’s time to taste all the goodies we got at super market. We all were very very hungry..Buon Appetito!
01 Thursday Sep 2011
Posted Italy 2011
inSo it’s September, a beautiful September morning in fact. I woke up with the sounds from far away thunders and the water droppings on the roofs. I could not recognize at first all the noises as I was just coming out from a strange dream, but as soon I heard a big loud thunder, I jumped out of the bed and rushed to the open window.
And there it is! a serene, tranquil, green meadow immerses in the early morning that took my breath away and revived my heart. Immediately, all my troubles, sadness, worries, pleasures, joys, duties….whatever it is that had been in my mind and my in my heart for the past years melted and disappeared into the morning rain. From the window of this second floor, I took a very deep breath and stretched my eye to the far away horizon where trees and meadows are the only objects of this beautiful landscape. At at distance, a church bell commemorated the early hour of the day. Looked at the clock, it showed me 7am. Ahhhhhh!…What a very first morning I have in Pavia! Picturesque and soulful!…just what I need after a long whole year from working tirelessly in America.
But after another five minutes just standing quietly there at the window listening to the rain drops and breathing in the fresh air, my head started to remind me of the daily duties ahead of the day. So, back to the room, back to reality.
Antonella and Ruggero are waiting outside for breakfast. But before I leave, here are the pictures I took when Ruggero and I were in Florence the last two days.
Just a quick comment about this place though so you know how I personally feel of this two day trip. We were here first time in 2007. It was a winter time, a very cold and dam period in fact. So there was not many tourist around. However, to me it was so magnificent and beautiful back then. This time, a sunny dry and clear summer sky, on the contrary, I was shock to see again the very same place I used to admire and fell in love, now gives me a very different feeling and taste.
I did not understand why during the first day as we were walking around and hanging out at the steps of the famous Duomo. But by the second days, as I was standing on the Ponte Vecchio Bridge, the voices from the past coming back in my head helped me to see clearly the pictures ahead of me.
I know a very Milanese Man (Roberto Marenzi) who once softly and politely gave his comment when I was whole-heartedly praising the beauty of Florence. I remember he said at that time: “Florence is abused every day, too many tourists!…”. And he stopped there. I did not understand back then why? and how could Florence being destroyed by tourists.
But I see clearly now how, and why this young man who loves his peoples and his country said that.
Well, looking at the waves of peoples which pouring into town from all over the world and from all directions around Tuscany, Ruggero and I got shock to see trashes, and wastes human left behind as they suck the blood out of this beautiful place. not only the tourists who bring with them the destruction, but the residents there who take advantage of the business of tourism and careless about their own city. Well, you can imagine everybody take and take away the life of Florence, but nobody care and give back to the city what it needs to survive the cycle of life and withstand the destruction of time and weather.
I love Italy too much and even though I was not born here, it is so dear to me just like my home town and my second mother land. The images you are looking at is what Florence looks like in the photographs. Forget about the trashes, the graffiti, the beggars on the streets, and the very ugly peoples I found at some corners (which I won’t show you) then it is a perfect picture in the end. May be some day, yes some day, a miracle will save and help Florence. And it will forever be one of the most beautiful and memorable town in the world.